Update

The past few weeks I have been uploading videos to youtube.  They are mostly for my own use.  I get random ideas that I am much too lazy to write out, so I decide to tape them and upload them for future reference.

Of course some shameless self promotion is never bad... if the right person sees them... and offers me something... then so be it.


Regardless, something has recently come to my attention about our education system... particularly the one I came from.

I have some band students coming to me asking for help in "general music".  Initially I laugh because they should be fine...but after talking with them, I find that they are being confused by the general music teacher.  In other words, the general music teacher is awful and is complicating the simplest of music theory.

Without slandering the teacher... I started to think about the potential of how inferior other teachers may be...  The only reason these band kids can question this teacher is because they have some sort of understanding of the material.. They aren't being blindly taught theories and applications... they have actually used these concepts and have played the notes.  They already have a basic understanding of music.

What if  the student has parents who are biologist, the student brings home an assignment from biology and the parents notice how incorrect the assignment may be.  Otherwise, the student would never have known any different if what they were being taught was right or wrong.

Same goes for english class, math, art, etc.  Students RELY on the teachers to tell the truth... the average students doesn't take the initiative to research on their own, and therefore depend on the teachers.

Think about how the years have gone by and you realize either how invaluable, or useless, or WRONG the education you received actually was.  Of course, there are few of us that went straight into the real world and found out what we actually needed to know.

The fact of the matter is, if I ever have kids, I will probably walk into the teacher's room and ask for their transcript before I let them teach.

I say this because I know MANY people who have graduated with Music Ed degrees and were terrible at their instrument and received LOOOOW marks in theory and history classes.  The only difference is, they figured out how to work the system to do the least amount of work possible for the greatest gain.

Another case for the "Think for yourself, question authority" campaign.  Force your teachers to PROVE they know what they are talking about, don't take their word for it.