Klarinet Archive - Posting 000129.txt from 1996/02

From: Randy Miller--Senior Librarian--GPS Library <miller@-----.MIL>
Subj: Re: KLARINET Digest - 3 Feb 1996 to 5 Feb 1996
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 13:57:04 -0500

In re: to the current thread on Mr. Holland's opus. There is a phrase used
in the military that goes x is illrelevant, where x could be a program or a
particular person. I have long ago made the conclusion that the general
public could care less about public education, as the general public are
morons (yes, I am being extremely sarcastic here.). I have given up teaching
privately (as well as publicly) years ago because I frankly got tired of
fighting the attitude of "gimme my TV and my beer and **** everything else,
including my children." I'm about to give up my current profession, librarian,
because of the military's "x is irrelevant (in this case, the library and it
support staff is irrelevant)" attitude, which is also see in spades with
the general public. While I have not seen the movie, I well know the feeling
of frustration and futility to see one's life work shot down the toilet because
of the idiots that are frequently being elected to school boards. (I can
think of one such example right now in the North Penn School District in
Montgomery County, PA, which I will not get into at his point.) The big
problem is we now live in an age where the only thing that matters is the
"bottom line." Even though it can be proved in the long term that the arts
are essential, especially when studies have shown there are difinite links to
other competencies in education and art, it is irrelevant since the long term
is no longer the goal. As long as significant savings can be made in the
short term, everything else is irrelevant and is to be discarded, like a
wasted facial tissue. We're all losers, since this is the prevalent thinking
nowadays, and it's no longer worth trying to change the minds of the powers
that be, since they are unwilling to listen, and the general public, by and
large is too stupid to comprehend.

Randy