Responses to Seattle Public School Blogger Responses 12/23 and 12/24

The comments below are responses to posts submitted in reaction to "Bad Music - Seattle Public Schools Poison Elixir" on the Seattle Public School blog site. They appear under the caption "Eckstein Music Program Concerns". There are 51 comments on this site so far.


BLOG -12/24/2010

To be clear,

Michael James is an excellent music instructor and I believe Ballard H.S. has done a better job of maintaining an emphasis on inclusion programming.

People speak about the scope of their programs, they participate in inclusive, music based festivals, and Mr. James does his best to work with as many of the programs and students as possible. The choir has also grown since 2007.

I think Lisa made a very important and insightful observation when she pointed out how quickly this dynamic can change.

Also, the orchestra students at Eckstein are still allowed to pay for private lessons during class/rehearsals.

This remunerative practice is what concerns me the most. Some of the responses pointed out how students who take private lessons have the opportunity to excel, and that this is accepted and normalized.

Student's parents paying for private lessons with the intention that their child could get ahead in school has always been accepted, but those lessons took place in private studios AFTER SCHOOL - NOT IN THE BUILDING ON PUBLIC CLASS TIME. 

It does not make sense that paying students can get pulled from a public class at anytime by a private teacher/contractor, disappear to any room in the building and receive private instruction during band or orchestra rehearsal. Who receives what technical advantages? What music are they working on? Who evaluates the private contractors?
Who counts the money?

It is also extremely disruptive and it undermines band/orchestra rehearsals when the sections are constantly being broken up as kids go in and out of rehearsals. What about ensemble?

A basketball star would never be allowed to take off from practice, leaving all of his/her teammates behind, to go work with a "private shooting coach" that their parents paid for. Especially if the other team members, or players in the district, did not have access to the same service.

What concern me are exclusion, remuneration and the mismanagement that mark the extolled music programs in the Seattle Public School District. 500 students playing instruments is not 500 students with equal access, equal instruction and balanced systems of validation.

The environment produced by these exclusionary institutional practices has lead to hegemony through symbolic and even economic oppression.

The reality of this process and the resulting racial separation is worth writing about. 

Also, please remember, the Seattle Public Schools have a 30 year history of placing these programs, their directors, and a few 'star' students at the center of attention.

Their pervasive conversational emphasis, the intentional 'loading' of these classes with 'gifted' students and the racially divided performance demographics illuminate the socio-cultural impact these programs have had upon integrated, equal access, educational practices the Seattle area.

What about McClure? What about Hamilton? What about Mercer? What happened to Meany? Why didn't these schools get attention and sustained programming?

Music is also historically central to identity formation and learning process for people of color and socio-economic disadvantage. It helps with mentation and healthy ego-development.

This is why inclusive programs were started in public schools in the first place.

The psychological ramification of the exclusive remunerative environment is that, yes, the validated few excel and gain a dominant learning disposition, while the unrecognized many fall away having developed an aversion to learning and instruction in general.

Often times other students are bullied and intentionally made to feel excluded by the band students, only exacerbating this problem.

As a community built upon democratic principals, with a history of racial agreement and whose leaders have always lead the movement towards integration, we would be remiss to ignore that this thing has been happening and continues to happen.  

STAND UP

Seattle,

Can't you tell the difference between parent's making a private choice to pay for services on their own time and those DOUBLE DIPPING BY PAYING TO HAVE THEIR STUDENT RECEIVE ADDITIONAL SERVICES DURING PUBLIC CLASS HOURS THAT ARE PAID FOR BY OUR TAX DOLLARS?

What would be the point of the public space? These parents do this for convenience (they don't want to have to find and get their kid to a legitimate private instructor who maintains a private studio) and because they are allowed to.

If they actually paid a professional private instructor, they would be supporting the overall economy of the city in that they would be working with professional performing artists- not un-certified, self-proclaimed private contractors who need the school and class hours to peddle their product.

Also, it is not the idea of private instruction that is the problem - it is the idea that a privileged few can pay for them and others are excluded and never get a full ensemble experience.

Are you suggesting that students of color are not disproportionately affected by socio-economic difference in the Seattle Public Schools?

Are you suggesting that there is no achievement and opportunity gap at Eckstein?

Are you suggesting that the class of students whose parents can afford $50 dollar band fees plus additional private instruction at school is not overwhelmingly white? Have you seen the Eckstein orchestra? It is 95% white, and this is a poor reflection of an already segregated school environment.

Students who pay and who take lessons gain favors and are advanced by the Band Director. I thought I said that clearly. I could give names of students, but it would not be appropriate in the blog space.

I could also give the names of several private contractors who I have personally witnessed behave in a discriminatory manner by choosing to work with certain students and not others, or by providing disparate instruction based upon whose students 'look' the best and whose parents have what clout. Who regulates the choices these instructors make and how do these decisions affect which students progress?

The statistics are everywhere. These facts are not disputed and are the impetus behind the move to the community schools. If you need more facts, visit the Eckstein Band website. The first thing you will see is a request for a band fee. If you don't understand why this is illegal across the nation and in other districts in Washington, please research the term remuneration as it is applied in the Washington State Administrative code.  

Is it that hard to comprehend and face? Please think more deeply about the 'facts', as you say, before accusing a concerned and informed commentator of simply grinding an axe.

STAND UP