Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 2008/11

From: Alexander Brash <brash@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] After Drucker
Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:41:35 -0500

I hope we realize there was a time when 65 *was* the mandatory
retirement age for orchestral players in this country. Unless we
expect that our forebears were all notoriously evil, immoral men, and
we have now far surpassed them in "correctness" - then a mandatory
retirement age is a perfectly acceptable thing to consider. The
societal "norm" today may consider this age discrimination, but it's
perfectly reasonable to posit that in some areas, it's warranted. The
number of available jobs is tiny, the number of people seeking jobs
each year is enormous. There is certainly a sense of "fair play" in
letting someone else have a go of it - or at least forcing a
reaudition of the position (remove lifetime tenure - restrict to 10
year terms, or something like this).

On Nov 8, 2008, at 5:12 PM, Dan Leeson wrote:

> This argument, posted by Alexander Brash, about age is bankrupt and
> worthless. It's nothing more than the idea that if Anton Stadler
> were alive and playing today, these terrific "kids" who you talk
> about would mop the floor with him, and that includes Baerman and
> everyone else, who are collectively considered old farts. The
> reverse may be true. These old guys could play circles around the
> young kids.
>
> Drucker could very well keep on playing. His playing has lost no
> noticeable power. I suspect that he is simply tired of it, and the
> physical rigors of the job get more and more difficult as one gets
> older. But that doesn't mean that he has to retire because he is
> falling apart.
>
> To make a broad brush statement that says, effectively, that older
> players should get out of the scene and let the kids, who can play
> circles around them, take over their positions, is not only
> rewarmed nonsense, if you utter that view in a real live situation
> you could be charged with age discrimination..
>
> Dan Leeson
> dnleeson@-----.net
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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