What is knowledge? By definition, it is what you gain from experience and/or education. If your experience is (as one example) farming, your knowledge of soil content including chemical breakdown throughout the seasons as it pertains to the growth/development and production of specific crops will be far superior to that of, say, an electrician. This is not meant to be disrespectful, but a fact.
Likewise, if you are an academic scholar who has specialized in the emergence, and subsequent history of, democratic forms of government - your knowledge in this area will be far superior to that of, say, a policeman. Again, this is not meant to be disrespectful, but a fact.
The word "fact" has suddenly fallen under suspicion in our society and this can, by and large, be blamed on modern technology and social media. I never thought I'd see a day where I was being told that I now live in a "post truth" society. I don't even know what the hell that means.
The advent of the information super highway has, ironically, allowed us to become a very ill-informed society. This massive technology gives us incredible access to things like the Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy. You can also sign up (free of charge!) to the Vatican Library which provides users access to some of the most historic and treasured manuscripts in western civilization, as well as works of art, coins, medals, and other amazing pieces of history. You can watch incredible (and authentic) documentaries on YouTube and/or Netflix. You can gain access to academic sites such as Academia.edu which will give you the ability to read academic papers on subjects pertinent to your profession and/or interests. You can challenge your ideas, and/or reenforce them, by reading works and papers containing both supportive and contrary views.
The Internet also gives us access to "news" websites where you can read about President Obama's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (completely false); or how Hillary Clinton used a body double on the campaign trail (again: false). You can go to a music website that will allow you to outright steal the entire recorded catalog of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan. One also has access to numerous sites that provide shortened footnotes to every major work of literature, thus eliminating the need for high school or college kids to do any kind of in-depth critical reading for the duration of their entire academic career.
The Internet has completely reshaped our culture. Instead of accessing things like The Vatican Library we seem to be flocking towards sites that provide no knowledge whatsoever. Websites like Sparknotes have become the go-to for students when it comes to the reading of literature and/or poetry. Instead of carefully, and critically, parsing a complete work, students get a brushing over at best, and then attempt to provide a "perspective". How much can one possibly understand about Othello through the reading of a group of paragraphs, in lieu of the entire book?
Since the advent of the Internet, Americans have stopped pursuing knowledge and no longer pay for news. Instead of buying a paper - or papers - we access websites that provide information free of charge. If we're not doing this, we choose to listen to talk radio and/or TV "news" programs that provide no news at all, but rather pass on a lot of (loud) hyperbolic opinion.
How much was voting impacted by websites providing fake news? Just over a year ago, the Washington Post reported 29% of Americans falsely believe President Obama is a Muslim. The same article also reported that 54% of Trump supporters believed the same. To not acknowledge how this startling piece of mis-information impacted the election is ignorant. In addition, we now live in a country where 35% of the population do not know that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are the same thing. This may be alarming, but speaks to the fact that we no longer understand or embrace the responsibility of our job as citizens in the United States.
The job of democratic citizens is enormous. In addition to voting, we have to be well informed. We have to be individuals who possess not only the want to stay informed, but also the want to challenge ourselves intellectually and epistemically. Listening to someone pound an opinion into your head day after day after day does not qualify - nor does imbibing whatever comes across your Facebook feed. It is this mindset that has produced some of the most troubling incidents regarding false information.
Perhaps the biggest is what's become known as "Pizzagate". This began solely as an Internet based rumor stating that Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief, Jon Pedesta, were running a child trafficking sex ring out of the basement of a pizzeria. As ridiculous and absurd as this sounds, the theory grew wildly over time. It spread across online channels like Reddit, Instagram, and Youtube, as well as various right wing blogs. It got a big push when conservative radio host - and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire - Alex Jones stated on his radio show: "When I think about all the children Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her...Yeah, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton has personally murdered children. I just can’t hold back the truth anymore."
The "Pizzgate" rumors had the pizzeria owner and employees being harassed online, as well as with threatening calls to their store phone (150 calls/day). Soon other businesses on the same street were being linked - and harassed - when further rumors insisted there were "underground tunnels" where kids were hidden and moved between businesses. It all came to a head when a North Carolina man walked into the pizzeria with an assault rifle, pistol, and knife; and proceeded to fire multiple shots. The man said he was there to "investigate" the supposed child pornography ring.
