I made a music video that expresses my feelings toward Public School.

[thehellgate911]

I made a music video about Public School, using the track "Auschwitz-Birkenau" from the Schindler's List Soundtrack, as the music.

I use this music because I think that School is one of the most evil creations ever. It ruins children, and the damage is permanent. They come out of high school completely brainwashed, having negative views on life, and a very cynical attitude.

In school, people are taught that you go through school, then college, and then you get a job.

Do people even realize that some of the people in the world ARE company owners, and multi-billionaires? The attitude that school plugs into the minds of the youth is that the people at the top are bad, and that you have no hope of getting up there anyway, so you want to get a job.

Why work for someone else? Get people to work for you! Get rich doing what you're good at! The brainwash is colossal and catastrophic. Not only negative opinions are set in their minds, but they are also taught to believe without questioning, to obey orders without reason, and to succumb to peer pressure and majority vote.

High school is the worst part. In high school, teens are completely neglected, and left to rot in the shadows of what their life could have been without the incalculable amount of damage that school imposes on them. Only teens with really good homes come out of high school with little to no emotional or mental damage taken.

It's because of places like Public School, that someone like Hitler had such an easy time riling up a country into his cause and making them believe that they should take over the world and kill jews, gypsies, disabled people etc.

The American government and school system are running on the same principals as the old Germanic philosophies. Sooner or later, this country will become a Fascist country, and 50 years later, people will be asking themselves "Why didn't they see it coming?" the same way we ask that question about the German youth back then. The answer is, some of us did see it coming. I am one of them.

Hitler could not have done what he did if he didn't have the cooperation of an entire nation, and the nation was only susceptible to such brainwash because of school!

American Public School is just as bad, and the video that I just put together is a pure expression of my feeling about public school. The music describes what's REALLY happening, what's happening inside the minds of these innocent children. The music doesn't describe what's happening on the outside, physically.

People have told me "It's just footage of kids inside classrooms, set to dramatic music that doesn't fit it," and I say about those people, that this is the exact point that my video is trying to make. If people don't even find it scary anymore, that a large group of identically aged, identically dressed people sit in a room being taught stuff they don't care about, then that's simply because they are fully in the brainwash of the system.

The image of a high school classroom, full of symmetrical rows of identically aged people, is terrifying, and it should appear terrifying to anyone who is even remotely aware of what I have just expressed.

Here is the link to the video. If you didn't read everything I wrote in here, you might not understand the video. But here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHJ59PGLdvQ

[SDW2001]

I made a music video about Public School, using the track "Auschwitz-Birkenau" from the Schindler's List Soundtrack, as the music.

I can't watch the video at the moment, but let me address some points as a public school teacher of 9 years:



I use this music because I think that School is one of the most evil creations ever. It ruins children, and the damage is permanent. They come out of high school completely brainwashed, having negative views on life, and a very cynical attitude.

A tad bit hyperbolic, no? One of the most Evil creations, ever? I do agree that there is some "brainwashing" or at least indoctrinating going on. That I'm with you on. However, it's certainly not "fascist" brainwashing...it's liberal indoctrination.



In school, people are taught that you go through school, then college, and then you get a job.

Do people even realize that some of the people in the world ARE company owners, and multi-billionaires? The attitude that school plugs into the minds of the youth is that the people at the top are bad, and that you have no hope of getting up there anyway, so you want to get a job.

Why work for someone else? Get people to work for you! Get rich doing what you're good at! The brainwash is colossal and catastrophic. Not only negative opinions are set in their minds, but they are also taught to believe without questioning, to obey orders without reason, and to succumb to peer pressure and majority vote.

Well, that's not really school that teaches you that...it's society and the norms we've established. And, who's to say one can't make money at something he's good at while employed by another person? Is Donovan McNabb one of these brainwashed suckers you speak of because he's employed by the Eagles?

You're also not looking at the issue practically. People need to make a living. Sometimes working for someone else, at least temporarily, is the option. There are also fields that one pretty much has to work for someone else, such as mine. Where else can I teach the number of kids I do? Where else can I do that AND make the money I do?



High school is the worst part. In high school, teens are completely neglected, and left to rot in the shadows of what their life could have been without the incalculable amount of damage that school imposes on them.

That's a very vague statement. I'd like to know what, specifically, that means. For example, how are they neglected? What does "what their life [sic] could have been" mean?


Only teens with really good homes come out of high school with little to no emotional or mental damage taken.

Unsupported. In fact, I can anecdotally point to students who have done well in spite of their circumstances.


It's because of places like Public School, that someone like Hitler had such an easy time riling up a country into his cause and making them believe that they should take over the world and kill jews, gypsies, disabled people etc.

The American government and school system are running on the same principals as the old Germanic philosophies.

Specifically?




Sooner or later, this country will become a Fascist country, and 50 years later, people will be asking themselves "Why didn't they see it coming?" the same way we ask that question about the German youth back then. The answer is, some of us did see it coming. I am one of them.

Hitler could not have done what he did if he didn't have the cooperation of an entire nation, and the nation was only susceptible to such brainwash because of school!

You're comparing the American system to the tools of Hitler's Germany. Wow...Godwin's law in the first post of a thread. Take some sort of medication.




American Public School is just as bad,


While it has MAJOR problems that I plan to write a book on someday, it is not "as bad."

and the video that I just put together is a pure expression of my feeling about public school. The music describes what's REALLY happening, what's happening inside the minds of these innocent children. The music doesn't describe what's happening on the outside, physically.

How would you know what's happening inside their minds....in minds other than your own?



People have told me "It's just footage of kids inside classrooms, set to dramatic music that doesn't fit it,"


How many people? Hmmm. ;)


and I say about those people, that this is the exact point that my video is trying to make. If people don't even find it scary anymore, that a large group of identically aged, identically dressed people sit in a room being taught stuff they don't care about, then that's simply because they are fully in the brainwash of the system.

So you object to conformity. I see. Well, I certainly understand the criticisms of compulsory education. I certainly understand the "not caring" part. Take a look at my high school math grades.



The image of a high school classroom, full of symmetrical rows of identically aged people, is terrifying, and it should appear terrifying to anyone who is even remotely aware of what I have just expressed.

Well I suppose I don't really need to see the video, because I've been there. I can understand your problem with the symmetry and conformity, etc. I have many of my own criticisms of public high schools, believe me. That said, you're just using words without really understanding their meanings...or at least you're not thinking about those meanings. It's quite, well, irresponsible, actually. "Terrifying." I would not say it's terrifying. I believe nearly all public and even private schools use some sort of grouping system as you've described. It's FAR WORSE (according to your standards) in Japan. In fact, in that system it would be you that was the problem. Guaranteed.



Here is the link to the video. If you didn't read everything I wrote in here, you might not understand the video. But here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHJ59PGLdvQ

I will try and watch it later. Not sure it's necessary. You sound quite upset and dare I say even disturbed though. Best of luck...hopefully you find what you're looking for in life. It's been my experience that people with your views change as they get older. Sometimes they even become teachers. ;)

[thehellgate911]

I will try and watch it later. Not sure it's necessary. You sound quite upset and dare I say even disturbed though. Best of luck...hopefully you find what you're looking for in life. It's been my experience that people with your views change as they get older. Sometimes they even become teachers. ;)

:lol::lol:

I really REALLY wanted to respond to your post in the same civilized manner that you responded to mind, but your idea that I might become a school teacher really cracked me up.

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed). I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

If I become a school teacher, it'll be in a different body, on a different planet, at a different time.

But not this life. Sorry.

Other than that, everything you said had a very valid point, and I admit to the vagueness of many of my statements.

[SDW2001]

:lol::lol:

I really REALLY wanted to respond to your post in the same civilized manner that you responded to mind, but your idea that I might become a school teacher really cracked me up.

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed). I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

If I become a school teacher, it'll be in a different body, on a different planet, at a different time.

But not this life. Sorry.

Other than that, everything you said had a very valid point, and I admit to the vagueness of many of my statements.

Good for you then. Really! I think that you taking this kind of initiative at your age (high school, I assume?) is great. I had many of those same qualities and views in high school.
I have actually started a book (that I work on occasionally) about the problems in our system.

I'd be interested in a more specific response to my questions though. Also, I was obviously making a tongue-in-cheek comment with the "becoming a teacher" thing ;)

[Duddits]

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed).
Care to mention any specifics?

Incidentally, why didn't you write and produce original music for the video?

I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.
I know I may just be cat, but I'm also, you could say, a musician.

Here's some unsolicited thoughts.

I have found that musicians driven by money benchmarks tend not to reach them.

Unlike you, I think school is a good thing, not a bad thing. The problem is that too many schools suck, not that school itself sucks.

I work with some pretty impressive musicians, and honestly I have to say that some are highschool dropouts! However, I would say that they are the exceptions. School helps far more than it hurts and most of the successful musicians around me either were pretty damn good students or at least met each other at school. Be every bit the rebel you want, but if you don't think you can further your musical career by going to school, you're making the biggest mistake you can make.


If I become a school teacher, it'll be in a different body, on a different planet, at a different time.

But not this life. Sorry.
Much of the work of a producer is similar to being a teacher.


Other than that, everything you said had a very valid point, and I admit to the vagueness of many of my statements.
But do you admit to them being boring? That's the cardinal sin of any musician. Boredom. If you write and produce things that are boring, you might as well go home. Maybe get a job writing background for the Home Shopping Network. But aside from that no one wants a boring little bore. School helps you not be boring.

What about you isn't boring?

[groverat]

I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

I'm planning on laughing hysterically.

[thehellgate911]

Care to mention any specifics?

Incidentally, why didn't you write and produce original music for the video?

I know I may just be cat, but I'm also, you could say, a musician.

Here's some unsolicited thoughts.

I have found that musicians driven by money benchmarks tend not to reach them.

Unlike you, I think school is a good thing, not a bad thing. The problem is that too many schools suck, not that school itself sucks.

