[ale] OT: Music Majors & Math (was Comcast speeds)

[Jeff Lightner]

Too bad it is seen as "either/or" rather than both.  When I was in
school I had a heavy emphasis on math/science but at least through 8th
grade they also had me doing music and art classes.   Oddly enough in
later science classes drawing what one saw what rather an important
skill.

I had to laugh at the comment about lack of creativity and innovative
thinking.   Those that are ardent right wingers do NOT want creativity
and innovative thinking - they simply want you to believe what they do
because they "know" they are right.

Having said that I do think while "testing" may not be a perfect measure
of effective education it is the only quantifiable one.   Resistance to
testing in my mind comes from out of control educators who have decided
it is more important that they get theirs than it is to actually do the
jobs for which they were hired.

End of rant.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Tom
To: ale at ale.org
Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 11:51 PM
To: aaron at pd.org; Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Music Majors & Math (was Comcast speeds)

On 04/03/2007 05:39:04 PM, aaron wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 April 2007 15:57, Jerald Sheets wrote:
<<snip>>
> As a general rule, music students statistically do very
> well with
> mathematics -  similar brain skills seem to be involved.
> 
> Of course, the effect of the test obsessed  "Every Child
> Abandoned"
> educational budget slashing is that  music and arts
> programs are the
> first to get the ax.  Then they get perplexed when little
> Joan and
> Johnny continue to struggle with math and seem incapable
> of innovative
> or abstract thinking.
<<snip>>
I have to admit that my perception isn't quite the same, as  
my kids got quite good music exposure coming through  
school, and the local arts community was pretty effective  
in protecting the art and music programs. Not perfect, but  
effective. Science, on the other hand, has been weak at  
best, and very poorly defended. IMHO, of course, and I  
don't really have any good references to back me up.

Other than that, the comments regarding "Every Child  
Abandoned" is pretty much ditto squared here. You cann't  
test quality into an education, you have to work at it  
daily.
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