By David Rovics Songwriter's Notebook
Idle thoughts on growing infants and children (and burn schools)
Lately I've spent most of my time with a child - my daughter, Leila. It will have two years to the end of next month. Often they are with you from dawn until dusk, five or six days a week, while his mother attended the school of medicine. Spending all this time with her, of course, began to bind themselves to me, and it is contagious. In his presence are often in a state of mild euphoria, accompanied by emotional fragility. As if I knew to be very little new here, but until it does no harm, the world is essentially a fascinating and exciting place, there to be constantly rediscovered.
He spent a short time when it is left breathless for opportunities that impressed. These days are more likely to applaud vigorously and scream "yay!" repeatedly, or yelling the word relevant to the event which has impressed as "milkshake", "jelly", "dog!" etc. When something impresses but perhaps not quite enough to make it start to applaud and shout, like last week, seeing a dog running at breakneck speed and then leapt into the air to catch a ball in the air, often says, "is out. " He learned from his babysitter fantastic punk-rock, Hannae. He learned from other expressions Hannae, and uses all depending on context. When a friend and I were both taking one of the hands of Leila make it "fly" through the air, she said "are strategic happy."
Even with many other expressions, he knows what he's talking about, but the formula as questions rather than statements, because there are phrases often heard and appear to be associated with certain activities. For example, if I go out the back door of my apartment makes its way towards me saying "are you coming here?". It means "I'm coming." One by one, these "questions" start to get statements such as if you begin to understand what each is. Just as "Shoom" becomes "smoothie" [shake, ndt], and "Eya" became "Leila."
Never has anyone tried to "teach" how to correctly pronounce his name. No one has ever tried to explain the difference between a statement and a question. Understand them "on his own, living, interacting with people, watching, listening, trying things and seeing what happens. Rarely is whipped from his mistakes.
Lately I've noticed that sometimes, when he developed expectations about how something works and then not supposed to be like her, this can be a source of frustration. For example, came to believe that when you put your pants, those will remain there until she removes them. Recently had a pair of pants too big, and they kept caderle legs and always had to pull them up, so after a while 'is made to scream in frustration. (And I promised to try harder than ever to dress in clothes that go well).
But generally the world is new and unexplored, and thanks to a free and creative approach to everything, fascinated by much of what he encounters in the world, applying the scientific method to every new situation, Leila grows. The more time I spend with the children, the more I am convinced that at the beginning are all as Leila - brilliant, gracious, full of enthusiasm for life, full of desire to discover and enjoy the world, to understand everything there is to understand, learn each new language they encounter.
Leila speaks two languages, mainly - his mother's native French and my English. Mischia francese ed inglese con chiunque parli, ma per la maggior parte si sintonizza al linguaggio che usano le persone e ricorre a quello. Dopo un po' impara tutte le stesse parole ed espressioni di entrambe le lingue, ma per il primo periodo una nuova parola o espressione sarà solo in una delle due. "Cheese" di solito è ancora "mage" (da "fromage"), "pants" di solito sono "pantalon". Alcune cose che la eccitano particolarmente impara a dirle in entrambe le lingue, e più immediatamente delle altre, nella speranza che una di queste parole funzionerà e qualcuno le darà un po' di "gelato" ("glas", "helado").
Poco tempo fa la mia amica Reiko è venuto a farmi visita dal Giappone. La incoraggiavo to speak Japanese with Leila. With the heat excited to Reiko, I was sure it would not matter what language he was talking to Leila. Leila looked even more enlightened when he heard speak Japanese Reiko. It was as if he was thinking "I never heard people talk like that before! E 'new and exciting! Let's see, I will repeat what he says and see what happens, I'll see how people react, I'll see what this means, that lover ...". Within a few hours he had learned "Oishi" (yummy) and "moshi-moshi" ("hello" when answering the phone). Pleasant
new people, good food and telephones are all very interesting, so of course those are good words to learn for the first in any new language. What do the adults - and even more what they do in older children - is automatically interesting. Going up and down the stairs, and put off his clothes, talking (especially talking on the phone), reading, writing. Other things are fun of them, like swimming or taking a bath, playing in the park, or drinking milk shakes. From the perspective of Leila, it seems that all these things should be done often and well, if there are things that require skill, and some more some less, they all do.