I work with some pretty impressive musicians, and honestly I have to say that some are highschool dropouts! However, I would say that they are the exceptions. School helps far more than it hurts and most of the successful musicians around me either were pretty damn good students or at least met each other at school. Be every bit the rebel you want, but if you don't think you can further your musical career by going to school, you're making the biggest mistake you can make.


Much of the work of a producer is similar to being a teacher.


But do you admit to them being boring? That's the cardinal sin of any musician. Boredom. If you write and produce things that are boring, you might as well go home. Maybe get a job writing background for the Home Shopping Network. But aside from that no one wants a boring little bore. School helps you not be boring.

What about you isn't boring?

I was homeschooled my whole life, and I am now attending Community College for my Junior and Senior years, through a program called "Running Start" that exists only in Washington State. I'm currently in the second year of this program, my senior year, finishing up high school level math, and rapidly approaching the credits needed for my AA degree.

I started playing piano when I was 3, when I began playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Purcell on the piano by ear. I'll be uploading videos of that shortly. I began composing at age 7, and had written a few orchestral pieces including 2 classical style symphonies, by age 12. I now do alot of improvising on the piano. I can go on for hours in a new-age/classical style that people have universally seemed to love. I can also of course write out full scores of orchestral pieces, or record new multi-layer music directly on the computer as improvisation or semi-improvisation (improvisation based on a theme I composed).

Right now i'm planning on moving into the music industry first, and then getting my foot into cinema through scoring films, acting, or screenwriting. Then, eventually I want to be a Director/Producer/Composer.

I didn't write original music for the video, because John William's "Auschwitz" track perfectly described how I feel about school. If you'd like, i'll write my own music to the video. It won't take very long.

Anything else you want to know?

[rufusswan]

I was homeschooled my whole life

Well, that explains a lot concerning your 'attitude' toward schools in general.

On the music side, keep going, and keep writing. Publish, Publish, Publish. I think you find that most of us "musicians" run in deep stealth mode around here, but I'm sure you'll get lot's of responders to the thread.

Paz

[SDW2001]

I was homeschooled my whole life, and I am now attending Community College for my Junior and Senior years, through a program called "Running Start" that exists only in Washington State. I'm currently in the second year of this program, my senior year, finishing up high school level math, and rapidly approaching the credits needed for my AA degree.

I started playing piano when I was 3, when I began playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Purcell on the piano by ear. I'll be uploading videos of that shortly. I began composing at age 7, and had written a few orchestral pieces including 2 classical style symphonies, by age 12. I now do alot of improvising on the piano. I can go on for hours in a new-age/classical style that people have universally seemed to love. I can also of course write out full scores of orchestral pieces, or record new multi-layer music directly on the computer as improvisation or semi-improvisation (improvisation based on a theme I composed).

Right now i'm planning on moving into the music industry first, and then getting my foot into cinema through scoring films, acting, or screenwriting. Then, eventually I want to be a Director/Producer/Composer.

I didn't write original music for the video, because John William's "Auschwitz" track perfectly described how I feel about school. If you'd like, i'll write my own music to the video. It won't take very long.

Anything else you want to know?

Well, I would like to comment. First, I think you have a nice direction there. Not sure if you're aware, but I teach music. I've also got a masters degree in applied music and have taken several composition classes. Now, some points:

1. In think since you have not experienced public school first hand, you really must acknowledge you have a somewhat warped (pardon the word) viewpoint. To someone that was home schooled, I can imagine much of what you saw looked extraordinarily limiting and structured. You also see the bad in the system and ignore the good...and there is much of it. I'm not saying you're not entitled to an opinion. I'm just saying I think you should acknowledge that it's a relatively "shallow" opinion concerning personal experience.

2. Speaking a career musician-educator (in other words, a musician that teaches as opposed to a "music teacher" only) and occasional performer: I advise you to get a degree in composition or at least study privately with an established film composer. You will need this education to become a successful film composer/conductor/producer. I'm sure you have talent and know what you want to hear, but take it from me, that's not enough. You need someone who can teach you the various techniques, such as:

a. How to develop an appropriate melody/find the voice of your film.
b. How to alter and expand a melodic line.
c. A full blown Western Harmony (Music Theory) course or courses.
d. Meaning of common compositional terms such as: Augmentation, diminution, quartal and quintal harmony, 20th century techniques, non-western instruments, octatonic scales, serialism, pointillism, impressionism, etc.
e. A solid understanding of music history from Medival times through present day.
f. The importance of peer review and association with other young composers.


That's off the top of my head. I certainly don't mean to suggest you can't been successful in some music field without that knowledge and experience, but your likelihood of success is much higher as film/TV composer if you do have it.

[giant]

Ah, macgeek2004-6, aka too many more to name. I'm not sure having 10+ banned accounts on each forum in the apple rumors community is really the path to making 100m/yr.

[backtomac]

using the track "Auschwitz-Birkenau" from the Schindler's List Soundtrack, as the music.



Forgot how sad that music is. Couldn't watch the whole thing.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Ah, macgeek2004-6, aka too many more to name. I'm not sure having 10+ banned accounts on each forum in the apple rumors community is really the path to making 100m/yr.

:lol:

I was wondering how long it would take for him to get called out...

[Duddits]

I was homeschooled my whole life, and I am now attending Community College for my Junior and Senior years, through a program called "Running Start" that exists only in Washington State. I'm currently in the second year of this program, my senior year, finishing up high school level math, and rapidly approaching the credits needed for my AA degree.
I am sorry to hear that you were homeschooled your whole life. I'm not a big fan of that as I think much of what is valuable in school is mixing with chums. People I went to school with are everything from rock stars to dead, and what a shame it would have been had I been cloistered away from them. Going to some hybrid program at comm college sounds OK, but are these really your peers? After you graduate why not go to a decent liberal arts college where you can hang out with other people like yourself, talk about how much you hate school, learn even more reasons why you hate school, meet people who will form a critical part of your future, and enhance your chance of success in music or any other field.


I started playing piano when I was 3, when I began playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Purcell on the piano by ear.
Purcell! Were your parents playing Purcell around the house?!

It's great that you have a good ear. That's important. It can also be a double-edged sword: if you can pick stuff up easilly by ear, it spares you from having to learn on a much more intense level. There's a difference between impressing your family and friends, and developing talent.

Whose piano performances of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven (and Purcell) do you respect? Have you ever studied these composers with a great teacher? Have you played anything by Bach beyond Preludes and Fugues and Inventions? Have you played any Beethoven Sonata that hasn't been translated to Muzak? Have you had any critical feedback or real training? Have you ever analyzed the music you've played? How? Have you ever performed publicly? Have you ever performed with other people?



I'll be uploading videos of that shortly. I began composing at age 7, and had written a few orchestral pieces including 2 classical style symphonies, by age 12.
What do you mean classical style? That's about 1000 years of music. Do you mean everything is diatonic scale? How long were the pieces? What instrumentation? What's the form? Were the instruments transposing? Were they scores ever read or performed? By whom? Did you ever notate them in Sibelius or Finale? Did you ever realize them with a sequencer and samples? C'mon. Details!

I now do alot of improvising on the piano. I can go on for hours in a new-age/classical style that people have universally seemed to love.
By new-age I take it you are repeating the same pleasant-sounding phrases again and again. Pleasant. Boring. Yawn. But it's nice you stumbled on an easy musical trick. BTW, ever see koyaniskatsi?



I can also of course write out full scores of orchestral pieces, or record new multi-layer music directly on the computer as improvisation or semi-improvisation (improvisation based on a theme I composed).
That's like saying "I can shoot a ball into a basket, I can dribble the ball, I am fast on my feet. I should be in the NBA." Uhhh. OK.

Writing out a full orchestral score has little meaning if it sounds bad. Or is boring. Recording new multi-layer music into a sequencer has little meaning if its sounds bad. Or is boring. Which isn't to say Yay for you. But this gets tired pretty fast if you don't move beyond it. It's like saying "I can write letters on a piece of paper. Therefore I am a writer." Well, if you're talking about writing a great book other people will want to read, you will need to know more than how to write letters on paper. All of the composers you mentioned above studied beyond belief. What about you?


Right now i'm planning on moving into the music industry first,
What does that mean?

You want to get a job as an A&R rep for a label? If you do, your music career is over.


and then getting my foot into cinema through scoring films,
That's not the route. You need to go to music school and learn about composing, arranging, orchestration, scoring, and you have to be really really good at it, and then you work as an assistant, do student films, work your way up, and even then, you're competing against musicians who are highly talented, highly trained, highly connected, and many of them highly humble.

acting,

Did you just watch "fame" or something?

or screenwriting.

You can act, write, sing, dance, sail, produce, fly...

The whole point of school is you get to try out all this stuff. You can dabble in it and if it piques your interest, you can get all intense and serious about it and work with other people you like. Why would want to avoid that?


Then, eventually I want to be a Director/Producer/Composer.
Choose and study or fail!

I didn't write original music for the video, because John William's "Auschwitz" track perfectly described how I feel about school. If you'd like, i'll write my own music to the video. It won't take very long.
this is actually a common experience in film scoring. Unless you are a celebrity composer, a director will typically put down a scratch track of pre-recorded music that goes with the original cut prior to the film composer creating original music. The problem is many directors fall in love with the scratch track and that's what they want. The composer has to either mimic the style of the original - yuck - or come up with something so compelling and different as to convince the director to choose that over the temp track. So, having provided a temp track, why not try to write something original?

Anything else you want to know?
I am a cat, and therefore you may not take me very seriously.

But I can't take you seriously either because you haven't said anything specific that is impressive to anyone who really knows about music. For all I know, you may be talented albeit green. But you are so much in a vacuum you don't even realize it. Which isn't your fault. But you need to get out of it if you want to do this stuff and not just talk about it.

[thehellgate911]

Ah, macgeek2004-6, aka too many more to name. I'm not sure having 10+ banned accounts on each forum in the apple rumors community is really the path to making 100m/yr.

