Education "Reform"

Another sad bit of news has emerged from the education front.  Once again, another school district has elected to deal with the problem of declining graduation rates not by addressing the problem, but simply by making it easier to graduate.

The public school district of Washington, D.C., is considering a proposal to eliminate social studies from the required curriculum.  Some pundits have already noted that course in civics and social studies have already been dumbed-down substantially in many areas, but this policy change would simply eliminate such study altogether.

To be fair, it should be noted that the Washington schools now require a minimum of two years of a foreign language, which is a major improvement, but this proposal strikes at the heart of American citizenship--ironically so in the very capital of the United States.

This development is a chilling reminder of the proposal floated awhile back in North Carolina to eliminate formal study at the high school level of American history prior to 1877.

Policies that lead away from the study of history and government are an affront to all, but particularly to minorities and any groups who struggled for rights and recognition and whose record of past activities would now be ignored.  Such an action is unconscionable in this supposedly "enlightened" era.

There is much good news in education, but dumbing-down of curriculum would scarcely fall into such a category.  As a nation, we need to realize that we have focused far too long on the funding of education, and far too little on what is being taught, what is not being taught, and how it is being taught.

The Examined Life

Recently I helped edit a paper my daughter Ariella wrote about the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. She is enrolled in a challenging program in Visual and Critical Studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In an era of declining standards (it seems that possessing a diploma is more important than having the diploma mean something), it is refreshing to see that some students are still required to study the works of those who have shaped our society and our thinking. Students enrolled in the program are required to study philosophy. The text of the paper follows this entry,

Kierkegaard dealt much with the dichotomy between faith and reason, hoping perhaps to establish that they can exist united. Interesting that his very name contains the Scandinavian equivalent for "church". How many of us stop to ponder why we believe, and think, the way we do?

Thanks for reading!

Ariella Scott's essay:

Soren Kierkegaard claims that faith is a paradox and that faith begins where thinking leaves off. This approach to the concept of faith would appear to be false, though, because Kierkegaard is not using a proper definition of faith to make his claims and sees faith as an irrational human passion. However, faith is instead a mechanism in finding inner truth as it is what lies under human projection.

Thinking is a natural human instinct. It is an inevitable action contrived to explain why things happen the way they do, and can be viewed as a component of the dialectic process espoused by Hegel. If this is the case, it would seem, then, that when discussing truth, thinking should not be apparent. Thinking is a distraction from truth. Truth does not need questions or answers because truth is acceptance and stands apparent. Kierkegaard immediately seems not to understand this in his explanation of Abraham following God’s orders to kill his son Isaac. This is because Kierkegaard perhaps does not realize how incomprehensible faith actually is. If Kierkegaard were in communication with the Divine--and the Divine meaning God--then he should logically acquire faith. Anything else would not be an option. After all, it would be a message from God, and acceptance would be the only action conceivable.

Kierkegaard is correct when he implies that this tale has most certainly been misunderstood and driven by faith. The unfortunate thing is that Kierkegaard appears to have no proper recollection of what faith is. To him, faith is a telos or “end” to itself. Instead, faith is neither. Faith simply exists. It is not burdened with queries to prove its nonexistence because faith does not need this. Kierkegaard and most philosophers are living in a physical world of projection. Projections are not real. The only real thing in the world is love and love is faith because neither ask “why?” and this is because neither needs to ask this question. They are pure truth in their divine existence.

In speaking of love as faith it would be appropriate to include an example. The Indian spiritual teacher Osho discusses this in his book Being in Love. In this book he explains how love is not jealous or malicious. Love is infinite. If love is jealous or malicious then it is not real love. It is instead a projection of what love should be. According to Osho, love is real and is truth.

The entire world is made up of projections. Everything we think and feel is projection. Only love is real and love is exactly what faith is. This is exactly why Kierkegaard is wrong in his claim that faith is a paradox. He does not realize that he is deciding what faith is from his own projections so he can make his argument at all. Nothing he is saying is real. The only honest claim he ever could make (and he does) is that faith is irrational and inconceivable. Of course faith is irrational. Anything that drives a human to not think and instead put his/her intuition on the line is of course irrational, but surely if someone is in the presence of God and God tells them to do anything, then he/she would do it. If God is talking to you then you don’t even need to acknowledge faith because the truth is there in front of you. There is no need or desire to explain anything at all because one would know. If a person knows something then it is bonded into their existence. Abraham did not think because he did not need to.

Old-Fashioned Learning?