When Leila meets something he wants to master, as, for example, go up and down the stairs, there is about a scientist who is playing. It enjoys the efforts, successes, and never seems to worry about the "failures", which is clearly seen as learning experiences. Unless they cause physical pain or fear of pain, as when it falls down stairs or be close to falling and needs to be saved (in very rare occasions when it is really stumbled, I was usually close enough not to fall for more than one step). But in the case of physical pain, to be dropped or banged against something, usually cries for a moment or two, wants a quick hug, and then want to get off and go back to what he was doing and that caused the damage, to understand what went wrong and how to do better.
The emotional pain is much worse, worse even than when Leila me jumping over my belly. When he recently realized that I was taking a plane to be away several weeks (on tour) was upset and cried for a bit strong '. In a couple of occasions her mother's cat, Oliver, has pulled of the legs being tired of being pestered. It 's a bit moody as they are often the cats, and not very friendly to children. Usually if you just slips away angry she tries to pet it for a few seconds, but sometimes tolerate it for a bit 'more, and sometimes still use the claws instead of scram. Leila did not like it go, but when the scratch seems to feel devastated and betrayed. When cries for something like in these cases seems to want me to know what the upset, così l'ultima volta che è successo, nel bel mezzo dei suoi singhiozzi, diceva "Miao! Miao".
Sentivo di voler piangere con lei e ridere di lei allo stesso tempo, ma non ho fatto nessuna delle due. Quando piange sento di doverla stringere, e di solito le piace. Ma l'ultima volta che il gatto le ha tirato una zampata non era quello che voleva. Mentre stava ancora piangendo e si sentiva ovviamente ferita da Oliver, voleva che le cose funzionassero con lui. Non se ne era ancora andato, e lei voleva cercare di capire cosa era successo. La verità è, se lo capisse, che lei non era la prima, perché quel gatto graffia chiunque prima o poi. Il resto di noi, semplicemente, non ne è particolarmente preoccupato, perché sappiamo che è un gatto e i gatti possono essere così (e comunque non fa mai uscire sangue dagli umani, a differenza di alcuni altri gatti che ho conosciuto).
Che le cose siano difficili o facili, potenzialmente doloroso o meno, Leila ci si immerge. Nessuno ha mai dovuto "insegnarle" come fare queste cose. Nessuno l'ha mai incoraggiata ad imparare cose nuove, semplicemente fa delle cose nuove tutto il tempo per amore della vita e per una passione ovvia, non celata, nei confronti del mondo. Nessuno le ha detto del metodo scientifico o del capire le cose - il suo piccolo cervello ha fatto tutto da solo, fin dall'inizio.
Durante il suo primo anno viveva in una casa senza scale. Quando stava ancora capendo come camminare, we were passing some months in a place with the stairs. The stairs became a primary source of enchantment. At first, someone always looked like a hawk, but rarely is necessary, and soon it was clear that Leila did not want to do things that could result in her tumble. He wanted desperately to be able to go up and down stairs with no hands are as big, but he knew he could not do it alone, so she wanted to take someone's hand and go up and down that way. At least his hands did not touch the stairs seemed to be thinking. But he wanted to be able to climb stairs without help, so sudden and he endeavored to climb in one direction and another going backward. He tried to go on seat, but did not seem to work well, so eventually decided to go back. When he was ready to start climbing the stairs, holding onto the railing, he did, and successfully. After a while, 'he began to climb the stairs without keeping anything. It is challenging to do every single step until it seemed safe, without ever somebody were to say 'do this' or' do not do that "or" is dangerous "," be careful ", etc..