Yeah so? If I didn't want to be "found out" here, I wouldn't have posted that whole mini-biography.

I've only registered once here at appleinsider, and I plan to keep it that way. I haven't even been temporarily banned from this place, and i've never been annoying or rude here. Can we get back on topic please?

SDW2001, I have to thank you. You seem like an extremely intelligent, experienced person, and I will take seriously many of the things you've told me. I just can't help but have a negative opinion of schools when I look around and see all these girls dressed the same, talking the same, wearing the same makeup. It's as if there's some cloning process going on inside there. And it very well might be that that's simply what happens when you cram lots of people of the same age into the same place at the same time.. but that also makes it the school's fault for putting all these kids in an unnatural environment.

A few days ago, my family was watching videos of when I was 3 or 4 years old.. and I was astounded by how brilliant and perfect my parents raised me and my brothers. Everything was natural. We slept in a family bed, we all went to bed at the same time.. there was no "problems about bedtime" and "trying to put the kids to bed". We'd all just kind of wind down together like normal animals. I wasn't exposed to any harmful or brainwashing media until I was at least 10 years old. We lived out in the middle of nowhere, and me and my siblings were free to go wherever we wanted, and fully shape into the human beings that we are, free of restraint, physical or mental. It really blew my mind watching those videos.. and I sincerely thanked my parents afterwards. There was a period in there where I was angry at them for raising me in a "bubble" but now I cannot thank them enough.

I am sorry to hear that you were homeschooled your whole life. I'm not a big fan of that as I think much of what is valuable in school is mixing with chums. People I went to school with are everything from rock stars to dead, and what a shame it would have been had I been cloistered away from them. Going to some hybrid program at comm college sounds OK, but are these really your peers? After you graduate why not go to a decent liberal arts college where you can hang out with other people like yourself, talk about how much you hate school, learn even more reasons why you hate school, meet people who will form a critical part of your future, and enhance your chance of success in music or any other field.


You asked way too many questions for me to answer right now. I've got chemistry class in 10 minutes. I'll write you a PM when I get home.

[Duddits]

Well, I would like to comment. First, I think you have a nice direction there. Not sure if you're aware, but I teach music. I've also got a masters degree in applied music and have taken several composition classes.
"Applied music"?

In what way is music applied?

Is that a way to describe music in the service of another art form (e.g. film music)?

Does that mean there is some music that is purely theoretical?

There is, of course, that piece by John Cage that takes something like 10,000 years to perform, each note performed every hundred years. I suppose that's kind of theoretical, although it is currently in performance...

[rufusswan]

.. and I was astounded by how brilliant and perfect my parents raised me and my brothers.

Yes, I'm sure perfection was achieved. As advice, I would suggest that you print this thread out when it concludes and place the copy in a safe. Ten years from now you can re-read it and I guarantee that you will notice that many changes have taken place in your relationship with the universe. Reality has a tendency to either blunt or sharpen the edges of the sword you wield.

SDW's advice was reasonably sound. I am however reprimanding myself for the "deep stealth" comment. No milk and cookies before bed for me tonight!

Sir Hellgate, please post a link to some music for me. No vids, just music. I would love to hear it.

Paz

[thehellgate911]

I will post links to some of my music, as well as send a PM to Duddits, answering all his questions, as soon as I get home in about three hours.

Thanks for the interesting discussion guys.

[SpamSandwich]

:lol::lol:

I really REALLY wanted to respond to your post in the same civilized manner that you responded to mind, but your idea that I might become a school teacher really cracked me up.

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed). I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: (wiping away tears)

[Chucker]

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed). I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

As someone who's watched you surface and resurface and rererereresurface on a certain other discussion board, I can say with much confidence that while you may one day amount to something, it'll never be $100m a year.

I also have this slight feeling being told by one's mom that microwave ovens and WiFi networks will destroy your brain is slightly more indoctrinating (or maybe just freaking dumb?) than attending public school.

[SDW2001]

"Applied music"?

In what way is music applied?

Is that a way to describe music in the service of another art form (e.g. film music)?

Does that mean there is some music that is purely theoretical?

There is, of course, that piece by John Cage that takes something like 10,000 years to perform, each note performed every hundred years. I suppose that's kind of theoretical, although it is currently in performance...

I have a Masters Degree in Trumpet Performance. Usually "applied music" means performance. In fact, I'm using the term that is not really used at this point. Now it's just called "Master of Music in...."


I plan on starting to pay back $100,000 by the time I'm 25.

:lol::lol::lol::lol: Sorry dude!

[thehellgate911]

As someone who's watched you surface and resurface and rererereresurface on a certain other discussion board, I can say with much confidence that while you may one day amount to something, it'll never be $100m a year.

I also have this slight feeling being told by one's mom that microwave ovens and WiFi networks will destroy your brain is slightly more indoctrinating (or maybe just freaking dumb?) than attending public school.

So you think you know me based on online forums?

Wow... just.. wow. :rolleyes::wow:

[SDW2001]

Yeah so? If I didn't want to be "found out" here, I wouldn't have posted that whole mini-biography.

I've only registered once here at appleinsider, and I plan to keep it that way. I haven't even been temporarily banned from this place, and i've never been annoying or rude here. Can we get back on topic please?

SDW2001, I have to thank you. You seem like an extremely intelligent, experienced person, and I will take seriously many of the things you've told me. I just can't help but have a negative opinion of schools when I look around and see all these girls dressed the same, talking the same, wearing the same makeup. It's as if there's some cloning process going on inside there. And it very well might be that that's simply what happens when you cram lots of people of the same age into the same place at the same time.. but that also makes it the school's fault for putting all these kids in an unnatural environment.

A few days ago, my family was watching videos of when I was 3 or 4 years old.. and I was astounded by how brilliant and perfect my parents raised me and my brothers. Everything was natural. We slept in a family bed, we all went to bed at the same time.. there was no "problems about bedtime" and "trying to put the kids to bed". We'd all just kind of wind down together like normal animals. I wasn't exposed to any harmful or brainwashing media until I was at least 10 years old. We lived out in the middle of nowhere, and me and my siblings were free to go wherever we wanted, and fully shape into the human beings that we are, free of restraint, physical or mental. It really blew my mind watching those videos.. and I sincerely thanked my parents afterwards. There was a period in there where I was angry at them for raising me in a "bubble" but now I cannot thank them enough.



You asked way too many questions for me to answer right now. I've got chemistry class in 10 minutes. I'll write you a PM when I get home.


Well, I watched the video. You'll find it quite ironic that You tube is blocked at my school :) :lol:

Anyway, my thoughts: I think it's not so much that it shows what a "brainwashing machine" is, but rather that the video was made with the intent of making it look like that. In other words, it's deliberately creating that perception, or trying to.

I say "trying to" because it both succeeds and fails. There are three kinds of clips in that film:

1. Clips that succeed in your goal of portraying Public Education a certain way. One example is the school bus scene near the beginning.

2. Clips that can be interpreted different ways based on experience and POV. For example, you show elementary children "being brainwashed." I see a group of children actively engaged in learning. Really.

3. Clips that fail to communicate your POV because the kids don't look as you describe them. Closer to the end, you show kids leaving high school. They look happy, they have a bounce in their steps. They shake hands with a guy in a suit...not sure who that is supposed to be. Unless you are going for "I have to get the hell outta here ight now, yeeehaw," I don't see them as supporting your point of view.


As an aside, elementary classrooms where I teacher don't look like those. They are bright and colorful and generally encourage creativity as much as possible. There are problems at the elementary to be sure, such as an over emphasis on assessment, but the point is the appearance here. I'm not just talking about physical objects (black boards don't exist for example, we have white boards...which makes a bif difference...or so I've found). I'm also talking about the appearance of the kids. Many classrooms have kids actively doing whatever activity. I know my own classroom probably looks like a circus. If you saw what happens in my school, I think you'd have a very different point of view. And my school's not alone...it's just a good, modern school.

[KingOfSomewhereHot]

While his post comes off as being a bit condescending (sounds as if it was written by someone without much "life experience"), I tend to agree with a lot of it. I think "indoctrinated" is a better term for it than "brainwashed" though. (Check your dictionary, they're different.)

Kids who aren't tought differently, either at home or by truly great teachers (there are many), tend to come out of the public school system ready to go sit in a cubicle 9-5, 5 days a week, collect a meager paycheck and buy things on credit. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's what I see.

They learn to spend 8 hours a day in a "school" to get about 2+1/2 hours worth of education. And then they are expected to do "homework" every night for yet another hour. Where do the public school kids ever get a chance to socialize ???

I am sorry to hear that you were homeschooled your whole life. I'm not a big fan of that as I think much of what is valuable in school is mixing with chums.

I hear that a lot... it's not a valid argument against homeschooling. My kids actually socialize more than their "peers" that go to the public schools. They do various extra-curricular activities throughout the neighborhood and are constantly in contact with friends their age. Both "school" kids as well as other homeschooled kids. BUT... They also have contact with kids older and younger than them by several years (not just passing in a hallway, but actual interaction.) They are also able to interact in an intelligent way with the many adults they are exposed to on a daily basis. (Hopefully they'll retain this talent as they enter their teenage years. :) )
How about field trips?... go to a museum on Friday with a bus full of kids where there are another 20 busses full of kids already there?... Or go to that museum on a tuesday morning with the family, when no one else is there and they get a full personalized tour from a docent who doesn't have anyone else to deal with that day? Or call ahead a month before you visit the state capitol on a Wednesday afternoon and actually get to meet your senator or congressman in a situation where they'll take 10 minutes to actually TALK to the 4 kids visiting them??
Homeschooling's not for everyone ... many parents were indoctrinated themselves to such a degree that they don't think it's a viable solution. But, having used both systems, I can say with certainty that homeschooling is a MUCH better way to educate children than today's public school system.