No one was hurt and the man was arrested. This however did not stop the rumor. Soon stories made the round that the North Carolina man was a government plant - the whole thing was staged by the left and Hillary. To this day, there are still individuals who believe "Pizzagate" is real. In fact, pop singer John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, got caught up in the nonsense when an online "investigative writer" claimed that a photo of the couples daughter somehow proved they too were engaged in Pizzagate.
Is it a surprise that right now, in the midst of a global health crisis and pandemic, the current President of the United States felt he could stand on a global stage and encourage the medical and scientific communities to investigate the injection of household cleaning products, and disinfectants, as viable cures for the COVID-19 virus? How, in the wake of the what has been allowed to perpetuate amongst society as "fact" for the last (almost) decade could we be shocked by this?
We should all be very alarmed. A democratic republic cannot - and will not - function properly without a coherent recognition of truth amongst its citizens. It is time for the massive issue of mis-information and the mass perpetuation of conspiracy theories to be addressed.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Why Not?
In the most recent installment of 60 Minutes, Charlie Rose interviewed Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In addition to the expected questions on the crisis in Syria, and how Russia views the Ukraine, Rose asked Putin a question that I thought said a lot: "What do you admire most about America?" to which Putin responded "I like the creativity...creativity when it comes to your tackling of problems. Their openness...openness and open mindedness. It allows them to unleash the inner potential of their people. And thanks to that, America has attained such amazing results in developing their country."
That exchange says a lot. Vladimir Putin is not known for being a humble man, but when you watch the exchange between him and Rose, you sense the admiration in his tone - and why wouldn't he feel this way? Putin summed up what America is about: Ingenuity.
In no coincidence, President Obama met with Chinese president Xi Jinxing last week, and one major point of discussion was China's theft of U.S. company trade secrets. It is widely known that (for years now) China has been helping themselves to our legally protected ideas, and the economic impact has been staggering. A 2012 report issued by the The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee titled "The Impact of Intellectual Property Theft on the Economy" begins with: "Innovation drives economic growth and job creation. Protection of intellectual property (IP), through patents, trademarks, and copyrights is critical to ensuring that firms pursue innovation."
That's the gist of the entire U.S. economy. Innovation and ideas are the drive behind our economic force - but essential to that is the right to legally protect those ideas; and that has suddenly become one of the main (if not biggest) threats to our economy and society.
The report also addresses how piracy and counterfeiting have become "increasingly pervasive", and says that trade in illegally counterfeited and/or pirated products increased by 7.6 percent between 2000 and 2007. This amounts to over $101.9 million in revenue as well as $1.4 million in added costs to protect intellectual property rights. This all combines for a $46.3 million decline in overall profits.
The concept of valuing creativity and innovation is disappearing...and fast. A 2013 article in The Economist reports how companies now keep new ideas under wraps. Rather than legally protect then manufacture, they sit on them out of fear the idea will be stolen and put into production before they can do it. The Economist article also reports 90% of trade secret thefts are the result of insiders. Employees who have access to ideas (plans, drawings, concepts, etc.) simply lift them from the office "...via flash drive, mobil phone, or email" and sell them off. In essence, the world has become one giant Napster.
I jump on Napster a lot. I do so because (like I've said before) I see it as the catalyst. It was the application that ushered in the If it's on the Internet...it's free! mentality - and we are now seeing its global effects. This is the age of copying. So much so that a New York Times article reported how the number of American students who cheat keeps going up (even the smart ones). Cheating has not only become more rampant, but also accepted. As the article states; "The Internet has changed attitudes, as a world of instant downloading, searching, cutting and pasting has loosened some ideas of ownership and authorship." For a society whose socio-economic structure depends on new ideas - this is bad news.
I am not a "Luddite". I am typing this entry on a laptop computer, and uploading it the an Internet based Blog. How ever, I do get scared that someone will lift my words and use them as their own (it's not a crazy idea). After all, this is the world we live in now. You don't need to be smart, creative, or critical with your thoughts. Just log on; cut, paste, download, and claim it as your own. Don't pay for it...just steal it! That has (sadly) become the new normal.
