The Lesson of the "Music Man"
Since childhood, my favorite musical production has been “The Music Man”. It is also one of two musicals which I performed in. When you can’t sing, it is hard to be cast in plays which require singing. Anyway, it is a story of a con man that visits small towns and convinces the local population their children need to play in a band. He promises instruments, uniforms, and musical instruction which he knows nothing about. Money is collected; and in a few weeks instruments and uniforms are delivered. The “professor” [as he calls himself] skips town before the parents realize their children are unable to play one musical note and he was no more a music instructor than the ‘man in the moon’.
The initial hook used by Professor Harold Hill was he convinced parents that each of their children possessed a unique musical talent. For instance, one child had an extended pinkie which was perfect to reach the spit-valve of a b-flat euphonium; or another child because his name was Irish had the genetic gift of all great trumpet players; or two children who were monotone had the gift of perfect pitch. The “professor” knew full well that parents deep down want to believe their children are extremely brilliant and talented. And they are willing to pay, almost without question, large amounts of money to anyone who will verify those beliefs. To the unsuspecting parent, it was a matter of where do I sign and how much. When it came time for the children’s initial music instruction, the professor, who had no music ability himself, touted a revolutionary teaching system called the “think system”. You didn’t need to memorize notes or even learn the fingering of the instrument; all you needed was to think the melody in your head and eventually it would transform to the fingers and melodic sound would be created. The “old way” of teaching music was now passé. And if ever questioned about the obvious lack of “real music”, all that was required was to reinforce the parent’s initial belief by profoundly stating the great progress their little student was making. When parents finally start asking the question, “Where is the band?” it was time to hit the rails in search of other victims.
Today more and more parents are asking, “Where is the education?” We are being told, as recently as the last school board meeting by Annette Cook and the Superintendent, that the instruction of yesteryear is being replaced by today’s “think method”. No need for rote memorization of math facts or English with emphasis on grammar, punctuation, and spelling or no need to study the foundations of our country in history. After all the methods of teaching for hundreds or even thousands of years, which saw us go from the horse and buggy to the moon, is no longer applicable. We are told repeatedly about our quality of education. Look at the facts and who would dare question the talents of your own children. After all, 75% of high school seniors and 66% of all high school students are on the honor roll. Standardized tests show high levels of advancement for tenth-graders where 84%,76%,and 76% are considered advanced or proficient in reading, language arts, and math respectively. As I commented several days ago, if our students are so proficient; then why are the ACT scores not only falling over the last five years but no higher than 22.7. These are not scores one would expect from A-B students. The following two stories may highlight what more and more people are suspecting about the “think method”: CNN story about the gap between national test scores and state scores CNN story and the admission by a River Falls administrator about the lowering of state standards. River Falls story
Lowering standards [which translate to higher student achievement] two pages of honor roll, and pictures of students on every page of the paper are all guises to ensure that parents will continue to fund and support government education. It isn’t just parents who have been bamboozled; many teachers have also fallen prey to the spellbinder of state run education. How long will it take before we all realize that the only instrument being played is us.
Mark Pribonic @ OnTheBorderLine
The initial hook used by Professor Harold Hill was he convinced parents that each of their children possessed a unique musical talent. For instance, one child had an extended pinkie which was perfect to reach the spit-valve of a b-flat euphonium; or another child because his name was Irish had the genetic gift of all great trumpet players; or two children who were monotone had the gift of perfect pitch. The “professor” knew full well that parents deep down want to believe their children are extremely brilliant and talented. And they are willing to pay, almost without question, large amounts of money to anyone who will verify those beliefs. To the unsuspecting parent, it was a matter of where do I sign and how much. When it came time for the children’s initial music instruction, the professor, who had no music ability himself, touted a revolutionary teaching system called the “think system”. You didn’t need to memorize notes or even learn the fingering of the instrument; all you needed was to think the melody in your head and eventually it would transform to the fingers and melodic sound would be created. The “old way” of teaching music was now passé. And if ever questioned about the obvious lack of “real music”, all that was required was to reinforce the parent’s initial belief by profoundly stating the great progress their little student was making. When parents finally start asking the question, “Where is the band?” it was time to hit the rails in search of other victims.
Today more and more parents are asking, “Where is the education?” We are being told, as recently as the last school board meeting by Annette Cook and the Superintendent, that the instruction of yesteryear is being replaced by today’s “think method”. No need for rote memorization of math facts or English with emphasis on grammar, punctuation, and spelling or no need to study the foundations of our country in history. After all the methods of teaching for hundreds or even thousands of years, which saw us go from the horse and buggy to the moon, is no longer applicable. We are told repeatedly about our quality of education. Look at the facts and who would dare question the talents of your own children. After all, 75% of high school seniors and 66% of all high school students are on the honor roll. Standardized tests show high levels of advancement for tenth-graders where 84%,76%,and 76% are considered advanced or proficient in reading, language arts, and math respectively. As I commented several days ago, if our students are so proficient; then why are the ACT scores not only falling over the last five years but no higher than 22.7. These are not scores one would expect from A-B students. The following two stories may highlight what more and more people are suspecting about the “think method”: CNN story about the gap between national test scores and state scores CNN story and the admission by a River Falls administrator about the lowering of state standards. River Falls story
Lowering standards [which translate to higher student achievement] two pages of honor roll, and pictures of students on every page of the paper are all guises to ensure that parents will continue to fund and support government education. It isn’t just parents who have been bamboozled; many teachers have also fallen prey to the spellbinder of state run education. How long will it take before we all realize that the only instrument being played is us.
Mark Pribonic @ OnTheBorderLine
posted by Anonymous @ 1:20 PM
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