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I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to take away from this. The author is obviously quite musically gifted, as was his tutor? Berklee has a bunch of nonsen

I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to take away from this. The author is obviously quite musically gifted, as was his tutor? Berklee has a bunch of nonsense curriculum? Berklee has a bunch of acceptable curriculum, but if you happen to be a musical genius and have a musical genius as a tutor, you can quickly prove that you’re smarter than everybody else? Is any of this meant to be inspiring to regular folks, or is it just for people that already consider themselves to be intellectually far ahead of most others in their age group or field? … Who is this for?

rob_c 4y ago
> ...but if you happen to be a musical genius and have a musical genius as a tutor... There's the crux of the story which I'm sure is well intended, this is the slight shortsightedness as to place this as an inconsequential part. I'm not blaming the author or any editor. I imagine they know how important this part is but it doesn't come across this way. Without realising that "small part" for what it is (a huge deal breaker) the story comes across as either aloof or detached because it's impossible to resonate with unless you had a similar opportunity in your education at some stage. And yes I did with my mathematical ability and will likely spend my life in awe at a professional musicians musical ability or a great authors writing style, but I enjoy understanding higher order patterns.
soheil 4y ago
I think the part he said the pace is set for the mediocre students to be able to finish their degree made his point very clear. Then going from specific to the general. More concretely, school pace is set for below average students so if you're average or above average then you don't have to follow that same speed. Once you apply this logic to life in general you'll encounter numerous other areas where the pace is also set very low and you'll do much better if you pay no attention to it.
- lupire 4y ago
  Most highly capable students do advanced work at university instead of just racing through and leaving. No one cares how fast you finished your degree, when you are 30. We are only reading OP article because Sivers made a website to sell CDs when the web was new, not because of his excellence as a student or as a musician. This very website exists because Paul Graham made a website ViaWeb to sell stuff on the web, not because Paul Graham was any good at making the stuff the stuff the website was selling.
lalopalota 4y ago
There is a path laid by those who have come before. You can walk it or you can run it.
kashkhan 4y ago
this for people learning things that have been already discovered and done. You can do it as slow or as fast as you want, because really you're just copying information to your mind. Creating new things (research or art) is what takes time.
abigail95 4y ago
This is not marginal thinking. 50% of people are more capable than the other 50%. Being smarter than most people is not such a rare thing. There are plenty of regular people smarter than most of the people they encounter. Berklee sets a standard so low that not just some people can do it faster, most people can complete it faster. The point is, most people can complete everything faster than the default. But many don't because of these artifical "speed limits".
- braingenious 4y ago
  So this is an article about Berklee in particular having a superfluous amount of coursework? This would be the first response that answered any of my questions, thanks!
  - zamadatix 4y ago
    Whether or not the coursework is superfluous is a per student question not a per university question.
    - braingenious 4y ago
      This is confusing to me. If this article is about Berklee, wouldn’t it necessarily be university specific?
      - zamadatix 4y ago
        It wouldn't necessarily be so as other universities are also able to have students who learn at different rates despite the article being about a student that went to Berklee. Regardless, even in the case the article only applied to Berklee it still wouldn't be a university specific question as not every student that goes to Berklee will be able to learn at the same rate. This is what makes it a per student question instead of an answered property you can apply to Berklee itself.
        braingenious 4y ago

rob_c 4y ago

> ...but if you happen to be a musical genius and have a musical genius as a tutor... There's the crux of the story which I'm sure is well intended, this is the slight shortsightedness as to place this as an inconsequential part. I'm not blaming the author or any editor. I imagine they know how important this part is but it doesn't come across this way. Without realising that "small part" for what it is (a huge deal breaker) the story comes across as either aloof or detached because it's impossible to resonate with unless you had a similar opportunity in your education at some stage. And yes I did with my mathematical ability and will likely spend my life in awe at a professional musicians musical ability or a great authors writing style, but I enjoy understanding higher order patterns.

soheil 4y ago

I think the part he said the pace is set for the mediocre students to be able to finish their degree made his point very clear. Then going from specific to the general. More concretely, school pace is set for below average students so if you're average or above average then you don't have to follow that same speed. Once you apply this logic to life in general you'll encounter numerous other areas where the pace is also set very low and you'll do much better if you pay no attention to it.

lupire 4y ago
Most highly capable students do advanced work at university instead of just racing through and leaving. No one cares how fast you finished your degree, when you are 30. We are only reading OP article because Sivers made a website to sell CDs when the web was new, not because of his excellence as a student or as a musician. This very website exists because Paul Graham made a website ViaWeb to sell stuff on the web, not because Paul Graham was any good at making the stuff the stuff the website was selling.

lalopalota 4y ago

There is a path laid by those who have come before. You can walk it or you can run it.

kashkhan 4y ago

this for people learning things that have been already discovered and done. You can do it as slow or as fast as you want, because really you're just copying information to your mind. Creating new things (research or art) is what takes time.

abigail95 4y ago

This is not marginal thinking. 50% of people are more capable than the other 50%. Being smarter than most people is not such a rare thing. There are plenty of regular people smarter than most of the people they encounter. Berklee sets a standard so low that not just some people can do it faster, most people can complete it faster. The point is, most people can complete everything faster than the default. But many don't because of these artifical "speed limits".

braingenious 4y ago
So this is an article about Berklee in particular having a superfluous amount of coursework? This would be the first response that answered any of my questions, thanks!
- zamadatix 4y ago
  Whether or not the coursework is superfluous is a per student question not a per university question.
  - braingenious 4y ago
    This is confusing to me. If this article is about Berklee, wouldn’t it necessarily be university specific?
    - zamadatix 4y ago
      It wouldn't necessarily be so as other universities are also able to have students who learn at different rates despite the article being about a student that went to Berklee. Regardless, even in the case the article only applied to Berklee it still wouldn't be a university specific question as not every student that goes to Berklee will be able to learn at the same rate. This is what makes it a per student question instead of an answered property you can apply to Berklee itself.
      - braingenious 4y ago