Today many (but not all) educators disdain the concepts of rote learning and memorization, often proclaiming a greater validity for "critical thinking" and learning how to take advantage of "resources" to access factual knowledge when it is needed. But the result of such de-emphasis of learning facts, dates and literary passages can be graduates who have only a vague awareness of history, spelling, grammar and great works of art.

Virtually no one can complete an education without learning and memorizing a vast array of facts, particularly in the various professions which require a broad factual knowledge, such as medicine and law. Yet it can be argued that we all are learning fewer facts than we used to. For example, how many Americans even realize that Canada, our closest neighbor, is divided into provinces, not states? How many great poets could each of us name--let alone quote? In other words, we are experiencing a deficit of cultural literacy.

Recently I was shocked to learn that it is possible at countless colleges and universities to obtain a degree in English literature without ever taking a course in Shakespeare. Certainly English majors will study many great writers during their academic careers, but they are being denied the insight and sheer joy of becoming acquainted with one of the greatest geniuses of history. This is a tragedy.

We are denying ourselves the stimulation of getting to know the great artists, composers, philosophers and literary giants who illumined the lives of our ancestors. And increasingly, we are denying ourselves a grasp of such universal fundamentals as the basic principles of mathematics and language. Surely our lives are worth more. Is it time to reflect more deeply on the curriculums of our educational institutions?

Thanks for reading,
Gary

From Vienna to St. Louis

Recently the famed Vienna Boys Choir performed at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis the King in St. Louis. Among the selections on the program was the "Credo", from the Gospel Mass by Robert Ray. It was announced that this work was performed in homage to the contributions made by American composers. What seemed to escape the attention of far too many listeners, including (perhaps understandably) the performers themselves, was the fact that composer Robert Ray resides in St. Louis, and lived probably less than three miles from the Basilica.

After some rapid notifications and phone calls, Mr. Ray was contacted and was able to attend the performance at the Basilica the following evening, where he was recognized and introduced to the audience and performers. If you think about it, it was an historic moment that a local composer was able to join the ranks of such luminaries as Haydn, Schubert, Mozart and others, and have his music performed by such a venerable institution as the Vienna Boys Choir.

This goes to show the power of music to unite us all. We speak much about diversity, yet on this particular program various strands of diversity were grafted to a central stem to produce an ever-growing bloom. It also serves as a reminder that we should always be aware of the heroes in our midst.

Building Musicians

Chamber music offers listeners the opportunity to fully connect with the talents of one, two or a few musicians. It is about the bond of communication that is forged between artist and audience. In a chamber music setting, a listener can easily feel that he or she is the only person present--almost as though the entire performance is constructed personally for them.

Chamber music also offers inspiration to young people and those who aspire to greater accomplishment in their own study of music. As a society, we need to cultivate and support emerging young musicians so that our cultural life in turn will continue to be enhanced and nurtured by their contributions. This is particularly critical at a time when our educational system is faltering.

This year the New Jewish Theatre of St. Louis will inaugurate a new program designed to foster the careers of brilliant young musicians, the Gesher Music Festival of Emerging Artists, held June 26-July 3 at the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theatre at the Jewish Community Center. Additionally, Festival musicians will perform at day camps, senior living centers and various inner city locations to further encourage awareness of and support for the work of musicians and composers.

The Festival will feature a host of lectures, galas and performances. Listeners will have the opportunity to not only hear great music and great talent, but will also be able to interact directly with the performers in question and answer sessions. It promises to be an exciting and stimulating event for the St. Louis area. Michael Tilson Thomas, Director of the San Francisco Symphony, has given his personal endorsement to the Gesher Festival.

The word "gesher" means bridge, or connection, in Hebrew, signifying the importance of establishing and maintaining our connection to music, musicians and all the arts. Although the Festival will feature music with a special connection to the Jewish experience, its impact and meaning will be universal in scope.

Kudos and many thanks to the New Jewish Theatre of St. Louis for developing and sponsoring this wonderful--and needed--program. It's reach will surely extend far beyond the St. Louis area. For further information, contact NJT.

Thanks for reading.
Gary

The Intersection of Music, Life and Death

Sometimes we think of music as an art form that remains aloof from the dust and grime of everyday life--almost as a refuge from reality rather than a means of illustrating it. Yet music can join the fray of controversy just as surely as the visual arts and literature. This month Opera Theatre of St. Louis proves that assertion with its staging of John Adams' 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer.

