The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)


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When I was in 6th grade we had a school orchestra (7th through 12th, too). Learning to play a musical instrument was considered part of a well-rounded education. When Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California (proving the state was not totally inhabited by far-left radical Socialists), he defunded many of the non-3R's (readin', ritin', 'rithmatic) school programs. This coming from a Hollywood "B" actor, one who enjoyed the fruits of the arts, or in his case more accurately the entertainment business.

Public schools are just for producing good little worker bees, right Ronnie? 

mahgister wrote:
"How can you distinguish head and tail in your life in north-america with a so abyssal ignorance?"

Seriously? North America has cornered the market on abysmal ignorance? Where do you suppose the wisdom resides? Europe? That’s laughable. Certainly not modern Europe and maybe least of all modern France. Both of which exist in their current state simply and precisely because the U.S. permits them to do so. If it is important to understand history one of the first things to understand about modern history is that the U.S. is the single determining factor that keeps Europeans away from each other's throats.


And don't get me wrong, I'm not an apologist for modern culture, American or otherwise. Far from it. Nor am I a cheerleader for U.S. policy. I'm just looking at the last 100 years of Western history. Nothing worse than Western European smugness after WWI, the Russian revolution, WWII and the Balkans.

@bdp24 That was over 40 years ago when Ronald Raygun was Gov.

You have had plenty of Liberal Governors to restore the art’s in that time.

Just making more welfare bees right Jerry Brown x2
@bdp24 , Are you seriously suggesting that the decline in public schools teaching the humanities began on the right? Even if you could prove such a thing, it would be hard to support that that is still the case. Technology has driven the STEM curriculum. Big tech keeps it that way. Even if not intentionally.

The public school system is the domain of the left. The left drives STEM. The right approves.

Hard to pin the creation of obedient one dimensional worker bees on the the right. That's a whole different ideology and politic there. It is certainly someone's goal right here and right now though.