Procrastadabbler

Since I’ve started on Facebook and Twitter, I’ve blogged less. I’m not happy with that development. I used to blog about things I’ve read and what it makes me think about. Since twitter and Facebook, I’ve gotten in the habit of just posting the links. I’ve gotten lazy, and my thinking has gotten lazy.

This morning I watched a TED talk by Jose Abreu on the transformative power of music in the lives of children and also watched a performance of Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra. It was a fabulous way to start the day. Much better than reading depressing news on the New York Times or even the local paper. Abreu’s request (and he is a winner of the TED prize) was for funding to start an El Sistema program in the US and other countries. El Sistema is a music program that reaches out and supports children to learn music. It seeks to move music out of the realm of the elite and into the realm of everyone. Abreu argues that music transforms a child’s life and the life of the family and community.

Watching the young musicians perform (and Dudamel conduct) is an experience. There is such joy and passion in their performance. I want that for every child – if not through music, through something. That’s what being an educator should be about. Not teaching skills or content, but opening up the world for a child so that they can discover a way to interact with the world in a powerful and transformative way. It can be through music, art, literature, math, science, social sciences. But it needs to be about the child, not about the content. We forget that.