Leila is also learning to play the ukelele in the same way. I never "taught" how to do it, like strumming or plucking the strings etc. Simply put, the sound often for our pleasure in my (our) apartment. I have many around, and obviously they are small enough perché un bambino possa suonarli. A volte ne prende uno mentre ne sto suonando un altro, ma più spesso prende quello che stavo suonando io dopo che l'ho messo giù. Non ha ancora iniziato a toccare le corde, ma lo tiene nella solita posizione (come faccio io), una mano sul manico e l'altra che suona le corde. Le pizzica una ad una o le strimpella, e a volta canta, pure. Canta magnificamente, raggiunge toni alti, e potrebbe avere un'intonazione perfetta (Non ho cercato di capirlo per certo e non penso che importi se ce l'abbia o meno). Le piace la musica, e spesso la esige. Ho sempre una chitarra disposta nel suo stand in soggiorno. Leila si dirige verso la chitarra e strimpella candidamente le corde (solo una volta ne ha accidentalmente fatta a fall, and it is quite easy with those little three-legged support for guitars), saying "I play music?".
Ours is a symbiotic relationship. We are always doing something we enjoy together. If you're doing something obsessively for a half hour climb up and down like a new scale a hundred times or so (demonstrating that children do not have a brilliant range of low care if they are taken from what they are doing), while I read the news on the AP and decorated my new phone, when it's done and wants to do something more interactive, put the phone in your pocket and do something else. It seems to me that there is a particular reason why we should do things that do not like one of the two, because there are many things that appeal to both. Often, finding activities of mutual interest leads me to learn new things.
For example, I play music for a living, and it is good practice to play, write songs, etc. (And it's also good that I answer my mail regularly, so I reserve big concerts and such, but is so boring for Leila I only do it when to sleep). Usually I play the guitar with a pletro. But every time I start playing, Leila begins to focus on pletro, that is fascinating for some reason. (The innate human attraction to the instruments of all kinds, perhaps?). Once which has the pick, can play the chords for a while ', but is usually more interested in dropping into the hole and then say something like "Oh no, do not know where he went the pick! Where did the pick? ". Then I shake the guitar up and down until it pops out and Leila screams "this is it!". Then, immediately, it does fall in again.
I get bored with this game, while his mother worries that the pick could eat and choke (it seems very unlikely, but you never know, it is believed that children have these kinds of things sometimes), so I do not want give her a pletro to play. When I do, however (watching carefully to make sure it does not really decide eat), it does fall into the hole and then asks me to collect so that I can drop it again. Can I get up so that my hands and the pick is out of his reach, and it seems to me to do something bad, and when we try to time I reached to my right hand, saying "Pletro? Pletro? Pletro?". So I stopped the pick you use at home, and have greatly improved in finger-pickering, as I wanted to do for years, but somehow I had never even come close (how to learn English, and many other things).
In our travels around the city, friends and acquaintances often comment that Leila seems to be exceptionally intelligent, skilled, accustomed to life, and good nature. I think for the most part are sincere when they say, do not just try to impress the proud papa. Maybe there is a genetic factor, and certainly there are physical factors - the refined organic milk from the breast is dripped freely all evening ("tit" - which is obviously emotionally educational as it is physically), most of what you eat is organic, etc.. But most of all, I would say that his being "exceptional" on more than anything that other children are "not exceptional". That is, are held back by their parents and other adults in their lives, especially by schools. I would suggest that most parents and the vast majority of schools - public, private or "alternative" - \u200b\u200bare failing, often miserably, to allow children to be brilliant. I am sure that many parents, teachers and school administrators should be concerned much about their children, but almost everything wrong and have no idea, to be perfectly frank.
are like mad scientists trying to breed parrots in the Arctic. The parrots are still constantly freezing to death, but biologists are still trying to teach them how to fly faster, play games, learn new expressions, etc., always hoping that something of what they do help the birds to thrive, but they continue to freeze to death no matter what fanno. Iniziano a dare delle droghe agli uccelli per aumentare il loro battito cardiaco e li tengono al caldo, ma anche questo non funziona. Non si accorgono mai che ci sono aspetti fondamentali dell'ambiente in cui hanno portato gli uccelli che causano la loro morte.