That exchange says a lot. Vladimir Putin is not known for being a humble man, but when you watch the exchange between him and Rose, you sense the admiration in his tone - and why wouldn't he feel this way? Putin summed up what America is about: Ingenuity.
In no coincidence, President Obama met with Chinese president Xi Jinxing last week, and one major point of discussion was China's theft of U.S. company trade secrets. It is widely known that (for years now) China has been helping themselves to our legally protected ideas, and the economic impact has been staggering. A 2012 report issued by the The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee titled "The Impact of Intellectual Property Theft on the Economy" begins with: "Innovation drives economic growth and job creation. Protection of intellectual property (IP), through patents, trademarks, and copyrights is critical to ensuring that firms pursue innovation."
That's the gist of the entire U.S. economy. Innovation and ideas are the drive behind our economic force - but essential to that is the right to legally protect those ideas; and that has suddenly become one of the main (if not biggest) threats to our economy and society.
The report also addresses how piracy and counterfeiting have become "increasingly pervasive", and says that trade in illegally counterfeited and/or pirated products increased by 7.6 percent between 2000 and 2007. This amounts to over $101.9 million in revenue as well as $1.4 million in added costs to protect intellectual property rights. This all combines for a $46.3 million decline in overall profits.
The concept of valuing creativity and innovation is disappearing...and fast. A 2013 article in The Economist reports how companies now keep new ideas under wraps. Rather than legally protect then manufacture, they sit on them out of fear the idea will be stolen and put into production before they can do it. The Economist article also reports 90% of trade secret thefts are the result of insiders. Employees who have access to ideas (plans, drawings, concepts, etc.) simply lift them from the office "...via flash drive, mobil phone, or email" and sell them off. In essence, the world has become one giant Napster.
I jump on Napster a lot. I do so because (like I've said before) I see it as the catalyst. It was the application that ushered in the If it's on the Internet...it's free! mentality - and we are now seeing its global effects. This is the age of copying. So much so that a New York Times article reported how the number of American students who cheat keeps going up (even the smart ones). Cheating has not only become more rampant, but also accepted. As the article states; "The Internet has changed attitudes, as a world of instant downloading, searching, cutting and pasting has loosened some ideas of ownership and authorship." For a society whose socio-economic structure depends on new ideas - this is bad news.
I am not a "Luddite". I am typing this entry on a laptop computer, and uploading it the an Internet based Blog. How ever, I do get scared that someone will lift my words and use them as their own (it's not a crazy idea). After all, this is the world we live in now. You don't need to be smart, creative, or critical with your thoughts. Just log on; cut, paste, download, and claim it as your own. Don't pay for it...just steal it! That has (sadly) become the new normal.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
It's About Time
Rethink Music (which is a associated with BerkleeICE - part of Berklee College of Music) just released a report titled Fair Music: Transparency and Payment Flows in the Music Industry - Recommendations to Increase Transparency, Reduce Friction, and Promote Fairness in the Music Industry. The report begins by stating:
In 1999 I spoke on a panel at the CMJ Music Marathon in Manhattan whose topic was Music Promotion and the Internet. Inevitably, though, the controversy of the time - digital downloading - came into play. At one point, a fellow panelist spoke of an artist she knew who'd had a song downloaded for free over 100,000 times. In response I asked "OK, so now what?" to which the woman responded "It was 100,000 downloads...who cares!" The room erupted into applause. Once the noise died down, and the panel moved on, I noticed no one had answered my question.
My question was shaped by the fact that it was September of '99. Napster had stormed onto the scene that June, and suddenly the prevailing attitude regarding music became give it away for free. This bothered me for a couple of reasons:
1.) I am a musician, and played in a band that was eventually signed to a record deal. I know what struggle is like. To suddenly have an application render the hard work of musicians valueless (monetarily speaking) pissed me off.
2.) We don't live in a system where anything is free. In fact, music is probably one of the most important things in any society, and to suddenly have an attitude of Just give it away! made no sense - economically, socially, or aesthetically.