Besides, by being homeschooled, my kids get to do all their computer based work on a Mac!! :)


As for the video, while it was just a edit of stock footage, he certainly put it together much better than I could have done. (At least, I couldn't have done it that well without a lot of practice and self-education first.) All the way through it I kept thinking "proles"... was quite pleased to see the Orwell reference at the end!

[thehellgate911]

While his post comes off as being a bit condescending (sounds as if it was written by someone without much "life experience"), I tend to agree with a lot of it. I think "indoctrinated" is a better term for it than "brainwashed" though. (Check your dictionary, they're different.)

Kids who aren't tought differently, either at home or by truly great teachers (there are many), tend to come out of the public school system ready to go sit in a cubicle 9-5, 5 days a week, collect a meager paycheck and buy things on credit. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's what I see.

They learn to spend 8 hours a day in a "school" to get about 2+1/2 hours worth of education. And then they are expected to do "homework" every night for yet another hour. Where do the public school kids ever get a chance to socialize ???



I hear that a lot... it's not a valid argument against homeschooling. My kids actually socialize more than their "peers" that go to the public schools. They do various extra-curricular activities throughout the neighborhood and are constantly in contact with friends their age. Both "school" kids as well as other homeschooled kids. BUT... They also have contact with kids older and younger than them by several years (not just passing in a hallway, but actual interaction.) They are also able to interact in an intelligent way with the many adults they are exposed to on a daily basis. (Hopefully they'll retain this talent as they enter their teenage years. :) )
How about field trips?... go to a museum on Friday with a bus full of kids where there are another 20 busses full of kids already there?... Or go to that museum on a tuesday morning with the family, when no one else is there and they get a full personalized tour from a docent who doesn't have anyone else to deal with that day? Or call ahead a month before you visit the state capitol on a Wednesday afternoon and actually get to meet your senator or congressman in a situation where they'll take 10 minutes to actually TALK to the 4 kids visiting them??
Homeschooling's not for everyone ... many parents were indoctrinated themselves to such a degree that they don't think it's a viable solution. But, having used both systems, I can say with certainty that homeschooling is a MUCH better way to educate children than today's public school system.


Besides, by being homeschooled, my kids get to do all their computer based work on a Mac!! :)


As for the video, while it was just a edit of stock footage, he certainly put it together much better than I could have done. (At least, I couldn't have done it that well without a lot of practice and self-education first.) All the way through it I kept thinking "proles"... was quite pleased to see the Orwell reference at the end!

Thank you for the support behind my point of view, and thank you for the compliments on my video. I'm sorry for coming across condescending. I'm working on that.

Here is a link to a video of me conducting my second symphony at the New England Music Camp. I was limited to one player per instrument, and we didn't have much time to rehearse, but the music is there. And keep in mind this was over two years ago.. my conducting has improved since then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rGEF9kMB4g

[Chucker]

So you think you know me based on online forums?

Wow... just.. wow. :rolleyes::wow:

I know you based on the plenty of assertions you've made. If thy weren't supposed to represent who you are, you were either wasting your (and everyone else's time) making them, or you deliberately tried to come off as a fool, which only makes me think less of you.

[Splinemodel]

I made a music video about Public School, using the track "Auschwitz-Birkenau" from the Schindler's List Soundtrack, as the music.

I use this music because I think that School is one of the most evil creations ever. It ruins children, and the damage is permanent. They come out of high school completely brainwashed, having negative views on life, and a very cynical attitude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHJ59PGLdvQ

I at least endorse you: not so much the opinion in entirety, but at least the fact that you said what you wanted to say. You'll gain wisdom in time, and in all likelihood will find your opinions changing, but don't ever succumb to the blandness of what you are told must be so.

[MarcUK]

SDW2001, I have to thank you. You seem like an extremely intelligent, experienced person, and I will take seriously many of the things you've told me.

:lol: proof that your schooling has brainwashed you. The irony!

[thehellgate911]

:lol: proof that your schooling has brainwashed you. The irony!

Excuse me?

I didn't say I would bow down to him like he's a God and worship every word. What I meant was he made some valid points that I could keep in mind. Overall, nothing about my opinions or my state of mind has changed.

[MarcUK]

Excuse me?

I didn't say I would bow down to him like he's a God and worship every word. What I meant was he made some valid points that I could keep in mind. Overall, nothing about my opinions or my state of mind has changed.

dont worry it wasn't directed at you!. There is afterall a first time for everything.

[Duddits]

I hear that a lot... it's not a valid argument against homeschooling.
You agree with the tirade against public schools and for homeschooling because you are a homeschooling parent yourself. Oh...


My kids actually socialize more than their "peers" that go to the public schools.
You don't know that since you have no "control group" i.e. a comparison of your kids in public school vs. your kids in homeschool in order to evaluate the difference.
They do various extra-curricular activities throughout the neighborhood and are constantly in contact with friends their age. Both "school" kids as well as other homeschooled kids. BUT... They also have contact with kids older and younger than them by several years (not just passing in a hallway, but actual interaction.) They are also able to interact in an intelligent way with the many adults they are exposed to on a daily basis. (Hopefully they'll retain this talent as they enter their teenage years. :) )
How about field trips?... go to a museum on Friday with a bus full of kids where there are another 20 busses full of kids already there?... Or go to that museum on a tuesday morning with the family, when no one else is there and they get a full personalized tour from a docent who doesn't have anyone else to deal with that day? Or call ahead a month before you visit the state capitol on a Wednesday afternoon and actually get to meet your senator or congressman in a situation where they'll take 10 minutes to actually TALK to the 4 kids visiting them??
Sounds like one big family vacation! Nice, but if you watch those "Family Vacation" movies, there's a reason why the father says stuff like you are saying right now, and the kids are grimacing in the back of the car.

Homeschooling's not for everyone ... many parents were indoctrinated themselves to such a degree that they don't think it's a viable solution.
"Indoctrinated" is a word that you use for a belief system with which you do not agree, but don't consider your own views equally "indoctrinated" or the possbility that going to a school run by professionals and full of peers is better than moping around the kitchen all day with mom and a math book.

Indoctrination is an interesting concept... but viewing all public school followed by college followed by careers as one big indoctrination is such tired, boring, laundry. My own view is that there are many paths, but you severely limit those paths for your kids by keeping them in your kitchen all day, funky field trips notwithstanding.

The tragedy is when someone who has talent and promise is unable to develop into their chosen field because they misinterpreted preparation as "indoctrination."



But, having used both systems, I can say with certainty that homeschooling is a MUCH better way to educate children than today's public school system.
That is so general as to be meaningless. You may be an excellent teacher to your kids, but on the other hand, they may be better served by a more critical thinker.

A bad school is a bad school, and it may be better to teach them at home than at a bad school. But there are great schools all over the place, and it's a shame when a kid doesn't have the encouragement to go to one because their parent is a zealot.


Besides, by being homeschooled, my kids get to do all their computer based work on a Mac!! :)
As a cat, If I were homeschooled, it is highly doubtful I would ever use a Mac let alone a computer. If I were homeschooled, chances are I wouldn't even be able to clean my own litterbox.


All the way through it I kept thinking "proles"... was quite pleased to see the Orwell reference at the end!
An obvious reference, following an obvious diatribe. There's nothing original, startling, or rebellious about any of this. It's hackneyed. It's boring. And that, for anyone who wants to be a musician, is the cardinal sin.

[Duddits]

Here is a link to a video of me conducting my second symphony at the New England Music Camp. I was limited to one player per instrument, and we didn't have much time to rehearse, but the music is there. And keep in mind this was over two years ago.. my conducting has improved since then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rGEF9kMB4g
Not bad.

The arrangement is its best feature, your knowledge of the instruments reveals a good ear.

As a musician, there's a number of things I would say, but i don't want to criticize you here, only encourage you. If you want to succeed in music beyond a music camp that has a reputation for being fun but soft, you need real training...

Feel free to answer the questions above if you can.

[southside grabowski]

Home schooled your entire life but you are an expert on public schools.

Late

[KingOfSomewhereHot]

You don't know that since you have no "control group" i.e. a comparison of your kids in public school vs. your kids in homeschool in order to evaluate the difference.

Well, actually, I do. They did attend a public school for a couple years. It was one of the top rated school districts in Texas. (I don't have a clue where that would put it on a national level.) The kids were bored. They were neglected as student because they were "easy" for the teachers.
THEY asked to come back home...

As for the "great big family vacation"... we do those too, but the trips mentioned above were not vacations, they were "field trips" that focused on education. But the vacations wouldn't be possible in a public school, because TX requires a minimum number of days in class (regardless of how quickly they ace the standardized tests.) Going on vacation for 3-4 weeks at a time kinda destroys their attendance record.

Not being cats, the kids actually like going on road-trips. :)

[thehellgate911]

Well, actually, I do. They did attend a public school for a couple years. It was one of the top rated school districts in Texas. (I don't have a clue where that would put it on a national level.) The kids were bored. They were neglected as student because they were "easy" for the teachers.
THEY asked to come back home...

As for the "great big family vacation"... we do those too, but the trips mentioned above were not vacations, they were "field trips" that focused on education. But the vacations wouldn't be possible in a public school, because TX requires a minimum number of days in class (regardless of how quickly they ace the standardized tests.) Going on vacation for 3-4 weeks at a time kinda destroys their attendance record.

Not being cats, the kids actually like going on road-trips. :)

KingOfSomewhereHot, I wouldn't bother responding to Duddits if I were you. From the way he talks about homeschooling, it's obvious that he won't understand anything that you'd say about what homeschooling is.

When he said "going to a school run by professionals and full of peers is better than moping around the kitchen all day with mom and a math book" that's the point at which I realized that any words directed at this man are a waste of energy. He's lost in the system and the brainwash.

[hardeeharhar]

Education makes you stupid... yadda yadda yadda.

Teenage angst, angst angst...

Fuck the system, the system, the system.

Become the system.

Mock teenagers.

[thehellgate911]

I made a music video that expresses my feelings toward your mom.

Let me see it.

