This will be unlike any "blog" I've ever written. This is a huge vent of frustration and struggle based on my experiences in certain places with certain people both in my state and all over the nation. If you're someone who gets easily offended, stop reading now, as this is not for you. If you continue to read, you acknowledge that you are responsible for your own reactions to the content of this blog :) this was a direct copy and paste from a post that was about to be made on a Facebook. Thus, attention to grammar may have been disregarded in places. This is the result of free-writing about feelings and emotions. Still reading? Alright then, here we go...
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Facebook asked me how I'm feeling... How am I feeling? How am I feeling!? Quite frankly, I'm thoroughly and passionately angry. Angry at the people, places, and situations in my profession that cause growing children and adolescents to not receive the best opportunities available to them. I'm talking about some of the lazy, arrogant, ignorant adults who consider themselves musicians or teachers. I'm talking about people who insist that they get the glory for their mediocre programs, and people who set low standards for their students and themselves and proceed to fail to hold themselves to those already low standards. No doubt, every profession has people like these. The difference in music education? You negatively affect thousands of innocent people with your attitude through no fault of their own.
These "educators"... they look at some of the strongest programs in the nation and - instead of exploring advice from the educators in those programs - they develop excuses as to why that program is so strong. They have money, or their community just supports them more, or their kids are smarter and more passionate. Really? Have you seen how the eyes light up on these kids faces? The kids RIGHT HERE in the very programs for which you work? I dare say it's predominately the passion and intelligence of the kids that make these programs continue to stand stable, DESPITE some of the terrible practices that certain educators follow. Did anyone ever consider that the reason these other programs became so strong was because - over time - someone had to BUILD these programs? Did it ever occur that the money or the community support could possibly stem from... oh, I don't know... the QUALITY of the education from these music educators?
They dumbfound me, these music programs do..... it's not like anybody's teaching on an island... not with the golden gyms of the modern day internet. Every music educator with access to the internet has access to the greatest tips and tools available from some of the best people in the business. There's really no excuse to not be providing your students with the best resources in the world every time you engage in an encounter with them. That's just plain laziness, selfishness, and/or arrogance. Before the students can be held at a high standard, they must be given the tools to achieve that standard by an educator who holds himself or herself to those same high standards, if not even higher standards.
Oh, and here's a good one: I can't tell you how many times I've heard conversations between directors that go something like this: "How's your band been doing?" "Man it's rough, I just don't have good kids this year." Excuse me? EVERY kid is a good kid. I get SO TIRED of hearing this, yet it pops up again and again in the mouths of ignorant teachers in the area. Playing the victim card? Really? You very well may be the most powerful person in some of these kids lives. You are NEVER the victim. Instead of complaining about the kids you've got, shouldn't you be looking in the mirror and asking yourself "Who am I being that these kids are not excited, engaged, and actively learning in my classroom"? I know, it's a totally different perspective. One that would cause self-reflection, and maybe even personal growth. Almost as if the teacher is learning just like the students are, because the teacher, like the student, does not know everything there is to know in order to be successful. Wow! What a concept!
I get so passionate about educators who choose - because it is always a choice - not to be the best they can be, because not only are they dis-servicing themselves, but they are also being a disservice to hundreds and hundreds of innocent children every year. Children who could have had their lives changed through music. Children who perhaps grew up in a broken household and needed a community to grow in.... a community which could have been fostered through their music activity. Children who wanted nothing more in the world than to be the best they could be. Children who need an avenue to free their hearts of the burdens of the world.
This is a plea to any and all past, present, and future music educators, performers, other teachers, administration, parents, families, and communities all over the world. These children are our future. Don't ever settle for giving them any less than what they need to be the best they can be. If they fail to achieve that goal, let it be by their own personal choice. If the opportunity was never available in the first place, you are completely and whole-heartedly at fault. Don't let that happen. Show the kids we CARE. Because - whether or not we can or want to admit it - we do care. We always will.