Regardless of my thoughts, I was in the minority. To be honest, I felt like people were angry I'd even raised the question. The mindset in the room was "If 100,000 people downloaded your song, and 40,000 liked it...they'll go pay for one or two more or maybe...the whole album." That was naïve, and I knew it. Napster had created a mindset of "don't pay for it...take it" - and accomplished this in a mere four months. I found this hilarious because without music what was Napster? Seriously, would it have been culturally, or technologically, relevant if it was an application allowing the free and open exchange of recipes? The secret sauce providing its value was music. Napster wasn't what everyone wanted - it was what it gave them access to.
Why do I harp on Napster? Simple: It created a national mindset that musicians/artists and creative people ultimately still battle today: If it's on the Internet - it must be free. This subsequently spread to movies, books, newspapers, articles, photographs, images, quotes, papers, and anything else requiring creative thought, and input, from an individual. An article in CNN Money from 2010 discusses how music business revenue dropped more than 50% beginning in 1999. As if that wasn't depressing enough, the piece also states that by 2010, 90% of the market was "unauthorized downloads". That's a fancy way of saying that a mere10% of people pay for their music.
I teach music in an alternative High School for at risk inner-city kids. This past year I covered the history of Hip Hop music and, when we got to the unit on sampling, I discovered something I had taken for granted: My students had no idea how musicians get paid for their work. The discussion eventually led down the road of illegal downloads, and I was shocked to find that a vast majority of my students thought they were "screwing" the record labels by stealing music - not the artists themselves. This epiphany led me to create a lesson plan on how artists get paid, copyright laws, and protecting your work. I did one class where all of the kids simulated "stealing" a song from one student. This student was particularly vocal about why he didn't have to pay for music anymore, but suddenly, in this exercise, he found himself getting very angry as his fellow students took money from his pocket.
One of the biggest problems we face today is technological ignorance. In an earlier post here I wrote about the problem Internet based cheating has become in college. Young people today see this massive space they've been given access to as a place where creative copyrighted works can be downloaded, copied, cut, and pasted free of charge. Napster (and applications like it) created a generation of people (adults included) who don't believe they have to pay for any of it.
Maybe in addition to addressing the outdated methods by which musicians are paid, Rethink Music should also institute an initiative to educate kids about creative ideas in this technological age - and how you get paid for those ideas. Again, we have given our kids the keys to a world where they have access to a lot of wonderful and amazing things. How ever, they also have access to a lot of awful and illegal things. Yet, in our current system of education, there is no class on creative works, their value, and how to respect them in the age of the Internet.
The unsurpassed reach of the Internet and the emergence of a range of new digital technologies
have transformed virtually every corner of the music industry for fans and creators alike. While
consumers enjoy vastly more options, these market disruptions are presenting a range of important
challenges for creators, producers, and distributors of music.
In 1999 I spoke on a panel at the CMJ Music Marathon in Manhattan whose topic was Music Promotion and the Internet. Inevitably, though, the controversy of the time - digital downloading - came into play. At one point, a fellow panelist spoke of an artist she knew who'd had a song downloaded for free over 100,000 times. In response I asked "OK, so now what?" to which the woman responded "It was 100,000 downloads...who cares!" The room erupted into applause. Once the noise died down, and the panel moved on, I noticed no one had answered my question.
My question was shaped by the fact that it was September of '99. Napster had stormed onto the scene that June, and suddenly the prevailing attitude regarding music became give it away for free. This bothered me for a couple of reasons:
1.) I am a musician, and played in a band that was eventually signed to a record deal. I know what struggle is like. To suddenly have an application render the hard work of musicians valueless (monetarily speaking) pissed me off.
2.) We don't live in a system where anything is free. In fact, music is probably one of the most important things in any society, and to suddenly have an attitude of Just give it away! made no sense - economically, socially, or aesthetically.
Regardless of my thoughts, I was in the minority. To be honest, I felt like people were angry I'd even raised the question. The mindset in the room was "If 100,000 people downloaded your song, and 40,000 liked it...they'll go pay for one or two more or maybe...the whole album." That was naïve, and I knew it. Napster had created a mindset of "don't pay for it...take it" - and accomplished this in a mere four months. I found this hilarious because without music what was Napster? Seriously, would it have been culturally, or technologically, relevant if it was an application allowing the free and open exchange of recipes? The secret sauce providing its value was music. Napster wasn't what everyone wanted - it was what it gave them access to.