[Duddits]

KingOfSomewhereHot, I wouldn't bother responding to Duddits if I were you. From the way he talks about homeschooling, it's obvious that he won't understand anything that you'd say about what homeschooling is.
Who cares about homeschooling. Answer the music questions if you want to have a real conversation and not just be dismissive and smug.

[KingOfSomewhereHot]

Who cares about homeschooling...

People who actually want their children to get an education.



:) while I DO believe that, I really said it just to yank your chain ... a little fun here.

[Duddits]

People who actually want their children to get an education.



:) while I DO believe that, I really said it just to yank your chain ... a little fun here.
:)

Fine, then let me rephrase the question.

Hellgate, defend the virtues of homeschooling in the very best way: by demonstrating that, having been homeschooled, you can respond intelligibly to the musical questions I asked you above.

[thehellgate911]

:)

Fine, then let me rephrase the question.

Hellgate, defend the virtues of homeschooling in the very best way: by demonstrating that, having been homeschooled, you can respond intelligibly to the musical questions I asked you above.

I've sent you a PM answering all your questions. Get back to me. :)

[soulcrusher]

I started playing piano when I was 3, when I began playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Purcell on the piano by ear. I'll be uploading videos of that shortly. I began composing at age 7, and had written a few orchestral pieces including 2 classical style symphonies, by age 12. I now do alot of improvising on the piano. I can go on for hours in a new-age/classical style that people have universally seemed to love. I can also of course write out full scores of orchestral pieces, or record new multi-layer music directly on the computer as improvisation or semi-improvisation (improvisation based on a theme I composed).

Everyone is good at something.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I can tie a knot in a cherry stem with my tongue.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

You should see it when I do it while composing new-age/classical style symphonies...

[Gon]

Epic thread. Infinite angst of the first post, fine, multi-page replies, :???:

Public school as I experienced it was not a nazi factory, but for me it certainly was a horrible waste of time and demotivating. A private primary school could have taught the useful stuff in third of the time, without turning so many students against education in general. They handed me top grades for doing nothing. Later in a private high school we went into university level courses, did part-time programming work for the whole duration of the school and still finished in about 60% of the average time the public high schools take. :err:

[Duddits]

I've sent you a PM answering all your questions. Get back to me. :)
Thanks, got it! Will get back in extremely near future.

[a_greer]

snipe


I used to be just as jaded about high school or "Hell Screw-all" as I called it...but a few years removed and a college degree under my belt, I have a different take: there really is no way for an operation the size and scope of the moddern school to run smoothly without a degree of standards and conformity.you can not stop 100 kids from continuing just because one does not follow the concept...


The real deficiencies in public schools are three fold:

1: not enough attention being paid to the kids who have a slight mis-understanding, a slight mis understanding of a basic consept can be corrected in a few minutes if caught early enough, but it usually isnt caught till a few years on when the concepts build a lopsided structure on the crooked foundation. This leads to students getting low scores, and even dropping out, and also leads into my second point:

2: just as society as a whole, schools do not have a strong enough focus on mental health... I do not mean students in straight jackets here, I mean in stead of trying to band-aid problems like gangs, bullying, and even rudeness in class, the only tools in the arsonal are detention, suspension, expulsion and "special schools" never once did I hear of or witness a bully get counceling for underlying fear and anger issues, a lot of the time fear is what makes bullys bully, and everyone else lives in fear of them:

3: too god damnd much artificial pressure: standardized tests...odd state requirements written by lobbiests for either tree hugging hippies or bible thumpers and not educators, and just the general social stress of high school which is magnified because home is nolonger a safe haven, where the cat fights stop in the school yard they pick back up on myspace, IM SMS etc... in that respect kids today have it even worse than wwe did in 2000-2004

High school is a cluster fuck of hormones with no one to talk to outside of parents (which is awkward for all, and illadvisable or impossible for far too many)

I believe that a focus on mental health durring puberty would revolutionize high school.


DISCLAIMER I AM JUST A COMPUTER NERD, these were my observations and reflecions upon my sentence in High school...

[SDW2001]

I used to be just as jaded about high school or "Hell Screw-all" as I called it...but a few years removed and a college degree under my belt, I have a different take: there really is no way for an operation the size and scope of the moddern school to run smoothly without a degree of standards and conformity.you can not stop 100 kids from continuing just because one does not follow the concept...


The real deficiencies in public schools are three fold:

1: not enough attention being paid to the kids who have a slight mis-understanding, a slight mis understanding of a basic consept can be corrected in a few minutes if caught early enough, but it usually isnt caught till a few years on when the concepts build a lopsided structure on the crooked foundation. This leads to students getting low scores, and even dropping out, and also leads into my second point:

Early intervention is HUGE where I work. So I disagree with that. EVERY damn kid as an IEP or 504 plan or some other damn thing. It's not about individual attention....it's about kids not being taught that THEY must adapt to the SYSTEM...not the other way around. That's how life works. It's just not how Public Ed works.




2: just as society as a whole, schools do not have a strong enough focus on mental health... I do not mean students in straight jackets here, I mean in stead of trying to band-aid problems like gangs, bullying, and even rudeness in class, the only tools in the arsonal are detention, suspension, expulsion and "special schools" never once did I hear of or witness a bully get counceling for underlying fear and anger issues, a lot of the time fear is what makes bullys bully, and everyone else lives in fear of them:

Anti-bullying programs and self-esteem/emotional health are also huge where I work. There are entire anti-bullying systems/curriculums in place, as well as a full time guidance counselor in each elem. school. Many schools are like this. So I disagree.



3: too god damnd much artificial pressure: standardized tests...odd state requirements written by lobbiests for either tree hugging hippies or bible thumpers and not educators, and just the general social stress of high school which is magnified because home is nolonger a safe haven, where the cat fights stop in the school yard they pick back up on myspace, IM SMS etc... in that respect kids today have it even worse than wwe did in 2000-2004

I suppose I can't disagree with all of that, though the tests ARE written by educators and never by bible thumpers. I'm just saying.



High school is a cluster fuck of hormones with no one to talk to outside of parents (which is awkward for all, and illadvisable or impossible for far too many)

I don't know why you think that. Maybe there is something you'd like to tell us.



I believe that a focus on mental health durring puberty would revolutionize high school.


DISCLAIMER I AM JUST A COMPUTER NERD, these were my observations and reflecions upon my sentence in High school...

Gotcha. See my points...I really think you're perceptions are off base. No offense. Just take it from someone that has taught at the elem. and HS level for nine years in two states and three districts. I just haven't seen what you have.....not in rich districts, not in less well off ones.

[a_greer]

I don't know why you think that. Maybe there is something you'd like to tell us.



Gotcha. See my points...I really think you're perceptions are off base. No offense. Just take it from someone that has taught at the elem. and HS level for nine years in two states and three districts. I just haven't seen what you have.....not in rich districts, not in less well off ones.
Like I said, I was only one student in one school, in a medium size town, with a wide mix of kids, but being the target of bullies and punks relentlessly probably jades my view of things:

sample 1: kid behind me (who happened to be on the tennise track and some other sports team) wouldn't stop talking during the lecture, I asked him to and he went off, I am talking punching kicking and such...he teacher froze like a dear in headlights...

Example 2: in a typing class I reported a malfunctioning system to a teacher...the system was malfunctioning because someone was running Napster or Kazza or something: I knew a lot about PCs and they knew it and I didn't want to take the blame for it. A kid on the other side of the room called me a "RAT" and took a large nut (roughly the size of a car lugnut) out of his pocket and chucked it at me...direct shoulder hit...the teacher did NOTHING!! I HAD TO LEAVE THE CLASS WHILST THE TEACHER WAS THREATENING ME WITH INSUBORDINATION CHARGES...I didnt feel safe...so I barged into the principals office set the bolt on his desk and said "DEAL WITH THE VIOLENCE PROBLEM" that actually got some results, don't know what happened but the kid apologized a week later and we were pleasant acquaintances the rest of HS...

Sure the kids who tortured me in high school are as far as I know, a lot worse off than me now, but I cant help but wonder if all of those trouble makers could have been turned around into industrious members of society: they were usually pretty smart, they just applied themselves to the wrong things...

Also, the comment about Hippies and bible thumpers, I phrased that wrong: what I meant was that yea, educators write the tests, but they also spend the year teaching you how to pass the test, not how to use and apply the material of the class -- this was a key difference that I loved about college. and as a separate thought, the curriculum in so far as what school kids can and can't read, and what sciences will be taught in what fashion, and even education about how, when, with whom, were etc. they should have sex, appears to me to be WAY too heavily influenced by the fringe groups on the right and left political movements, and not by scientists researchers and educators as it should be.

[SDW2001]

Like I said, I was only one student in one school, in a medium size town, with a wide mix of kids, but being the target of bullies and punks relentlessly probably jades my view of things:

sample 1: kid behind me (who happened to be on the tennise track and some other sports team) wouldn't stop talking during the lecture, I asked him to and he went off, I am talking punching kicking and such...he teacher froze like a dear in headlights...

Example 2: in a typing class I reported a malfunctioning system to a teacher...the system was malfunctioning because someone was running Napster or Kazza or something: I knew a lot about PCs and they knew it and I didn't want to take the blame for it. A kid on the other side of the room called me a "RAT" and took a large nut (roughly the size of a car lugnut) out of his pocket and chucked it at me...direct shoulder hit...the teacher did NOTHING!! I HAD TO LEAVE THE CLASS WHILST THE TEACHER WAS THREATENING ME WITH INSUBORDINATION CHARGES...I didnt feel safe...so I barged into the principals office set the bolt on his desk and said "DEAL WITH THE VIOLENCE PROBLEM" that actually got some results, don't know what happened but the kid apologized a week later and we were pleasant acquaintances the rest of HS...

Sure the kids who tortured me in high school are as far as I know, a lot worse off than me now, but I cant help but wonder if all of those trouble makers could have been turned around into industrious members of society: they were usually pretty smart, they just applied themselves to the wrong things...



