4 ms·

Sir, I wish all teachers (and parents) learn from this. Well said.

by eyan 11y ago

ianamartin 11y ago
Thank you. I would like to point out that my observations as a music teacher are not limited to that one experience of teaching the children of upper middle class white Texans. I've been involved with the El Systeme projects in South America and co-founded a Systeme project in the Philippines a few years ago with my brother. These projects target the poorest of the poor in these countries--the same people that drug cartels and criminal gangs recruit from. We offer an alternative to that life. And we take it not to people who can afford things like music lessons for their kids, but rather to families who have no other options. We set up a safe building where kids can go for their music lessons, and we treat them with respect. We learn their language. We expect them to practice and get better, but we are not mean to them if they don't. It's service to the world that gave me and my brother the talent and opportunities that we have. Those things I mentioned in my post are things that cut across cultural and class boundaries. Those are things that bring children--who have every opportunity to go join a gang or deal drugs or go do whatever--back to the music program time and again. It's completely anecdotal information, and I'm aware of that. But it's working in a small number of cases. Next year, we'll have a first generation of these students getting visas to come to the U.S. to study music at one of our universities. Some of them won't just study music. Some of them are intrigued by computers, and I've been teaching some comp sci at these programs as just an aside thing. The U.S. is going to have a few more highly motivated, extremely talented, hard working, legal immigrants next year. I guess, if I can stop rambling for a moment, what I mean to say is this: A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. I think that's what Wittgenstein was getting at, in his own way. I didn't get to be a software developer the normal way. But I learned to solve problems through the lens of being a musician, which is all about solving real problems. I don't know what these kids will do with their lives. These ones that I've only ever taught music to. But I know that some of the ones I taught when I was 19 have already grown up to be really competent physicists, computer scientists, and psychologists, and athletes. Maybe they would have done that anyway. It's true. We don't know. But we know that the poor kids from the countries I'm working in right now in my spare time will not have had that opportunity. So we'll see.
- rukuu_001 11y ago
  > A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. Music is one of the traditional 'learning to think' disciplines, along with grammar, logic, mathematics, and has a lot to offer in this regard. And I wish you success with your personal mission.
- rogeryu 11y ago
  > A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. In university I followed courses in Computing, Psychology, Law and Theology. All had different ways of learning, approaching the subject. Psychology was (for me) all about questioning: you can never be 100% sure and should always be aware of another possible explanation. This has stuck with me, and I'm champion finding alternative explanations. One of my fellow students changed to medicine, and he told me that it was the complete opposite. If you questioned a method or theory (as first year student), you were completely out of line. These methods were tested thousands of times, and no stupid first year student could think of a better way, so don't even try. I guess this changes over time because you have to change methods to make progress, but it makes clear how different cultures can be.

Sir, I wish all teachers (and parents) learn from this. Well said.

by eyan 11y ago

Sir, I wish all teachers (and parents) learn from this. Well said.

Thank you. I would like to point out that my observations as a music teacher are not limited to that one experience of teaching the children of upper middle class white Texans. I've been involved with the El Systeme projects in South America and co-founded a Systeme project in the Philippines a few years ago with my brother. These projects target the poorest of the poor in these countries--the same people that drug cartels and criminal gangs recruit from. We offer an alternative to that life. And we take it not to people who can afford things like music lessons for their kids, but rather to families who have no other options. We set up a safe building where kids can go for their music lessons, and we treat them with respect. We learn their language. We expect them to practice and get better, but we are not mean to them if they don't. It's service to the world that gave me and my brother the talent and opportunities that we have. Those things I mentioned in my post are things that cut across cultural and class boundaries. Those are things that bring children--who have every opportunity to go join a gang or deal drugs or go do whatever--back to the music program time and again. It's completely anecdotal information, and I'm aware of that. But it's working in a small number of cases. Next year, we'll have a first generation of these students getting visas to come to the U.S. to study music at one of our universities. Some of them won't just study music. Some of them are intrigued by computers, and I've been teaching some comp sci at these programs as just an aside thing. The U.S. is going to have a few more highly motivated, extremely talented, hard working, legal immigrants next year. I guess, if I can stop rambling for a moment, what I mean to say is this: A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. I think that's what Wittgenstein was getting at, in his own way. I didn't get to be a software developer the normal way. But I learned to solve problems through the lens of being a musician, which is all about solving real problems. I don't know what these kids will do with their lives. These ones that I've only ever taught music to. But I know that some of the ones I taught when I was 19 have already grown up to be really competent physicists, computer scientists, and psychologists, and athletes. Maybe they would have done that anyway. It's true. We don't know. But we know that the poor kids from the countries I'm working in right now in my spare time will not have had that opportunity. So we'll see.

rukuu_001 11y ago
> A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. Music is one of the traditional 'learning to think' disciplines, along with grammar, logic, mathematics, and has a lot to offer in this regard. And I wish you success with your personal mission.
rogeryu 11y ago
> A lot of education isn't really about what you study or where you learn. It's about training your brain to think about things in a certain way. In university I followed courses in Computing, Psychology, Law and Theology. All had different ways of learning, approaching the subject. Psychology was (for me) all about questioning: you can never be 100% sure and should always be aware of another possible explanation. This has stuck with me, and I'm champion finding alternative explanations. One of my fellow students changed to medicine, and he told me that it was the complete opposite. If you questioned a method or theory (as first year student), you were completely out of line. These methods were tested thousands of times, and no stupid first year student could think of a better way, so don't even try. I guess this changes over time because you have to change methods to make progress, but it makes clear how different cultures can be.