Why do I harp on Napster? Simple: It created a national mindset that musicians/artists and creative people ultimately still battle today: If it's on the Internet - it must be free. This subsequently spread to movies, books, newspapers, articles, photographs, images, quotes, papers, and anything else requiring creative thought, and input, from an individual. An article in CNN Money from 2010 discusses how music business revenue dropped more than 50% beginning in 1999. As if that wasn't depressing enough, the piece also states that by 2010, 90% of the market was "unauthorized downloads". That's a fancy way of saying that a mere10% of people pay for their music.
I teach music in an alternative High School for at risk inner-city kids. This past year I covered the history of Hip Hop music and, when we got to the unit on sampling, I discovered something I had taken for granted: My students had no idea how musicians get paid for their work. The discussion eventually led down the road of illegal downloads, and I was shocked to find that a vast majority of my students thought they were "screwing" the record labels by stealing music - not the artists themselves. This epiphany led me to create a lesson plan on how artists get paid, copyright laws, and protecting your work. I did one class where all of the kids simulated "stealing" a song from one student. This student was particularly vocal about why he didn't have to pay for music anymore, but suddenly, in this exercise, he found himself getting very angry as his fellow students took money from his pocket.
One of the biggest problems we face today is technological ignorance. In an earlier post here I wrote about the problem Internet based cheating has become in college. Young people today see this massive space they've been given access to as a place where creative copyrighted works can be downloaded, copied, cut, and pasted free of charge. Napster (and applications like it) created a generation of people (adults included) who don't believe they have to pay for any of it.
Maybe in addition to addressing the outdated methods by which musicians are paid, Rethink Music should also institute an initiative to educate kids about creative ideas in this technological age - and how you get paid for those ideas. Again, we have given our kids the keys to a world where they have access to a lot of wonderful and amazing things. How ever, they also have access to a lot of awful and illegal things. Yet, in our current system of education, there is no class on creative works, their value, and how to respect them in the age of the Internet.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
What About Her?
I have a piano student who is very talented. She is a sixth grade girl and plays pieces better than all of my high school students. Mind you, those students have all been playing four (or more) years longer than she has. She is very well spoken, is a sweet kid and enjoys life. So why is her mother is worried sick about her?
This poor girl doesn't do "well" in school. Her grades in math, science are pretty bad. In addition, her state test scores are pretty low. This all has her mother worried about where, and if, she'll get into college. Mind you, she is acing music, art, and language arts. In addition to playing the piano she loves to draw, read, and write stories. The problem is, her grades are - generally speaking - pretty low.
If you were to look at this kid's report card from the outside you may think to yourself Average student at best, but I can tell you that this girl is very bright - and this frustrates me. Why isn't there a section on the state test for art...or music? What about a creative writing section? Why isn't there someone at the school who can see that this girl has intelligence, but that it just comes in different ways? Why aren't there programs in place at school for varied learning types? If this girl's parents wanted to, they could go searching for, and maybe find a school, that could accommodate their daughter but why do they have to look?
This is the plight of education in the twenty-first century: Creativity is not addressed at all. In too many articles, and interviews, company CEO's are lamenting on how today's college grads lack creativity, and/or critical thinking skills. Yet, we insist on spending a huge chunk of the year preparing for tests that, apparently, leaves no time for questions, problem solving, or analyzation.
In one of the first posts here, I wrote about the Torrence Test (which tests creativity), and how American kids scores have been in a steady decline since the 1990's. It has become quite apparent that creativity is something akin to "real" intelligences - like math and science. Suddenly, as we begin migrating the first few years of the twenty-first century, we need to make sure our kids maintain their creative capacities. We need to do this because our kids are growing up in a world where social, political, economic, and technological shifts are an almost daily occurance. Our kids need to be able to not only come up with new ideas, but also adjust, change, and adapt them so they can accommodate those shifts.
