artist4perry wrote:Tito wrote:First, what a good person. A well intended individual.
Having said that though, fuck music and arts. Jon Cain did NOT need music in the public schools. He's a natural. Did Neal need music in the classroom, I think not - the man hardly went to school. These rock/music education commercials make me puke. Most of the performers today, do not have formal training and can't even read music. It is truly a natural talent, same thing with art. Music in the schools had nothing to do with their success. I highly doubt learning "Hot Cross Buns" on a flute made them rock stars.
Also, if his school did not burn down, would he be up there advocating for this? No. Another thing, he didn't move because he couldn't step inside the new school, he moved just like all the other families did - white flight as the neighborhood changed. He would've moved even if the school didn't burn down. He had no choice, Tyrone made that decision for him and his family.
As far as the argument goes, students do better in school with music is bullshit. They're band geeks. They're the nerds of the school. If it wasn't music, it would be something else and the dorks would still get the good grades.
Finally, unfortunately, judging by his views on this topic and other things in the past, I would say Mr. Cain is probably to the left...which disappoints. I figured he was a democrat but a blue collar-Reagan Democrat, which would be ok. Now, I think Hollywood got a hold of him and he's too far to the left. So, though I think he's a good person and I respect him (and could probably work with him in a bi-partisan fashion on certain issues), I would NOT vote for him. Sorry Jon.
Tito, this is about the dumbest thing you have ever said, well next to all the racist remarks you have made in the past.

Arts are needed in our schools desperately. I am an art nerd in your eyes I guess. I have seen art take children from disadvantaged homes and give them a way to express and deal with the pain. Children who struggle mightily with fitting in with A-holes who think they are better than poor kids turn to music for a way to express loneliness. No thanks to turds who think like you. Bite me. This is where your lack of heart has gone too far.
Spot on, hon! Agree with you 100% (I love it when we agree! So much better than agreeing not to!

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Tito, you're forgeting something - the point of teaching kids music, art - hell, reading, writing and mathematics - isn't to produce geniuses. It's to give children the foundations to be competant, healthy adults, able to make their way in the world. Not every child who learns to write is going to become an author, not every child who learns the basics of economics is going to become a millionaire, not every child who learns to play an instrument is going to become a rock star. But writing fan fic, or stories for their kids, or enough to put together an interesting post on the internet gives a lot of people satisfaction. Knowing how to do basic mathematics, how to work out a budget, makes a huge difference in people's lives. Being able to take some time to sit down, do a few sketches, play around with paint or pencils, it's something that people enjoy, even though they may only ever do it for themselves.
I learned to play the recorder, through my school, at age 6. I took flute lessons at 11 for 2 years, and cello for one year at 13. What did that give me? Well, it gave me the impetous to teach myself to read music at 7, to teach myself to learn tab and play the guitar at 21. I knew enough about how music work, about scales and chords, that from the age of 9, I could start picking out melodies on my step mother's piano. I don't know how to teach myself to play chords and anything more complex on a piano than simple one line melody, but I'd love to learn, and for that I'll need a teacher. I envy my friends who can sit down at the piano and just play an accompaniment to what we're singing. That isn't something I can easily work out how to do by myself, but with a teacher to show me the basics, I can expand on what I've learned.
The music lessons I did have as a child meant that I could build on the skills and knowledge I have to teach myself to play over a dozen instruments. I don't play any of them to a professional level, but it's something that gives me a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment. I have enough understanding of music theory that I can work out an acompaniment to pretty much anything I'm singing on the guitar, or one of several other stringed instruments I play, I can put together a harmony line to sing against someone else's melody, and I can understand why one thing works and something else doesn't. I write songs for myself to sing and play - maybe no one else will ever hear them, and many (most?) of them simply aren't strong enough to warrant subjecting anyone else to them, but I enjoy the process of being able to express how I'm feeling through music.
That's something I want my kids, when I have them, to have access to, to be able to enjoy and share with me and with their friends. Every child should have the opportunity to learn music, but it's not something we value enough to think of it as being essential, sadly.
Why treat life as a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive & well-preserved body? Get there by skidding in sideways, a glass of wine in one hand, chocolate in the other, body totally worn out, screaming WOOHOO! What a ride!