Ho sempre saputo che la nostra società (intendo gli Stati Uniti, e con buona approssimazione il mondo "civilizzato" in generale) era sottosopra, ma questa consapevolezza non è mai stata così grande in me finché non ho avuto un bambino. E' pieno di buone ricerche, ignorate ed incomprese, su come adulti e bambini imparino, su come manteniamo, miglioriamo o perdiamo il nostro benessere fisico, mentale ed emotivo. Ho letto molto al riguardo di recente, ma non porterò the academic environment here, I will use my life in this world as a guide. I think it's an easier way of describing things, though. I have personally had experience of self-teaching, many years in a public school considered excellent, and many years in a fantastic alternative school. I also knew (and know) many children and adults of all ages who have grown up in a variety of environments.
begins with birth. Although the practice has been widely discredited, even by doctors that the original recommendation half a century ago, parents confine their children in a crib and let them cry until they fall asleep. Consciously or not, this is the beginning del processo di insegnamento ai bambini che essi non controllano le loro vite. La prima nozione per un bambino, la più basilare, ossia che le loro espressioni di malcontento debbano essere gestite da un adulto di qualche tipo, mette le cose in chiaro e prepara il palco per tutto quello che verrà poi. Pensavo di essere un po' in una strana bolla di... sinistra, vivendo in qualche modo ai margini della società, ma sono rimasto sorpreso nel constatare, ora che ho una bimba e sono con altri bimbi un po' più spesso. Che la pratica di lasciar piangere i neonati finché non si addormentano non è infrequente anche nel mio giro.
Dopo aver "appreso questa lezione", ossia che non controllano il loro ambiente e che il loro disagio non is particularly important within a few months in the pitch of the game, where I often find myself with my daughter. Many of the children are like Leila: they have self-confidence and self-challenge to climb things. Sometimes Leila falls for a couple of feet high. In all the parks in Portland where I was, the ground is covered with soft shavings, so it's ok. But there are always parents who try to dictate their child's every move. The playground - a place designed for children, where they can have fun - somehow turned into a source of frustration for both parent and child. The parents create unnecessary boundaries against which children are going to crash and to whom, of course, they feel compelled feeling as if it prevented them grow and learn new things (and they are right).
If Leila is doing something that a child one year older than she is not allowed to do, and then the parent of the child decide to leave it to his son what it is, say, climb a ladder (with a railing! ) often the child, reaching the end, it will say "I'm afraid." Why am I scared? Because their parents have taught them that at this age can not trust themselves. Have actually stopped their physical and emotional development, already.
And then, of course, the next step for the overwhelming majority of children out of school. Now che molti di loro hanno imparato a non fidarsi di sé stessi, sono generalmente posti in un ambiente dove chiunque abbia non più di un anno di differenza da loro, tranne l'insegnante. Al di là del tipo di scuola, il messaggio implicito è che questi ragazzi siano in questa scatola per una ragione - sono lì per "imparare", e l'insegnante è lì per "insegnare".
Le scuole alternative possono alterare con successo questa equazione fino al punto dove l'esperienza complessiva è positiva per i bambini, ne sono certo. Ma le migliori scuole alternative stanno cercando (con successo o meno) di creare un ambiente "sperimentale, gestito dal bambino". Questo è bene, perché significa che stanno cercando di ricreare il "vero mondo" in un ambiente scolastico. A causa dei diffusi pregiudizi sociali di quel che sia tradizionalmente la scuola - una sorta di rigido "noi" (studenti") e "loro" (insegnanti e dirigenti) - è un'intrinseca sfida a cercare di cambiare il modello e creare una scuola autenticamente alternativa. Ma anche se una scuola alternativa può creare una situazione dove imparare è davvero sperimentale anziché tutto un "insegnare" dall'alto, non sostituisce comunque il ricco ed infinitamente più vario ambiente che esiste al di fuori dell'edificio scolastico.