This poor girl doesn't do "well" in school. Her grades in math, science are pretty bad. In addition, her state test scores are pretty low. This all has her mother worried about where, and if, she'll get into college. Mind you, she is acing music, art, and language arts. In addition to playing the piano she loves to draw, read, and write stories. The problem is, her grades are - generally speaking - pretty low.
If you were to look at this kid's report card from the outside you may think to yourself Average student at best, but I can tell you that this girl is very bright - and this frustrates me. Why isn't there a section on the state test for art...or music? What about a creative writing section? Why isn't there someone at the school who can see that this girl has intelligence, but that it just comes in different ways? Why aren't there programs in place at school for varied learning types? If this girl's parents wanted to, they could go searching for, and maybe find a school, that could accommodate their daughter but why do they have to look?
This is the plight of education in the twenty-first century: Creativity is not addressed at all. In too many articles, and interviews, company CEO's are lamenting on how today's college grads lack creativity, and/or critical thinking skills. Yet, we insist on spending a huge chunk of the year preparing for tests that, apparently, leaves no time for questions, problem solving, or analyzation.
In one of the first posts here, I wrote about the Torrence Test (which tests creativity), and how American kids scores have been in a steady decline since the 1990's. It has become quite apparent that creativity is something akin to "real" intelligences - like math and science. Suddenly, as we begin migrating the first few years of the twenty-first century, we need to make sure our kids maintain their creative capacities. We need to do this because our kids are growing up in a world where social, political, economic, and technological shifts are an almost daily occurance. Our kids need to be able to not only come up with new ideas, but also adjust, change, and adapt them so they can accommodate those shifts.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Creativity and Capitalism
A recent article in the New York Times asked "Why is Productivity so Weak?" I read the Times article and was reminded of another piece from Fortune magazine written by Geoff Colvin. The name of his piece - "A Mighty Culture of Innovation Cannot Be Taken For Granted" - sums up our country, and also our current problem. Colvin reminds us that America is, after all, a land of creative individuals, and this should not - and cannot - be forgotten.
Our system was founded not just on our ability to be creative, but also on the right to legally protect our ideas - then produce, market, and sell them. This formula holds true for everything from Bic's ball point pen to Coke's formula, to Hellman's mayonnaise, to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In the Wind". One of my favorite contemporary writers and thinkers, the late Sir Ken Robinson, rightfully defines creativity as "coming up with original ideas that have value".
Colvin's piece mentions a recent study by World Values that asked the question "How important is it to think up new ideas and be creative?". Countries were ranked based on their answers, and the U.S. came in 10th - behind France, Germany, and the U.K. - all countries we, currently, are way in front of in terms of GDP.
Colvin discusses this in his piece, but then presents something scary: The Torrence Test. This has been administered to American children for years, and tests one thing in particular: Creativity. What our Torrence scores have shown is that American children's results are in a steady decline - and have been since 1999. The most amazing thing about this is that no one can figure out why.
Could it be because creativity holds no value anymore?
Think about this for a minute: The current generation have grown up in a world where (if they choose) they do not have to pay for music, movies, or books. These are not creative works to them, but rather, things you take. They hold no monetary value. This generation are also growing up in a system where nationalized testing has taken precedent over organic and true learning. Facts and figures are crammed down their throats at alarming speed, and for the sole purpose of better scores. There is such an enormous amount of material to cover, often times teachers go as far as to dissuade students from asking questions (I know this because my high school aged daughter and son, have told me questions are often greeted with the "answer" of Phone a friend, or go home and ask your parents.).
I am a music teacher, and have been giving private piano and drum lessons for over ten years. I've become more aware of how angry, and frustrated my students get when they make mistakes - and these are typically very small ones. I am also shocked at how many do not have the patience to realize that learning an instrument (like anything else) is a process. It takes time as well as tons of mistakes. They don't want that, but rather want immediate results.
I also do a lot of staff development and in-service training, and many teachers have told me over the years that the amount of cheating and plagiarism going on in their classrooms is astounding. This is especially true for middle and High School students.
