Education Reforms

Washington Post
Well, school reform is a hot topic these days, but unfortunately pushed to the back burner because of gun control, health care, et cetera. One of the major conflicts is how to teach, whether a standardized tests or creative projects is the way to go.
Mr. Bernstein reports that standardize tests do more harm than good, claiming that they don't show valid results and focus more on sheer factual knowledge instead of critical thinking. He claims that well-to-do schools often become concerned when results are compared to inner-city schools and some students are at the latter's level. He also suggests that students should be able to set their own personalized learning pace.
Now, ideally, this would be great. However, many students would take advantage of this, so that they went extra slow and spent more time playing around than learning. Because after all, the purpose of school isn't to have fun and be babysat. It is to learn. And obviously it is hard to learn if the learning isn't fun, but the focus must still be on learning.
I will agree with his idea of generating a curriculum that focuses on critical thinking. After all, who is going to remember the dates and people of every event they study, for example in history. But, they should be able to analyze political motives, for example, or characterization, social issues, etc.
I think the most important thing is a balance. Yes, sometimes facts just need to be memorized, but sometimes the thinking is more important. I would say Prep has a pretty good system, as most teachers include essays or critical thinking questions on tests and homework along with a scantron sheet or factual questions. Also, I think that the addition of iPads to the English curriculum will greatly help creativity. I will say there are some subjects probably more based in fact, like science or history, but English certainly involves a lot of critical thinking. I would say overall this will help productivity, allowing us students to be creative and learn to analyze ideas and literature. And I know there are some people who think its a bad idea, but why? ( seriously I'm asking this because I want to know) Yes it may cost money, but ultimately will save you money, paper, space, and likely time without books. It will certainly make it a lot easier on teachers with just one universal set of translations, line numbering s, et cetera.
So, hopefully we (America) can start to figure it out, because the quality of education seems to be declining rapidly. We need to maintain our competitive status on the international level and continue to be a dominant industrial nation.
God Bless America

"Conduction" Innovator Dies at 65

NY Times Article
So, looking back on my past few blogs, I realized I have been talking a lot about politics. Not that that's bad, because debate is always good. But, I think this time I'll turn my attention to another area that is of great importance to me: music.
I'll start of by saying I had never heard of this before, but was more than impressed when I heard about the technique.
"Conduction," a style of music related to jazz but applicable to all genres that was created by Butch Morris, is his own adopted term for "conducted improvisation." Now, for those of you who may already be moving onto the next blog, at least check this out. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but please at least get a feel for the style.youtube Conduction
Which brings up the question: How? Well, some basic communication between bandsmen and  the conductor is worked out. Some of these signals, such as ones to influence tempo, dynamics, or balance, are common to all conductors. Others came from jazz and big band groups, including Morris's peers in the jazz world. And some were invented by Morris to help his purpose.
Now for those of you who aren't music fanatics like me, let me just say that taking something (improvisation in this case) and applying it to classical, pop, rock music, etc., was plain unheard of. In fact, the NY Times reports that Morris originally was rejected, as many people were unwilling to adapt to this new style. However, he went on to perform with "classical orchestras,  electronic instruments and music boxes; dancers, actors and visual artists; and gatherings of 19 poets or 15 trumpets." This is a very unique and innovative concept, certainly objectively notable in the music world.
Mr. Morris began playing in high school. He later joined the Navy, and after serving,  studied music, traveled abroad, and finally settled down in New York. He earned most of his income from commissions and writing music for dancers, movies, etc. He is survived by his brother and sister, and one son.
This is truly a unique concept, and while it may not be as popular as other genres of music, it can be universally applied and appreciated.
God Bless America