Sorry you were bullied, but I don't think that's the fault of the system. What you have to understand is that the teacher is really powerless because of the way things are with lawsuits, etc. Back in the day, the teacher would smack a kid like that....pick him up by his hair....and then the kid would get in trouble at home. Now the teacher would be fired and charged with child abuse.


Also, the comment about Hippies and bible thumpers, I phrased that wrong: what I meant was that yea, educators write the tests, but they also spend the year teaching you how to pass the test, not how to use and apply the material of the class

That's a bit generalized, but it's true to an extent. The reason is they have to, because they are under pressure to get test scores up not just overall, but across all the disaggregate groups (blacks, hispanics, low income, etc). If any ONE of those groups doesn't make the AYP targets (Adequate Yearly Progress), the school goes into the warning/corrective action phase. And the targets get higher every year. It means that even districts with 90% proficiency on their tests sometimes have "failing" schools. So the teachers are kind of in the middle. I agree it's not right.



-- this was a key difference that I loved about college. and as a separate thought, the curriculum in so far as what school kids can and can't read, and what sciences will be taught in what fashion, and even education about how, when, with whom, were etc. they should have sex, appears to me to be WAY too heavily influenced by the fringe groups on the right and left political movements, and not by scientists researchers and educators as it should be.

Well, some of that is to be expected because college is not mandatory. It does seem to me that we've gotten far too much into "edubabble, edumacation" concepts though. We have $30 million football stadiums, olympic sized swimming pools, TV studios, Family and Consumer Sciences with fully stocked professional kitchens, etc.

What we need is a system where students get a solid foundation for their first two years in Math, Science, Reading/Writing/Literature, Art and Music, etc. I am very critical of forced physical education in high school because the reason it was put into the curriculum was so we could be More Fit Than The Russians™. In any case, after two years, student should be able to choose a major of sorts: Math and Science, Arts and Humanities or Vocational-Technical.....IF they get the grades in the basics. If not, they get remedial help first.

[icfireball]

:lol::lol:

I really REALLY wanted to respond to your post in the same civilized manner that you responded to mind, but your idea that I might become a school teacher really cracked me up.

I'm heading into the music/film industry as fast as I can. I'm already writing music for an independent film, submitting music to licensing firms, producing my own piano CD's, and editing my first live action short, (that I wrote and directed). I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

If I become a school teacher, it'll be in a different body, on a different planet, at a different time.

But not this life. Sorry.

Other than that, everything you said had a very valid point, and I admit to the vagueness of many of my statements.

How can you argue that public education is bad if you are a product of it... seeing as you are one of the most awesome people in the world? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bepck7JFW8s)

But in all seriousness, I don't know how you expect to make it in a cut throat industry like the music/film industry. You are extremely disillusioned. But I must say, you are an excellent argument for your case that public education sucks.

I'm sorry I'm being so spiteful, it's just that your combination of negativity and pomposity is a fairly lethal combination. I leave you some suggested reading: Good to Great (http://www.jimcollins.com/lab/level5/index.html).

[Gon]

Most of the problems of public school would be remedied by a significant amount by more segregation. When the school has hundreds of students, why not sort them according to how much they have already mastered and how rapidly and deeply they are able to absorb a given subject, rather than class?

A school succeeds when its students learn as much as they can, whether that is a lot or a little. If the school stops teaching after a student reaches a certain level of knowledge, it fails. If the school teaches only facts and not the significance and relationships of those facts, it fails.

[SDW2001]

Most of the problems of public school would be remedied by a significant amount by more segregation. When the school has hundreds of students, why not sort them according to how much they have already mastered and how rapidly and deeply they are able to absorb a given subject, rather than class?

A school succeeds when its students learn as much as they can, whether that is a lot or a little. If the school stops teaching after a student reaches a certain level of knowledge, it fails. If the school teaches only facts and not the significance and relationships of those facts, it fails.

Well...they basically do that now. Leveling has been used for years. The criticism is that it creates lower expectations for certain groups.

As for school's "stopping" their teaching when students reach a certain level, I really don't know what that could possibly mean. Students can go pretty much as far as they want...right through AP classes. What is your point?

[turnwrite]

I was homeschooled my whole life

I'm planning on making $100,000 a year by the time i'm 25, and $100,000,000 a year by the time i'm 40.

This right here is an argument for public schools.

[thehellgate911]

Wow, this thread hasn't been active in a while.

You know, the last time I was writing in this thread, I was on a computer in the lobby of a community college, taking classes that were really boring and pointless, and being accused of being stupid, retarded, or gay, by fellow classmates. Oddly resembling Einstien's experience in school.

I recently quit going there, because as a homeschooler I was never taught to drastically diminish my life goals in my mind in the name of "being realistic." That's why school was implemented in this country you know. How many of you knew that? It was implemented so that the average American would be content with a very modest life, and not want anything more. The owners of this country don't want too many little people rising up out of the swamp of 9 to 5 jobs and slavery.

But anyways, in the three months since I've quit going to the college, i've been steadily earning more and more money each month, and i'm currently earning an income that will amount to about $15,000 a year. I'm not 18 yet. I've also been lined up to compose the score to a couple films, including a feature length film. My website is up, I got my business card printed, my first debut CD of Solo Piano is going to be released within the next month, and things are gonna take off from here.

I know it's a little early to point fingers at the guys who laughed at me when I declared my goals, but I have no doubt that my career will continue to take off in the manner that it has so far. I set goals, and I will achieve them.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

:rolleyes:

[thehellgate911]

:rolleyes:

I made that post mostly for the sake of those of you that were envisioning me as some failing lunatic who can't interact with people.

Knowing the truth about who I am, what i'm doing, and how successful I am, is beneficial to those who would have automatically thought the opposite if I had not clarified this, because believing a lie just decreases a persons own awareness and intelligence.

[Splinemodel]

Some advice: chill out. Don't worry about what a couple of people (who don't know you) said in an internet forum. Good luck.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I made that post mostly for the sake of those of you that were envisioning me as some failing lunatic who can't interact with people.

Based on your experiences over at AN and your brief stay here, I'd have to say you've reaffirmed our "envision".

[709]

You know, the last time I was writing in this thread, I was on a computer in the lobby of a community college, taking classes that were really boring and pointless, and being accused of being stupid, retarded, or gay, by fellow classmates. Oddly resembling Einstien's experience in school.Einstein wasn't bad at school. That's an urban myth. I'm glad that homeschooling is working out for you so well. :rolleyes:

You need to stop trying to impress invisible people on the internet and go get a friend or get laid. Hopefully you can do at least one of those without involving your mother.

[thehellgate911]

Einstein wasn't bad at school. That's an urban myth. I'm glad that homeschooling is working out for you so well. :rolleyes:

You need to stop trying to impress invisible people on the internet and go get a friend or get laid. Hopefully you can do at least one of those without involving your mother.

I can do both those things without involving my mother.

[thehellgate911]

Einstein wasn't bad at school. That's an urban myth. I'm glad that homeschooling is working out for you so well. :rolleyes:

You need to stop trying to impress invisible people on the internet and go get a friend or get laid. Hopefully you can do at least one of those without involving your mother.

I wasn't bad at school either. I was told I was retarded by fellow classmates, because I was thinking differently than they were.

[Splinemodel]

I wasn't bad at school either. I was told I was retarded by fellow classmates, because I was thinking differently than they were.

Alright, now you're just being petulant. Here's another piece of advice: nobody cares about your problems except you and your mom. If you can make good music, good for you. Get to it.

[SDW2001]

Wow, this thread hasn't been active in a while.

You know, the last time I was writing in this thread, I was on a computer in the lobby of a community college, taking classes that were really boring and pointless, and being accused of being stupid, retarded, or gay, by fellow classmates. Oddly resembling Einstien's experience in school.

So you are Einstien[sic] now?



I recently quit going there, because as a homeschooler I was never taught to drastically diminish my life goals in my mind in the name of "being realistic."

And staying in school would have forced you to diminish your life goals?




That's why school was implemented in this country you know. How many of you knew that? It was implemented so that the average American would be content with a very modest life, and not want anything more. The owners of this country don't want too many little people rising up out of the swamp of 9 to 5 jobs and slavery.

That is totally unsupported. All of it. In fact, you just made it up.



But anyways, in the three months since I've quit going to the college, i've been steadily earning more and more money each month, and i'm currently earning an income that will amount to about $15,000 a year. I'm not 18 yet. I've also been lined up to compose the score to a couple films, including a feature length film. My website is up, I got my business card printed, my first debut CD of Solo Piano is going to be released within the next month, and things are gonna take off from here.

Look..good for you. But if you're going to be a film composer, you need to study with a film composer or go get a degree music theory/composition..unless you're name is Ludwig or Wolfgang.

I also have to call some degree on bullshit on the film score thing. You mean to tell me that someone hired you to write the music for their film...and you're 17 with no experience, no credits and no references in terms of industry contacts? Right. Let me guess...these are "films" made by your friends with a camcorder, some sheet backdrops, and a large basement?



I know it's a little early to point fingers at the guys who laughed at me when I declared my goals, but I have no doubt that my career will continue to take off in the manner that it has so far. I set goals, and I will achieve them.

That is a good attitude. But dude...YOU ARE 17 YEARS OLD. Friggin chill already. Successful film composers spend years getting established. I find it hard to believe that you're been "discovered" at this point.

Really achieving your goals is about more than saying "Fuck you guys...I'm determined and I'm going to do it no matter what you say." It's about taking time to learn what you need to learn, improve your skills, network professionally and develop your talents. You come off as impatient in the extreme. There is huge difference between determination to succeed and stubborn refusal to learn.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I like that the google ad banner below are ads for public school listings...

[midwinter]

That is totally unsupported. All of it. In fact, you just made it up.

