Michael Morgan wrote:

>And THIS is the answer and any artist or arts organization that's not
>doing this (or doing their best to get anyone who will listen to do
>this for all of us) is not addressing the problem.  No, not dumbing
>down, but education, education, education...
>
>"somehow make thinking something other than a burden"...love that
>phrase...

Wonderful ideas, but alas the dumbing down of society has a chicken
and egg effect.  Education and basic learning itself are disparaged in
a world accustomed to instant gratification and mental soundbites.  Why
go to the trouble of self development when you can simply knock someone
else?  It goes much further than just classical music.  The "ideal" of
the net was to help people learn and have access.  Alas so often it is
a false democracy where people who don't believe in such things can rule,
and again I don't just mean music.

As Steve Schwartz says:

>For one thing, it's going to take a serious commitment to public
>education, to training and retraining teachers, to somehow make
>thinking something other than a burden in people's minds.

One way to counteract the dumbing down is not to practice it yourself,
I guess.  Public education can't happen unless there are enough individuals
who believe that searching for knowledge is an option as valid as the
iconoclasm of the anti learning brigades.  In a world where politicians
pride themselves on not reading books this means starting at the grassroots.

Anne
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