[lit-ideas] Re: J.S. Bach and Unchained Memories
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:56:54 +0700
Eric Yost provides statistics from a variety of sources. I just am
not sure what they show. Perhaps they show that Americans are not the
smartest people in the world? Or they show that American students
don't do the best in standardized testing? Perhaps I am just being
stubborn, but I don't think this information proves what Eric thinks
it proves. I barely passed out of high school. I would have easily
fallen under Eric's 'stupider' category except, and here I may simply
be under one of those delusions we occasionally feed ourselves, I
don't think I exactly fit that category. Statistics regarding tests
results gives me information about how well students take particular
tests, but 'stupider', especially when this involves failure to
appreciate Schiller and Beethoven, seems to be a beast of a different
nature.
I am too tired to work this out in more detail, so I will simply
repeat myself: I don't think the claim that kids are stupider has
anything to do with intelligence or quality of education but functions
rather as a commentary on popular culture. It is connected to the
belief that popular music, whether it is Top 40 or Metal, is by
definition not 'good' music, that whatever kids are writing on their
computers or cellphones can't be literature, and that a lack of
appreciation for Bach and Mahler is necessarily a lack of good taste.
I think this is an unfortunate perspective since it closes the
individual off from the possibility of finding good art in unexpected
places.
Again, I would want to know what, if anything, follows from the 'more
stupider' judgment.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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