Di certo, per la maggior parte dei genitori e di quelli che si occupano di bambini, tenerli fuori della scuola non sarebbe un'opzione realistica. Forse send them to an alternative school is not as realistic, because of the costs that that implies. Do not suggest that keeping children out of school is necessarily possible or even right for everyone. But for those people who think the school environment as a necessary and important for children, I would like to be a voice that vehemently rejects this notion. No, the school is neither necessary nor important. In fact, the vast majority of time will do more harm than good. I'm talking about schools that generally call "good schools" (with the possible exception of some of the best alternative schools), not only of schools as "poor."
I know something about the topic, not I have a degree, and I am sure do not need it. I met many parents and children, adults and young people throughout the world. I am deeply accustomed to the products of a wide range of educational institutions: private, public and alternative, and I myself have spent many years studying in a "good" public school system, an excellent alternative elementary school, and in a more conventional private college .
Perhaps more importantly, I have seen (and read books), many young people who were kept out of school for most or all of their lives. They are always brilliant. Not only in terms of their critical thinking skills, but also for creative thinking, and in terms of emotional intelligence. They are alive. Often their parents do not necessarily impress me as exceptional people, in terms of academic achievement or life. Do not recognize them in line at the post office. But spending time with young people who did not go to school is a deeply compelling in itself. The ease with which they tend to interact with other kids their age, or younger, or older, or adults. Confidence and self-confidence, intelligence shining in their faces, their ease in the "adult conversation".
Many of them follow the courses at the local college in the early years of their adolescence, so often experienced with conventional educational institutions, ma è un "contatto auto-diretto", e in genere stanno solo seguendo corsi su cose a cui sono interessati, di solito cose che non vengono insegnate alle scuole superiori o che non vengono insegnate ad un livello sufficientemente avanzato.
Da quando ho avuto Leila mi sono sempre più interessato alla materia, ed ho chiesto ai molti professori universitari che conosco di raccontarmi i loro rapporti con gli studenti che sono stati tenuti fuori dal sistema scolastico fino a quel punto. Ripetutamente, mi dicono quanto siano impressionanti questi ragazzi, quanto siano più avanti dei loro compagni socialmente, intellettualmente, emotivamente.
Dalla mia esperienza con la scuola, e vedendo gli effetti della scuola sugli altri, questo makes perfect sense. What I remember is that I learned in elementary as my needs, feelings and desires did not matter. I learned that he wanted to do what the teacher was all that mattered, and I learned that it was impossible to do so. I felt lost, confused and anxious most of the time. I am sure that I was not the only one in class to feel that way. It was my first experience in a classroom with desks and all of those things was an experience and potentially destructive to the spirit.
Luckily, my parents recognized that the school was not working for me, so searched and found a wonderful alternative school that was just in our little suburb in Connecticut. His name Learning Community. After spending a bit 'of time alone, mainly to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder indottomi from public school, I found myself well in that, and I was allowed to remain more or less emotionally intact. I can only try to imagine what would have happened if I had to attend public schools or some other conventional school during this fragile period of early childhood. Certainly I would not be the person I am today.
When I came back again in a public school, from 7 to 12 years, I was excited about the experience. I wanted to see how it would be. I was interested in science and mathematics, and I felt that I would like to learn these things. Today I like to hear a good story, or a good lesson. But to hear people all day who were clearly uninterested in what they were talking about, in a class with people equally uninterested in the contents of the material was overwhelming. Day after day, week after week, year after year, I was out of my mind because of boredom. It was like being in purgatory. Do not let anything, but even I accepted that reality, and somehow survived the experience more or less intact, although it has largely lost six years potentially very formative in my life. For my sister and many of my friends, the experience of school was much worse.