Just because he made it up doesn't mean he doesn't have a point (http://www.google.com/search?q=john+taylor+gatto&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a). You might take a good look at this (http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm). Or maybe this guy (http://www.google.com/search?q=jonathan+kozol&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a). Or her work (http://web.gc.cuny.edu/urbaneducation/anyon/Early_Articles_on_social_class.htm) (the one about the hidden curriculum of work is especially good).

[SDW2001]

Just because he made it up doesn't mean he doesn't have a point (http://www.google.com/search?q=john+taylor+gatto&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a). You might take a good look at this (http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm). Or maybe this guy (http://www.google.com/search?q=jonathan+kozol&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a). Or her work (http://web.gc.cuny.edu/urbaneducation/anyon/Early_Articles_on_social_class.htm) (the one about the hidden curriculum of work is especially good).

That doesn't support what he said though.

That's why school was implemented in this country you know. How many of you knew that? It was implemented so that the average American would be content with a very modest life, and not want anything more. The owners of this country don't want too many little people rising up out of the swamp of 9 to 5 jobs and slavery.

I'll post all day about hidden curriculums and indoctrination, etc. But proving his statements above would be quite a feat.

[midwinter]

That doesn't support what he said though.



I'll post all day about hidden curriculums and indoctrination, etc. But proving his statements above would be quite a feat.

Indeed! It's a good thing I didn't post a link to a Gatto essay in which he details the origins of the American educational system in the Prussian model, complete with quotations about why the Prussian system worked the way it did.

Otherwise, I'd just be blowing smoke and BSing and only reading the titles of essays rather than the whole thing.

[soulcrusher]

He's just a drop out trying to excuse his ineptitude.

The kid sounds extremely sheltered from the outside world. He does not have a good sense of how good he is academically - he never had anyone to compare himself to.

I am sure mummy and daddy just told him he was such a smart boy and he actually believed it.

Now, he finally went to school and realized that, after all, he is not better than most people. He is, of course, in denial.

In any case, if I were in college and someone came to me and say: "Oh, look at me, I am so smartz, I play piano like diblassio since I was three"... "GET OUT OF MY FUCKING FACE"

Who is he trying to impress?

(Side note: I would personally love to think that the reason why I cannot get this fucking triplet representation Higgs mechanism problem right now is because "I am thinking differently")

[hardeeharhar]

I've only registered once here at appleinsider, and I plan to keep it that way. I haven't even been temporarily banned from this place, and i've never been annoying or rude here.


When you fall on your face... you really fall on your face...

Perhaps all these years, your parents, teachers and adult-cult members were all calling you a genius just so they could see you fall flat once again.

This isn't just Caddy Shack level humor, no, this transcends the inability to breathe because you are laughing so hard...

[hardeeharhar]

(Side note: I would personally love to think that the reason why I cannot get this fucking triplet representation Higgs mechanism problem right now is because "I am thinking differently")

Have you considered all of the symmetry groups?

(and no, I have only a vague notion of anything that has come in contact with the Standard Model...)

[soulcrusher]

Have you considered all of the symmetry groups?

(and no, I have only a vague notion of anything that has come in contact with the Standard Model...)

Nah, it's stated in the problem that it only requires SU(2).

I am stuck on the part where I have to calculate the mass of the scalar bosons -- the triplet has three Goldstone bosons but I believe you can do a gauge transformation to get rid of some, if not all, of them.

What I can't/(don't want to) do is write the full Lagrangian density to look for the mass terms.

I hate my life.

[thehellgate911]

Will you guys just please stop with the inept, inaccurate judgments about me? One guy says "This kid is sheltered and retarded" and the next poster posts based on that and not based on any form of truth. It causes the thread to quickly spiral downward in a landslide of false assumptions about me, that can only end in me losing my patience. I don't want to lose my patience, and I have no reason to. Just please, think about whether you can actually know that what you're saying has any truth to it, before you post it.

@ soulcrusher. I'm not sheltered at all from the outside world. I have a very good idea of where I am academically, and my parents were far from the only people in the world who told me that i'm a genius throughout my life. I didn't "drop out" of college. I never went with the intention of getting a degree. I simply wanted to see what a form of public education is like. The classes were extremely limited in the small campus that I was attending, and the structure of the style of teaching didn't compliment or support the way I was used to learning things and progressing. I didn't find much value in it.

@ hardeeharhar. I haven't fallen on my face. There's nothing wrong with the fact that people tell me i'm a genius, and that I then use that talent to succeed in the areas which i'd like to excel in.

Several months ago, the general attitude in this thread was that I'm not going to achieve my goals. I simply came back here to give a brief update on how I was doing, so that those of you who were 100% certain that I was an incompetent retard, could have the opportunity to question your beliefs.

Thanks

So you are Einstien[sic] now?

And staying in school would have forced you to diminish your life goals?

That is totally unsupported. All of it. In fact, you just made it up.

I also have to call some degree on bullshit on the film score thing. You mean to tell me that someone hired you to write the music for their film...and you're 17 with no experience, no credits and no references in terms of industry contacts? Right. Let me guess...these are "films" made by your friends with a camcorder, some sheet backdrops, and a large basement?



Public school was designed to force people to diminish their life goals.

No, I didn't make it up. The beginning of the American Education system was based on the Prussian model, which was designed to create obedient workers and obedient soldiers.

And about the film thing.. well, there was one guy who contacted me via youtube, to score his short film. I did it long distance, by having him send me low resolution quicktime clips from the film, me recording music to them, and then sending him back a scored low resolution clip as well as a separate high quality audio file. I scored his 15 minute film in one day and he was very pleased.

Then, I was at a screenwriters event in the Seattle area, and I introduced myself to this director who was about to start shooting a feature length independent film. I asked him if he had a composer, and he said no. So I emailed him some samples of my music a few days later, and he said he wanted me to write music for the film.

In addition to orchestral and instrumental composition, I also do solo piano improvisation, and stuff like that has been used in meditative slideshows, and also has earned me up to $100 a day in tips in cafes and such. (4 hour days).

I've studied violin, piano, theory, harmony, composition, and conducting in various music conservatories including the New England Conservatory in Boston.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

You have been 'sheltered'. Terribly, terribly sheltered, and your ability to socialise with others has suffered. We know this, all of us, because we read the things you write; it's as simple as that.

You have problems with status, specifically. Your own self image, so to speak, seems to be of paramount importance to you, and consequently you irritate people.

But the thing is, that's not really you. We're not what we tell people we are. As far as other people are concerned, we're the things we say or do. That's the way people construct their social identities. We've been doing it like that since we gained the use of complex language.

You're not that special. No, you're not. The liberating thing for you should be that no one is that special. I have deeply flawed friends who are far more talented than either of us, and richer than you or I will ever be, or far more famous; I have very content, stable friends who don't have a great deal and can't cook but are hilarious, and friends at all stage in between.

Really the only thing that makes this planet tolerable sometimes is one's ability to speak to other human beings when other human beings are exactly what one needs.

I think you should buy a plane ticket to somewhere they speak excellent English, like Berlin, and go, and stay in a hostel for three weeks, drinking coffee and not telling anyone about your plans. Go to Amsterdam for a couple of days and smoke one ritual spliff so you can say you've done it. Go as far north or south in the Americas as you can, by train. Tell yourself the whole way 'I'm no more or less special than any of these amazing and boring people I keep meeting.'

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Ditto.

[hardeeharhar]

@ hardeeharhar. I haven't fallen on my face. There's nothing wrong with the fact that people tell me i'm a genius, and that I then use that talent to succeed in the areas which i'd like to excel in.



Other than the awkward construction of the second sentence (give me a break, I have been editing prelims for my girlfriend and labmate...), the fact that you believe that people claiming you are a genius makes you one is quite telling... That particular brand of ego stroking is unhealthful.

You need to follow the advice of Hassan and escape... otherwise you will be a broken little man within the decade...

[midwinter]

otherwise you will be a broken little man within the decade...

or a broken, large, man.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

He's not talking about you, silly...

[hardeeharhar]

or a broken, large, man.
or perhaps a broken, little man.

no, no... I liked my original...

[thehellgate911]

Alright.. I offered you guys a clear and understandable explanation as to why you think of me the way you do, and who I really am. I explained everything with patience and understanding, and one after another you guys still insist that i'm a socially inept awkward person who is going to fall on my face.

I'm currently video chatting with a very attractive woman from Spain, who has told me that my future is so bright that it blinds her. I think i'll just get back to talking with her.. or for that matter, anyone who actually understands who the fuck I am.

Goodbye.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Well, that's awesome! Bye, and good luck from all of us. Sorry we don't understand you. All we have to go on is the stuff you post here, and from that it seems as if you could do with our advice, which is well-intentioned.

Incidentally, do you know the work of José Saramago? He is a Nobel laureate from Portugal, and considered 'a genius.' You might like him. Yesterday I was reading his novel 'The Gospel According to Jesus Christ' while listening to Miles Davis' album 'Kind of Blue' and Thomas Tallis' fifty voice motet 'Spem' (some consider these 'works of genius', but being a composer I'm sure you're already devouring these, and other works like them.) Soak up the good stuff! Learn from the masters! Come back when you've won a major award!

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Alright.. I offered you guys a clear and understandable explanation as to why you think of me the way you do, and who I really am. I explained everything with patience and understanding, and one after another you guys still insist that i'm a socially inept awkward person who is going to fall on my face.

I'm currently video chatting with a very attractive woman from Spain, who has told me that my future is so bright that it blinds her. I think i'll just get back to talking with her.. or for that matter, anyone who actually understands who the fuck I am.

Goodbye.

How many times are you going to do this?

[hardeeharhar]

...I offered you guys a clear and understandable explanation as to why you think of me the way you do...


Riiiiight.... so we need help understanding why we ALL read the same thing and why we ALL come to the same conclusion...

We are a group of independently minded folk -- if you go one more level deep, you would realize that -- and yet we come to the same conclusion: you are a socially inept self-felating awkward crust of a boy.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

you are a socially inept self-felating awkward crust of a boy.

