READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/21/secret-bach-teenage-thug
Might the public school system be instrumental in producing our culture of street violence and drug use in cities across the U.S? A recent review of school records from Germany (1700’s) has shown similar gang problems, weapons and substance abuse (gin and beer back then).
However from the swirl of chaos and non-conformity J.S. Bach emerged and soared to such musical heights that he is seen by some to have put a glass against the walls of heaven and allowed us to eavesdrop on their enchanting melodies.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner , writer and conductor says biographers in the past have been so “overawed” by Bach’s compositions that they have presented a misleading image of the man, depicting him as a “paragon of rectitude, studious and dull”. Gardner is of the opinion that they did so because of “the false assumption that music of such extraordinary and sublime quality must have come from somebody who was beyond criticism”… and went to a good school!
Gardiner is the founder and artistic director of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, recently voted “best choir in the world”. While researching for his new book Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johan Sebastian Bach Gardiner stumbled upon records that suggest Bach and his fellow schoolchildren were not much better off than kids in any school district in America’s inner cities.
“Youth violence results in considerable physical, emotional, social, and economic consequences, and although rates of youth homicide have declined substantially since the mid-1990’s, much work remains in reducing this public health burden” according to a government report. Homicide still remains a leading cause of death among youth aged 10–24 years in the United States. Violence is also a major cause of nonfatal injuries among youth. In 2011, more than 700,000 young people aged 10–24 years were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries sustained from assaults. No state is immune to the devastating impact of youth violence.
READ MORE:
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/stats_at-a_glance/index.html
Death is not the only consequence of a poorly administered school system, bullying, social alienation and peer-group preasure are major concerns, as well as the poor quality of education that results from these toxic environments. When parents look to intervene in school affairs things can turn decidedly un-American…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEQmUnisDEM
In a public meeting held in Maryland on September 19th Superintendent Dallas Dance sat and watched a concerned parent, Robert Small (though his question was big), get physically removed and arrested because he was asking a question -with the obvious support of other parents who were frustrated by the white-washing of the controversial new Federal curriculum for Maryland schools.
READ MORE:
Socrates remarked on education as “kindling a flame, not filling a vessel. He was a smart man, knew lots of stuff, used his brain, expanded his mind… and, like Bach, he let us glimpse the secret world of heaven.
Shadows In The Night and Fog 