I remember how, at the beginning of each year school, students were given the opportunity to choose a part of their program. Every year, many or most of the courses were mandatory, but at least you could choose between "Introduction to Physics" or "Introduction to Chemistry" (forget about astronomy, anthropology and other subjects for children potentially affected). You could choose between the history of Western European or U.S. history (always taught, of course, from the perspective of the rich white slave murderers of Indians, and you could forget about learning the history of Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa or the ' Asia). You could choose between the French and English, taught by non-native speakers. I am sure that there was more than a handful of students was even close to a level of conversation when they graduated, and I am sure that most of them were also students who were abroad. But we were given a choice, and that was exciting. As I realized later, was the only time of year when we were actually given a choice, and this was essentially between Tweedledum and Tweedledee pinch-pinch.
was so in the early '80s in one of the best-funded school systems in one of the wealthiest cities in one of the richest countries of the United States, a "good school" according to most prospects. In fact, my parents moved to Wilton from New York City mainly because of the school as it was there.
But even if the teachers had been (at least at some point in their career) interested in what they did and they were talking about, I still think that the hierarchical structure, teacher-oriented education to be the essential problem. The school teaches you that you need teachers to learn. This takes energy and spirit. The widespread but false idea is that you need to study "Algebra I" before they can study "Algebra II" before being able to study computer programming or astronomy, rather than learning algebra through the study of something that is potentially interesting or practical , as is the computer programming o l'astronomia. Impariamo che per imparare qualcosa di davvero interessante prima devi annoiarti a morte per anni studiando altre cose. La gratificazione è sempre posticipata.
Nei corsi di lingua, per esempio, gli insegnanti non iniziano nemmeno cercando di far parlare i ragazzi finché non hanno dato loro un anno di test di grammatica e vocabolario. Con questo tipo di irreggimentazione è una bella domanda perché nessuno impari mai qualcosa.
Spesso la gente considera i sistemi di istruzione pubblica europei come molto superiori alle scuole pubbliche statunitensi. Ho passato molto tempo in tutta Europa e conosciuto molti giovani ed anziani europei, e per molte ragioni concordo che, per esempio, il sistema scolastico tedesco sia much better than ours. But having spent a lot of time in the second city in Germany, the great cosmopolitan city of Hamburg, I could not help but notice that most Germans do not speak fluent English. Many do, usually because they have traveled extensively, lived in England, Ireland, United States, or had a boyfriend in Ireland or the like. But for those who have not had these experiences, despite the vast majority of them has graduated from public schools in Germany and has studied English for ten years, have never reached a good level.
in Japan is even worse. Japan is widely known to have a public education system is hard, and many students study various subjects with tutors every day, even after spending long hours at school. As in Germany, Japanese students have all studied English for ten years or more. Yet, from my experience traveling in Japan last summer, it would be very generous to say that 10% of Japanese can speak English with any degree of fluency.
What explains this failure of school systems in two of the richest countries of the globe? And why the huge difference between knowledge of English in Germany compared to, say, Scandinavia or the Netherlands, where (my estimate) about 90% of the population under 60 years speaks very fluent in English? A difference is that in Scandinavia and the Netherlands many films and sitcoms on TV are from the United States. Many documentaries on the BBC. And the most commonly spoken language is English by international visitors. English is all around them every day. Experiential learning. Germany, which has a market of TV and film far Scandinavia's largest, most foreign programming is subtitled rather than dubbed, and because it's a bigger market, much of the programming is produced in Germany by Germans. (The same is true in Japan, France, Italy, etc.).
But then, perhaps the Germans and the Japanese just do not want to learn English, so non lo imparano, nonostante il fatto che venga insegnato nelle scuole quotidianamente per la maggior parte dei loro anni formativi. O dipende proprio da questo? Ecco il punto. Gli Scandinavi vogliono imparare l'inglese perché è attorno a loro nel loro ambiente non-scolastico, nel mondo reale. In Germania, l'inglese è qualcosa che viene fatto trangugiare a scuola quindi, naturalmente, molte persone lo rifiutano a priori, fanno quello di cui hanno bisogno per essere promossi, e poco più. Spesso non hanno scelta, soggetti ad una situazione profondamente frustrante, e la rifiutano perché sono umani. (Forse la rifiutano anche - ad un qualche livello - perché è la lingua dei paesi che hanno bombardato a tappeto le loro città e ucciso millions of their fellow citizens in the past).
