Klarinet Archive - Posting 000107.txt from 2007/01

From: "Bruce M" <bmcgar@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] RE: music students
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:28:27 -0500


Once again, a knee jerk reaction to what was NOT written. I did not write
"ALL children there," did I.

The school for which I taught was a diploma mill for lazy children of rich
people. Only about 5% of the kids I taught and who were in my dorms when I
was a dorm parent had any medically diagnosable learning disability or a
learning disability that could be identified through standardized testing,
yet the "diagnosis" was slapped on all the kids there. The only criteria for
their label was that they didn't do well in school, or wouldn't sit quietly.
(I know this because I had access to their records, and investigated each
student I had to work with so I wouldn't make any assumptions.)

Yes, there were kids there with real , tangible learning disabilities, but
very few.

You say that, because of what I've written, I'm doing more harm than good.
Well, I think that people who jump to label kids as "learning disabled" have
done worlds more harm than you've accused me of doing.

Maybe it would help if you could talk to one of my kids, a recent Yale
graduate in Physics, who is estranged from his family because they drugged
him on Ritalin for A.D.D. He told me not long ago that he would never
forgive his family for taking his young years away from him, that he spent
from age 14 to 17 in "a fog."

Sorry, but in my times as a teacher and as a counselor, I've seen kids
slapped with this label for no reason other than that they didn't like
school. I've seen them drugged instead of coached to have patience and
perseverance. I've seen them lose their futures to make things convenient
for their parents and for their teachers by giving them medical diagnoses on
the basis of nothing more than reports of high-energy or low frustration
tolerance, and by a lack of commitment by parents and teachers who didn't
want to be bothered.

I've also had children tell me to my face that "I can't learn [or I can't
behave] because I'm A.D.D. [or A.D.H.D, or "learning disabled," or
"dyslexic, or "because I have Tourette's Syndrome."]

No, the harm does not come from sketicism, it comes from all those who are
so willing to abrogate their responsibilities by irresponsible labeling and
diagnosis by anecdote.

Now, this is a forum about the clarinet, and teaching the clarinet. I won't
respond again on the list on this subject. If you anyone would like to
comment further, please e-mail to me directly.

B.

P.S. I'd would be interested to know who DOESN'T have a learning disability
of some sort, and who is "neurotypical"!

>From: "thomaswinds" <thomaswinds@-----.net>
>Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>To: "klarinetlist" <klarinet@-----.org>
>Subject: [kl] RE: music students
>Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:51:47 -0500
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Received: from mail.sneezy.org ([66.93.3.127]) by
>bay0-mc5-f10.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444); Fri,
>12 Jan 2007 13:51:51 -0800
>Received: (qmail 5107 invoked by alias); 12 Jan 2007 22:51:41 -0000
>Received: (qmail 5089 invoked by uid 128); 12 Jan 2007 22:51:41 -0000
>X-Message-Info: txF49lGdW43eTnrST9fCGJN8Q14YW7GHYz24MBUQvP0=
>Mailing-List: contact klarinet-help@-----.org; run by ezmlm
>Precedence: bulk
>list-help: <mailto:klarinet-help@-----.org>
>list-unsubscribe: <mailto:klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org>
>list-post: <mailto:klarinet@-----.org>
>Delivered-To: mailing list klarinet@-----.org
>X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-5.6 required=5.0
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3028
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028
>Return-Path: klarinet-return-89746-bmcgar=hotmail.com@-----.org
>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Jan 2007 21:51:52.0065 (UTC)
>FILETIME=[DE473710:01C73693]
>
>Bruce wrote: >>I've taught at a private school for so-called "learning
>> disabled" kids (read "lazy," in most cases)<<
>
>Bruce, that was about the most tasteless, insensitive thing I've ever read.
>If you don't think your students are worth teaching, then please get away
>from them. You are doing them more harm than good. They need a teacher
>who wants to find a way to teach them, not to just assume they're "lazy".
>Maybe they're not doing because you're Not Reaching Them. LD kids don't
>learn the same way as NT kids. (NT = Neurotypical)
>
>I have a 14 yo son with Asperger's. He's got LDs out the ears. We have
>had SO MANY teachers over the years who don't "get it" - teachers who have
>actually set him BACK years of learning, because they only know how to
>teach one way - the way they were taught - instead of going outside the box
>and finding other ways to teach them.
>
>Maybe it's not the kids who are the lazy ones.
>
>Oh, and BTW, he's 14 and plays trumpet on a fairly high level.
>
>Lynn
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>

Get live scores and news about your team: Add the Live.com Football Page
www.live.com/?addtemplate=football&icid=T001MSN30A0701

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org