Steve Schwartz wrote:

>I see too much ignorance even from college-degreed people to be happy
>about this.  It feels - though I have no real proof - that the
>education needed to sustain a viable culture is dwindling.  There may
>well come a time that so few people will know enough to want to hear a
>motet by William Byrd that no recording company will issue the
>software. Complacency over this doesn't seem justified.

This hits the nail on the head.  I work for IT and - I deeply regret
having to say this as I sound like an old buffer - the lack of knowledge
of anything of any depth or difficulty outside work is astounding.

In a team of over twenty people, all between 20 and 40 years old, there
is one other person, to the best of my knowledge, who has any interest
in the arts other than pop music and the reaction to my being able to
play instruments other than the guitar is, in a word, astonishment; it
is seen as something akin to magic or witchcraft.

Unfortunately, a couple of people have got it into their heads that I
look down on them because I practice such "esoteric" arts, which is a
dangerous situation.

I don't know whether all this is a particular peculiarity of IT or
something more general but, fifteen years ago, I couldn't have said the
same thing; one could have staffed a decent orchestra from the employees
of my company then!

Alastair