By contrast, I spent a summer eight years ago while traveling in the U.S. with a German woman and her daughter, who was then eight years. The girl did not speak a few words of English at the beginning of summer. Eventually I spoke better than her mother. His mother has heard from some big word vocabulary that she did not know, but his mastery of pronunciation and grammar far exceeded that of the mother. For example, in late summer and met my father, this little girl knew that my father had a very slight accent from Brooklyn, something that many non-native English speakers would notice either.
So you can spend a summer traveling around the Rockies and strolling on the Navajo reservation with your mother, and achieve fluency in English, or you can go to school all your children learn English, and probably less well in the end.
And this concerns not only the much vaunted (but still ignored by most schools) receptivity of children to the learning of languages. I am convinced that we never need to lose quell'inclinazione for learning that children have. In fact, we lose quell'inclinazione to learn because the school. Those who are outside the school, according to my observations, they tend to keep that magic light to start with all children. (And probably still keep the more if they can avoid one of those office jobs that numb the mind as adults).
the Learning Community and also to the public school in Wilton, music education was totally neglected. There was the opportunity to play at school, unless you wanted to learn how to play an instrument of the fanfare of the parade for the band (so you could perform during the football games) or the group of "jazz" in high school. The enormous diversity that is the world's music was entirely absent from school, except for mutilated versions of jazz standard. (Actually, I think that both music teachers in public schools where I was were good players che amavano sinceramente la musica jazz, ma non avevano riscontro nelle istituzioni prive di vita in cui cercavano di lavorare).
I miei genitori, essendo entrambi dei musicisti classici molto affermati e professionali si aspettavano che io e mia sorella prendessimo un'educazione musicale classica. Quando entrambi raggiungemmo i nove anni circa, ricordo di aver avuto delle conversazioni con i miei genitori se mi sarebbe piaciuto prendere lezioni di musica e, se sì, quale strumento avrei voluto suonare. Mi fu data la scelta dello strumento, ma non la scelta dello stile musicale. Come a scuola, dove ti viene detto che devi studiare algebra prima di studiare astronomia, i miei genitori sentivano che dovevi avere un'educazione musicale classica se volevi go somewhere with music. My dear mother used to say (even if it's been a long) that if I really wanted to upset her when I grew up, or I could enlist in the army or become a rock musician. (She does not recall having ever said and, in all honesty, I could be invented). My parents always said that I was not given the name of taking it from someone in particular, but I always felt that was a virtuoso cellist and a family friend named David Wells. On the other loved his music, was passionate and so darned good. I do not remember my exact thought process, at the time, but the cello was the instrument I chose. (My sister, who was named by a great flutist, chose to play the flute when it was his turn to choose an instrument.)
Despite two of my three teachers of the cello were outrageously good players, and people really attached, and teachers were very lenient, cello I ever took, and basically I was overwhelmed by the pressure. I do not remember when I understood fully then, but it was the basic lack of choice in the whole situation that I found oppressive. Practicing the cello became a source of friction in the house.
After five years, I quit. It took me many years without playing anything before felt the urge to explore music on my own. I am sure that growing up with music and musicians was one thing positive, in terms of having the great live music around me all the time, and in terms of the example that my parents and their friends put such established musicians. In fact, one of my most positive memories of music when I was a child when my father and me We wanted to play the piano together, and he invented stories about dinosaurs, playing the piano for background music and sound effects. And there were many, many other positive aspects in my home environment in terms of providing a rich cultural experience, among other things, but have some formal music lessons was not among them.
I took a couple of dozens of formal lessons on bass and guitar, but for the most part I "taught myself." Then I began to understand more clearly that education "formal" was not that great. For authors and musicians that I met personally, as Jim Page, and listening to the words of other masters such as Utah Phillips, I learned that the way that many of the authors and musicians that I had come to revere had learned their art was immersed in the musical traditions in they were interested, and then writing songs while still listening to other music and be part of the tradition (involute) to which they belonged. My "music teacher", essentially, was that the music itself, I'd bet, is the best teacher of all, with your ears, hands and mind.