I don't care if this is true or not as a statement. This line is the only certain evidence of genius in this thread.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

That was so harsh, I got my feelings hurt.

[hardeeharhar]

The truth hurts (all those involved)...

[SDW2001]

Will you guys just please stop with the inept, inaccurate judgments about me? One guy says "This kid is sheltered and retarded" and the next poster posts based on that and not based on any form of truth. It causes the thread to quickly spiral downward in a landslide of false assumptions about me, that can only end in me losing my patience. I don't want to lose my patience, and I have no reason to. Just please, think about whether you can actually know that what you're saying has any truth to it, before you post it.

@ soulcrusher. I'm not sheltered at all from the outside world. I have a very good idea of where I am academically, and my parents were far from the only people in the world who told me that i'm a genius throughout my life. I didn't "drop out" of college. I never went with the intention of getting a degree. I simply wanted to see what a form of public education is like. The classes were extremely limited in the small campus that I was attending, and the structure of the style of teaching didn't compliment or support the way I was used to learning things and progressing. I didn't find much value in it.

@ hardeeharhar. I haven't fallen on my face. There's nothing wrong with the fact that people tell me i'm a genius, and that I then use that talent to succeed in the areas which i'd like to excel in.

Several months ago, the general attitude in this thread was that I'm not going to achieve my goals. I simply came back here to give a brief update on how I was doing, so that those of you who were 100% certain that I was an incompetent retard, could have the opportunity to question your beliefs.

Thanks



Public school was designed to force people to diminish their life goals.

Support it.



No, I didn't make it up. The beginning of the American Education system was based on the Prussian model, which was designed to create obedient workers and obedient soldiers.

Way to read mid's post and regurgitate it. You sure you didn't go to public school?



And about the film thing.. well, there was one guy who contacted me via youtube, to score his short film. I did it long distance, by having him send me low resolution quicktime clips from the film, me recording music to them, and then sending him back a scored low resolution clip as well as a separate high quality audio file. I scored his 15 minute film in one day and he was very pleased.

That's not "scoring a film." Anything you can do in one day is not "scoring a film."



Then, I was at a screenwriters event in the Seattle area, and I introduced myself to this director who was about to start shooting a feature length independent film. I asked him if he had a composer, and he said no. So I emailed him some samples of my music a few days later, and he said he wanted me to write music for the film.

Sounds good, but a little vague to me. What kind of event? What is the movie? Will it be distributed somewhere I'd see it?



In addition to orchestral and instrumental composition, I also do solo piano improvisation, and stuff like that has been used in meditative slideshows, and also has earned me up to $100 a day in tips in cafes and such. (4 hour days).

Sounds good to me. Then again, you said you make $15,000 a year. Not sure how that adds up.



I've studied violin, piano, theory, harmony, composition, and conducting in various music conservatories including the New England Conservatory in Boston.


You mean:

I played violin.

I read a theory book.

I've written stuff of my own.

I went to summer workshop at the New England Conservatory in Boston, mostly so I could say I went to the New England Conservatory...in Boston.


I'm not trying to put down your chances of success here...I'm just saying be honest. You haven't "studied" with anyone. There is no reason that at 17 you'd have any idea what in the hell you're doing. I'm sure you have talent...but until you really put some time in understanding the roots of composition and tonal harmony, there is no way you'll develop to your fullest, unless (as I said) you're some kind of prodigy. Since you can't spell Einstein, I kind of doubt it. ;)

[709]

Alright.. I offered you guys a clear and understandable explanation as to why you think of me the way you do, and who I really am.You haven't done anything of the sort. Who you really are is a child who makes up stories (http://www.lennonaldort.com/Lennon_Aldort_Website/Biography.html) to try to impress others:

He started playing the piano on his own at the age of three when he began playing pieces of Mozart, Bach, and other composers by ear.Right. That's not how your mother recalls (http://www.aldort.com/articles.html) it:

At the piano, 3-year-old Lennon plays random sounds. "Why don't you teach him to play?" asks my visitor from the East Coast, who knows that I am a pianist. "He is learning," I say.

:rolleyes: :no:


Please. Come back when you grow up a little.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

He's seriously wasting his time.

The kid should be lying and trying to impress girls rather than us.

[hardeeharhar]

It's really sad that little Oli is doing so much better...

macgeek is the black sheep nowadays...

[midwinter]

http://mattgunn.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/magnolia_quote.jpg

[Duddits]

Weird that I visited the forum after not being here in a while and stumbled on this rejuvenated thread!

Lennon,

It's good that you're getting started doing these things you want to do.

I would encourage you to make a distinction between your bad community college experience and excellent educational experiences that are out there. You've never had high level music training, been to a liberal arts college, or even worked as an intern or assistant for someone you respect, so I'm not really sure why you're so quick to dismiss them.

There is also a reason why people are responding negatively. You come off as arrogant, and that will always turn people off. If you returned to give a humble - or even better, self-deprecating - update on what you were up to, without self-aggrandizing, you would have gotten a positive response.

Arrogance not only turns others away from you, but also turns you away from good opportunities. If you are so convinced that you are already fantastic wonderful and amazing, what is the point of school? What's left to learn? That sounds like what you're saying. What you don't seem to realize is that you can be fantastic wonderful and amazing, and still only be just starting out and in vital need of education.

Being able to work with other people, musicians, directors, producers, artists... it's all part of the job.

And gaining musical skills that you don't yet have... that's also part of the job!

[tonton]

What do all these people have in common:

Danny Elfman
Philip Glass
Dave Grusin
Randy Newman
Howard Shore
etc.
etc.
etc.

They all are required by their job to sit in meetings with studio executives and directors and other people, and listen to feedback, and adapt their work to the needs of their bosses. They are required to have the social skills and the experience working with people to be able to handle such situations.

You need experience working with people and working with "the system" in order to function in real life.

I don't think by shutting yourself off from the "system" you are learning those skills. But then, you probably won't listen to me just like you haven't listened to any other constructive criticism in this thread.

Good luck.

[SDW2001]

What do all these people have in common:

Danny Elfman
Philip Glass
Dave Grusin
Randy Newman
Howard Shore
etc.
etc.
etc.

They all are required by their job to sit in meetings with studio executives and directors and other people, and listen to feedback, and adapt their work to the needs of their bosses. They are required to have the social skills and the experience working with people to be able to handle such situations.

You need experience working with people and working with "the system" in order to function in real life.

I don't think by shutting yourself off from the "system" you are learning those skills. But then, you probably won't listen to me just like you haven't listened to any other constructive criticism in this thread.

Good luck.

Excellent point indeed. I think he's gone though. Off to be angry at the world!

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Little brother Oliver has his own site too!

http://www.oliveraldort.com/

[Duddits]

Lennon,

I looked at your mother's site. A lot of your own opinions seem to be generated from hers. She has turned her laissez-faire theory about raising kids into a career - good for her! - but she has also used you as her lab rat.

At some point in your life, you owe it to yourself to consider the possibility that your mother might be wrong.

Her view that kids should find their own way through their own inclination to "play" and without adult intervention sounds appealing enough but, in an extreme form, deprives you of irreplaceable opportunities to grow.

Your belief that formal training is bad, that you have everything you need to succeed within yourself without guidance from others, and that you are a "genius," is an unfortunate side effect of an otherwise appealing theory. Your mother's theory seems to have infantilized you at a time when you need to embrace adult training and discipline.

While your mother's use of your images and early achievements as book covers and anecdotes is helpful for her, I'm not sure it does a lot to help you. While she may have all the best intentions in the world, there's something about her use of you and your brother that seems self-serving and exploitative, and worse: it gives you the mistaken impression that her pageant of support reflects real world standards. It doesn't. It creates an illusion of achievement that does not actually exist. At your age, talented musicians typically pursue specialized training, or explore music in a liberal arts environment. Working with peers is one of the perks. However, a burnt-in illusion of accomplishment may prevent this.

Why not question your mother's theories? Why not rebel? What if she's wrong? What if her theories help other parents get through their day, but when applied in extreme form to her own children, do more harm than good? Why not consider that? Why not consider the possibility that every opinion you've expressed about education is derived from her, and is a result of having grown up as her personal lab rat in her personal laboratory?

Are you familiar with B.F. Skinner? He's a famous therapist whose (claimed, disputed, and unresolved) use of his own child to test experimental parenting theories caused controversy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner

While your mother is no B.F. Skinner, I would imagine you can't help but wonder how many of your beliefs are a result of the unusual environment in which you were raised, and if your mother is wrong about her untested theories, why should you pay the price?

Hoping I'm wrong... and

Good luck!

[thehellgate911]

You mean:

I played violin.

I read a theory book.

I've written stuff of my own.

I went to summer workshop at the New England Conservatory in Boston, mostly so I could say I went to the New England Conservatory...in Boston.

Um.. I don't know where you came up with that. I studied violin for several years with different teachers, including the head of the violin department at the New England Conservatory in Boston. I studied composition and theory with the head of that department there as well. I studied at that conservatory for half a year.

I was recently in L.A., where I had a tremendous success playing the piano at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. I filled up the bar with people, and women were handing out my business cards to the gathering audience while I played.

So on that note, i'll be out of here, and back to L.A. to launch my career! Thanks for all the input, negative and positive. Whatever you guys told me, it seemed to work. :)

Bye.

edit: oh, and i'll ask my mom why she says that I played random sounds on the piano at age three. Maybe I played random sounds in between playing bach and mozart.

edit 2: My biography on my website is completely true. Just wanted to clarify that.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Lock. Thread. Please.

[thehellgate911]

Lock. Thread. Please.

Yes. Please!

[hardeeharhar]

psh. you will be back. the internet isn't large enough to keep your unsupported ego in check.

[thehellgate911]

psh. you will be back. the internet isn't large enough to keep your unsupported ego in check.

Thank you.

Will a mod please close this thread?

[hardeeharhar]

why? so you can make a new thread about how great you are when you come back?