The test results determining funding def needs to be looked at, because in the best case scenario the incentive will be to prepare just for those tests (which is not good since it skews what kids are learning and why they are learning it), and in the worst case scenario you have what is happening which is academic fraud.
This wouldn’t be an issue if high standards were being upheld, but if funding money is all that matters who cares about standards?
In the middle of this terrible month - a month made to shamble through, a month which must be endured - I received a far smaller piece of bad news. Simon’s Rock, the weird little college for weird kids where I spent a weird year and a half, will soon cease to exist in its current form.
In the words of Steely Dan, I’m never going back to my old school. And in a time of global-scale fear and uncertainty, this all feels oddly personal. At the same time, the death of Simon’s Rock also feels indicative of broader cultural trends, like a mutant canary dropping dead in the depths of a mine.
But you probably haven’t heard of Simon’s Rock. That’s a sentence that makes me sound like a totally insufferable alt-rock blogger in 2004. Regardless: let me explain.
All these experimental colleges are going to go away…they’ll either fold or go the way of New College down in FL…
When I was in high school, I had some sort of informational catalogue/booklet of various private colleges around the US. They were all unaffordable for me, but I remember finding some really cool sounding places.
Yeah, that’s part of the problem - these schools are often private, so unaffordable for most people. I had friends who went to Hampshire up in MA, and while my friend was lucky to have two college professors for parents, the other got in on a scholarship (his family didn’t have much $$$). But much of the rest of the student body came from wealth and privilege. They shared a house with Eugene Roddenberry’s (Gene and Majel’s son) girlfriend! But that model is only going to reinforce class hierarchies. What made the New College unique was that it was a publicly funded school, meaning it was more accessible. There’s Cooper’s Union, too, which is private, but until 2014, offered everyone accepted free tuition. I think they’ve tried to do that again this past year, but I don’t know if their model can sustain that?
I love the idea of experimental schools and for changing our public school systems to be more human-centric and centered on more than just teaching skill, but in understanding that education is about teaching someone how to be a person in the world. I wish our entire public education system were more like a montessori model, rather than the industrial school model, which was there to give people just enough of an education to get by in the capitalist economy… But the people about to get into power want to use the educational system to indoctrinate, oppress, surveil, and bully all of us into compliance… It’s literally the exact opposite of where we need to go!!!
I keep thinking about how we’ve built up all these institutions of the capitalist and tried to bend them to more humane ends for the benefit of all of us… and that just seems like all we’ve done is given these fuckers an incredibly effective system that they can use to hurt us all…
Sorry…
From CHF730 ($830) to CHF2,190 per semester.
Students more likely to be expelled or suspended
Students who are part of marginalized communities, including students with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students, are shown to be disproportionately impacted by exclusionary school discipline policies.
“We know from research that Black children and adolescents are among those students most severely affected by expulsion and suspension,” Dr. Jain said. “When students are not in school, they are more likely to use recreational drugs, engage in fights, and carry a weapon, with potential for increased contact with the juvenile justice system. The school-to-prison pipeline places these children at increased risk of a cycle of incarceration.”
The AAP recommends an examination of these disparities as part of collaborative efforts among students, families, pediatric health care providers, educators and those involved in juvenile criminal justice reform to create alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices.
Among other findings. Expulsion is, as a tool of oppression, fairly effective. As a tool to increase safety or educational goals in school, a miserable failure. AAP is on it, but I suspect no one will care.
I wonder how long before all of us adjuncts are being replaced by AI, thanks to dipshits like this lit prof. 
So what might a relevant American music curriculum look like?
I’d begin by introducing students to the first great American musician, Francis “Frank” Johnson. Born in 1792, Johnson was a prolific composer, violinist and band leader whose life and work are rarely studied in the U.S. He’s not to be confused with Frank Johnson, born in 1789, another notable early American violinist and brass ensemble leader.
I’d continue with other significant 19th-century figures such as New Orleans pianist Basile Barès, whose music filled American dance halls after the Civil War. Or Edmond Dédé, who studied and lived in Paris, France, for years before returning to his native New Orleans.
I’d focus their attention on the Broadway composer Will Marion Cook, who studied violin at Oberlin College as a teen and later with acclaimed virtuoso Joseph Joachim in Berlin, Germany. Or on the conductor, composer and librettist Harry Lawrence Freeman, whose 21 operas remain remarkably underexplored.
And I’d never let my syllabus skip the vocal music of Margaret Bonds, the symphonic works of Julia Perry, the atonal music of Undine Smith Moore or the music theories of Roland Wiggins.
Though I’ve only scratched the surface, all of these musicians were African American – and I didn’t even mention any blues, hip-hop, Motown, rock or R&B artists.
In my opinion, Black music and musical genres have had a greater impact on the course of American music than any other style or genre. For this reason, I believe universities and music schools should integrate this music into their music curricula – and feature it prominently and proudly.
From Francis Johnson to Quincy Jones, Black music exemplifies the musical greatness the U.S. is capable of producing, for Americans and for the world.
I did take a Jazz history class, which also touched on some blues and folk. It was a phenomenal class, i think i still have my extensive notes from it. Also i’ve taken a few art history classes and one of them covered the Harlem Renaissance but i feel that could’ve gone much further. Would not have minded taking more classes where black musicians and artists made an impact.
Speaking of Oberlin…I’ve had the great good fortune to perform a number of Nathaniel Dett compositions:
So I’d add him to the list.
Let me add to that a bit:
Dett earned several degrees at prestigious educational institutions, including Oberlin College (Bachelor of Music, 1908; Honourary Doctor of Music, 1926); Howard University (Honourary Doctor of Music, 1924); and the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music, 1932). Dett studied composition in Paris with the internationally renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger, and performed at Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Dett also performed for two American presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Dett was also in demand as a teacher, and held positions at Lane College, Jackson Mississippi, 1908-1911; Hampton Institute, Virginia, 1913-1932; Samuel Houston College, Austin, TX, 1935-1937; and Bennett College, Greensboro, NC, 1937-1942. Nathaniel Dett was dedicated to the cause of Black music, winning the Bowdoin and Frances Boott prizes in 1920 from Harvard University for his paper The Emancipation of Negro Music, and for his motet, “Don’t Be Weary, Traveller.”
So, he WON the composition prizes at Harvard in 1920, but when they discovered he was Black, they refused to perform the piece that won (which was one of the prize stipulations). They finally performed it for the first time over a hundred years later:
If you go looking, you’ll notice that there’s no mention anywhere about that bit of history.