Adams has already brought recent history to the opera stage through such works as Nixon in China and Dr. Atomic (chronicling the work of Robert Oppenheimer, one of the chief researchers in the quest for nuclear fission). However, no other work of his seems to have struck such a raw nerve as Klinghoffer. The opera is based on the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly disabled American Jew, by Palestinian terrorists in 1985, when they seized the cruise ship Achille Lauro as Klinghoffer and his wife were enjoying a cruise to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary.

How can a frank portrayal of the grim facts of terrorism be considered controversial? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that in our twisted modern world we have lost sight of who is a victim and who is an aggressor. Have you noticed how the word "terrorist" has pretty much disappeared from journalistic vocabulary? We are no longer allowed to label evil as evil. Rather, we use such terms as "militants", or even "independence" or "freedom" fighters--or perhaps "insurgents"--as though words can alter the stark reality of what terrorists do.

Even those who feel sympathy for the Palestinian cause--and, by extension, believe that Hamas and Hezbollah can be trusted as viable "peace" partners--surely realize that violence cannot ultimately win over hearts and minds. Today, sadly, terrorism runs rampant in the world, yet we are loath to recognize it for what it is: a crime against humanity and human values. The recent murders of five members of the Fogel family in Israel, in which a three month infant was brutally stabbed to death by terrorist monsters, or the death of a 16-year old student on a school bus, or the almost daily bombings in Pakistan--all are constant reminders of the battles we must wage on behalf of good and evil.

Adams' music is visceral and pounding. Listeners need no further proof of the power of music to move us and express the entire gamut of human emotions. The minimalist repetition of musical phrases, far from driving the listener to numbness, instead forces the audience to continually confront the action onstage. The libretto to The Death of Klinghoffer was penned by Alice Goodman, herself born Jewish, but who has since converted to Christianity and been ordained an Anglican priest. The family of Klinghoffer was at first furious with what they felt was moral equivalency expressed in the opera. In response, Adams and Goodman revised certain portions of the work. One thing must be remembered though: through the writing of this opera, and its presentation, the memory of Klinghoffer, and all victims of injustice, is kept alive. In an era in which sometimes we fail to remember even the victims of 9-11, the miracle of music ensures that we will not forget. And perhaps remembrance is the first step to healing and the creation of a different world.

The Death of Klinghoffer opens on June 15, 2011, at the Loretto-Hilton theatre, the home of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Teaching by Example

One of the maxims from Aesop's fables tells us that example is the best teacher. There is also the rather cynical dictum: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Last fall I had the opportunity to attend a performance of the Webster University Symphony Orchestra, directed by Paul Davis. Afterwards I reflected that this fine ensemble is a vehicle for both doing and teaching.

Although the WUSO was established as an opportunity for student players at Webster University, a sizable percentage of the orchestra's personnel is composed of professionals, some of whom are members of the St. Louis Symphony. To observe and work with seasoned professionals offers an unmatched opportunity for students to learn precisely what it truly means to be a musician. Such learning does not take place in a lecture hall; it occurs during personal conversations before and after rehearsals, or at sectional rehearsals, or in the efforts to match the accomplishments of more experienced performers.

The audiences likewise learn, by hearing professionals and amateurs alike. It is one thing to study the life of a great composer in a book, but it is quite another to actually hear the musical thoughts that streamed from the composer's mind. Those who peruse the program notes are able not only to hear the music, but also learn about the historical, cultural and geographic context in which it was written.

The soloist in the concert I heard was pianist Daniel Schene, performing Chopin's Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, programmed in commemoration of the bicentennial of Chopin's birth in 1810. As artist in residence at Webster University, Schene maintains a busy teaching and performing schedule. By virtue of wearing both hats, he not only instructs students about Chopin, but is able to demonstrate Chopin's music.

Some purists actually decry teaching by example, claiming that it discourages personal creativity in artistic fields and leads to robotic imitation. Thankfully, we don't have similar qualms when it comes to teaching medicine or mathematics. Who would want to be treated by a physician who had never observed medical procedures, or be waited upon by a store clerk who had developed a "creative" approach to computations? For musicians, hearing a demonstration of execution and interpretation provides an aural example of what they should aspire to, and may actually inspire rather than limit personal creativity.

The Webster Symphony is, fortunately, one of many outstanding ensembles sponsored by academic institutions. At a time when standards in American education have been dangerously reduced, they are raising the bar by presenting a polished end-product. This is an example that shows education designed to train doers, not bureaucrats or methodologists.