BOSTON Bye-bye, Bach. So long, Sousa. Lower-income kids across the country will soon be getting a free music education through hip-hop and other pop tunes they can relate to.
Boston's Berklee College of Music is reaching out to four other cities with a 15-year-old program that's made instrumental and vocal music accessible to underprivileged local children. Many of their public schools have dropped music classes because of budget problems and the need to prepare students for standardized tests.The school is getting help from Berklee alumni who will teach lessons, and from Apple Computer which will provide technology. Students learn their individual parts to popular songs, then play along with special computer mixes of tracks like "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley and "Mas Que Nada" (mash kay NAH'-duh) by Sergio Mendes with The Black Eyed Peas.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I've said over and over that I love music - I think this is a good jumping point to get kids interested in creating music, but I really hope it doesn't just stay there. There's nothing like learning the classics.... in my opinion. It is happier news than constantly hearing that schools are closing down their arts.
Harvard University has dropped a controversial proposal that would have required all undergraduates to study religion as part of the biggest overhaul of its curriculum in three decades, the university said on Wednesday
I'm of mixed feelings about this - not only because I'm a Christian, but because I'm a traditionalist. Harvard was a religious institution when it first started. The course itself doesn't seem to be any thing harmful - Reason and Faith... Two things I think people should really consider, especially new college students who are learning how to frame their own world view.
I read an interesting article on CNN.com about how educators in public schools are starting to have incentives for students showing up. One student won a truck for her near-perfect attendance.
Public schools commonly reward excellent attendance with movie
tickets, gas vouchers and iPods. But some diligent students like Kaytie
are now hitting the ultimate teenage jackpot for going to school: They
have won cars or trucks.
School districts in Hartford,
Connecticut; Pueblo, Colorado; South Lake Tahoe, California; and
Wickenburg and Yuma, Arizona, are also giving away vehicles this school
year.
Why such big gifts?
Districts have a lot to gain and little to lose by holding car
drawings. The vehicles are usually free. And in Wyoming, even a
one-student increase in average daily enrollment means another $12,000
in state funding for the year.
Blogging is my only addiction. Well, blogging and new books. I was homeschooled from K-12. I have an overactive imagination, read a page a minute and type 75 wmp. I've worked with kids since I was 13 and love writing about education issues. I'm an unpaid intern with MINDspriting. I steal paperclips to make up for the lack of a check.
