Rendering Unto Caesar: Bonsai Education‏

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

The other day a bonsai sakura plant showed up in the lobby of the building where I live. It brought back memories of my time in public elementary school music class singing the Japanese ode to the sakura tree. I asked a young woman who works for the property management company if she had music classes in her elementary school experience. It did not surprise me when she answered in the negative.

This led to a discussion with students about the role and value of music classes in elementary education. One of the students had other things on her mind. She remarked that the practice of bonsai cultivation reminds her of fundamentalist religion. It deliberately stunts the growth of its practitioners. Bringing the topic back to education, I asked if the same could be said about elementary education without the cultural enrichment of music classes. Those who have not been through the process feel somehow deprived of a higher quality educational experience. Exposure to music from different cultures at a young age can encourage further development in cultural studies. Learning a variety of musical patterns could ease the way into learning a variety of languages.

A fundamentalist music program would not dare venture into such diversity. It would strictly limit its repertoire to music that promotes servility and obedience to authority. Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop would be strictly placed beyond the pale. The Rock genre would be allowed only in its softer form promoting adoration for the despot in the sky. Doing the twist would not be in the curriculum.

It has been said that heavenly governance is like a tiny seed that grows into a tree sheltering a variety of creatures. Hellish governance could be said to be the bonsai gardener who prevents the tree from growing beyond the height of a child's knee, sheltering only a race of rats. Reading the Bible is mandatory. Understanding what it says is verboten.

What do you think about the tendency for public education to emphasize the mechanics of arithmetic and grammar while falling short in the development of broader skills?

Link: School children singing "Sakura". MENC's list of 42 songs every American should know (including "Sakura"). Kenneth McGuire on the MENC list of 42 songs.

Comments

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

This is why there is no good music in Black churches.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

[telemann.livejournal.com]

What do you think about the tendency for public education to emphasize the mechanics of arithmetic and grammar while falling short in the development of broader skills?

Because we're from the British tradition, where if you don't learn how to make money from the thing, its pointless. So music is considered utterly frivolous in our education system . Which is completely antithetical to how Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, and other European countries see music as part of their heritage. I keep bringing up the El Sistema program as a great template of achieving social change via music education. The program is now active in several cities in the United States (http://elsistemausa.org/), like in east LA, Birmingham Alabama, Philadelphia, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, Virginia Beach, Las Vegas.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

I now know how to say "vegetable", "sisters", "tomato", and to some degree "asapagus" in Japanese.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

I like cheese.

And that's all there is to say on the subject.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

I do agree that art and music classes need to be taught, or at least exposed so that students have an opportunity to discover potential talents they not be able to outside the school environment.

Math is important too and is becoming increasingly important for artists looking to make a career out of what they do.

Because if you are going to render unto Caesar you need to get familiar with the XYZ axis and how to calculate Caesar's joints and program Caesar's rig and stuff like that. Also you probably should know how to translate Roman numerals.

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

"The pursuit of broader skills" at times seems like a code word for "don't teach anything that requires effort and focus, either by the student or by the teacher". And yet without mastering basic skills, i.e. the mechanics, learning is severely limited. This is true of mathematics, it is true of languages and it is certainly true of music.
Discipline, commitment and structure in a learning environment does not stunt; rather, it challenges, it strengthens and for those willing to make the effort, it provides achievement far beyond what is usually possible in a free form environment.