"Teaching alone" In this way, I became a professional enough said. If this were unusual, not worth noticing. But actually I'm pretty sure it's the norm. I have no statistics, but I'd be surprised if more than a small percentage of people living with music had a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Julliard, etc..
learned to read and write and doing it with my parents, like most people. (As has been well documented by authors such as Jonathan Kozol, very few children of illiterate parents really learn to read in school, demonstrating once again the failure of many schools to do something that could be called "teaching" because if no one learns, no one is teaching!). Other skills I learned as a child that I still use, such as typing, organizing mailing lists, and using computers, I learned at home with the help of my father and workshops that he and my mother were running. The rest of what I know how to do things, how to book concerts, I have learned watching other people did. About all I know about current events, I learned outside of school, reading books on my own, or books recommended by people who knew things that I wanted to know too. In all my years of school I barely learned anything of value to the college, where I had a couple of good Marxist professors. I am currently writing
una guida fai-da-te su come scrivere canzoni, suonare musica e prenotarsi i propri concerti, per la PM Press. Potrei farla molto più lunga includendo un sacco di racconti autobiografici su come una certa canzone sia stata scritta o su come ottenni un concerto o di come fu il primo tour in un tal paese, etc, ma poiché si tratta di una guida, con trucchi del mestiere e simili, non è molto lunga. Spero che sarà utile alle persone, ma il messaggio di fondo del libro per fare una qualunque di queste cose è lavorare con altre persone che le fanno bene, seguire il loro esempio, e poi provarci da soli, e continuare ad imparare da altre persone e imparare dalle proprie esperienza.
Le mie memorie dell'infanzia possono essere vaghe, ed I certainly had a positive experience ala Learning Community as a child, but I find it interesting that one of my most vivid memories of time spent at school is when one parent was found with a flat tire. With the encouragement of the teacher, my whole class was empty and headed to the parking lot. One of the older boys had the qualities of mechanical, and many others, all learned at home. He changed the tire with the rest of us that helped a bit 'or just watching. Even though I was only one of those who watched, was a memorable event, I think because it was something that happened in the real world, outside school (even if just out of school).
I'm quite certain that one of the many, many people who do not learn well in environments forced, artificial, but flourish in learning environments in the real world. One reason why this makes sense is that humans have made use of experiential learning with great success for much longer than we had in schools. Even today, in the Kalahari desert or the Amazon comes, you'll find teenagers with enough botanical knowledge to fill several encyclopedias. In small towns you'll find inland Scottish teenager who saved a thousand tones that can sound beautifully with five different musical instruments, none of whom learned in school.
I think of these things, I think of the devastating things for the soul that the majority of schools the most students, I see how brilliantly Leila has learned so much without having yet two years old, and I do not know what to say to the many people I met who are against the idea of raise a child without an education "formal." If my daughter really wanted to go to a school of some kind, it would look good and let him try. And if he did not want? I do not send them to school any more than imprison them.
As a professional musician who is happy enough to live above the poverty line, are very privileged and I know that is not easy to figure out how to dispense with the school for everyone. Schools work well in many, many ways in modern society (post) industrial, and obviously not only the schools suck, but most of the work that people end up having to do. But for those of us that the company has some serious flaw to be fixed, I'd say figure out what to do about the whole concept of school would be a good starting point. And, meanwhile, those of us who can, may choose to keep their children away from school and give them the encouragement and opportunities to live and learn and pursue their interests .
It seems to me that children need teachers because there are so many bullies. I think that they need is fun, friendly and talented friends of all ages, who know a lot of things. And trees, grass, and libraries.
David Rovics
Source: http://songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/
Link: http://songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com/2007/12/raising-leila.html
21.12.2007
Translated by CHARLES MARTINI for www.comedonchisciotte.org and http://scuolalibera.blogspot.com/
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