In a book titled Academically Adrift, authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa write how college students in 1961 spent 40 hours a week on their studies. That dwindled to 27 hours/week in 2003. Also noted in the book: 36% of recent college grads lacked the ability to think critically, and apply any new experience or information they had acquired in school. Why is that?
Technology is an amazing thing. It has enabled us to create and develop many incredible new products as well as services never imagined. How ever, it has also presented the ability to download unlimited amounts of music, books, and movies without paying a dime. It's also presented the ability to grab words and/or photos and "create" a term paper or book report (or campaign convention speech) and give ourselves credit for "writing" it.
Torrence test scores are declining, and we can't figure out why. Meanwhile, arts programs are getting cut, and the cramming of information begins in elementary, and continues through to High School. Added to this is a generation of young people who point/click - drop/drag - download, and send. They don't want to make mistakes because they're not allowed to. In addition, the great ideas, poems, music, and films that have served generations as inspiration have been reduced to "free downloads".
Where are the next ideas going to come from?
Our system was founded not just on our ability to be creative, but also on the right to legally protect our ideas - then produce, market, and sell them. This formula holds true for everything from Bic's ball point pen to Coke's formula, to Hellman's mayonnaise, to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In the Wind". One of my favorite contemporary writers and thinkers, the late Sir Ken Robinson, rightfully defines creativity as "coming up with original ideas that have value".
Colvin's piece mentions a recent study by World Values that asked the question "How important is it to think up new ideas and be creative?". Countries were ranked based on their answers, and the U.S. came in 10th - behind France, Germany, and the U.K. - all countries we, currently, are way in front of in terms of GDP.
Colvin discusses this in his piece, but then presents something scary: The Torrence Test. This has been administered to American children for years, and tests one thing in particular: Creativity. What our Torrence scores have shown is that American children's results are in a steady decline - and have been since 1999. The most amazing thing about this is that no one can figure out why.
Could it be because creativity holds no value anymore?
Think about this for a minute: The current generation have grown up in a world where (if they choose) they do not have to pay for music, movies, or books. These are not creative works to them, but rather, things you take. They hold no monetary value. This generation are also growing up in a system where nationalized testing has taken precedent over organic and true learning. Facts and figures are crammed down their throats at alarming speed, and for the sole purpose of better scores. There is such an enormous amount of material to cover, often times teachers go as far as to dissuade students from asking questions (I know this because my high school aged daughter and son, have told me questions are often greeted with the "answer" of Phone a friend, or go home and ask your parents.).
I am a music teacher, and have been giving private piano and drum lessons for over ten years. I've become more aware of how angry, and frustrated my students get when they make mistakes - and these are typically very small ones. I am also shocked at how many do not have the patience to realize that learning an instrument (like anything else) is a process. It takes time as well as tons of mistakes. They don't want that, but rather want immediate results.
I also do a lot of staff development and in-service training, and many teachers have told me over the years that the amount of cheating and plagiarism going on in their classrooms is astounding. This is especially true for middle and High School students.
In a book titled Academically Adrift, authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa write how college students in 1961 spent 40 hours a week on their studies. That dwindled to 27 hours/week in 2003. Also noted in the book: 36% of recent college grads lacked the ability to think critically, and apply any new experience or information they had acquired in school. Why is that?
Technology is an amazing thing. It has enabled us to create and develop many incredible new products as well as services never imagined. How ever, it has also presented the ability to download unlimited amounts of music, books, and movies without paying a dime. It's also presented the ability to grab words and/or photos and "create" a term paper or book report (or campaign convention speech) and give ourselves credit for "writing" it.
Torrence test scores are declining, and we can't figure out why. Meanwhile, arts programs are getting cut, and the cramming of information begins in elementary, and continues through to High School. Added to this is a generation of young people who point/click - drop/drag - download, and send. They don't want to make mistakes because they're not allowed to. In addition, the great ideas, poems, music, and films that have served generations as inspiration have been reduced to "free downloads".
Where are the next ideas going to come from?
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
The Cheating Life
It is no secret that we live in an age of cheating. You don't have to look far to find many examples in almost every facet of our society.
In the world of sports there are figures like Alex Rodriguez, and Lance Armstrong. Two men who competed at the top of their respective games, but did so with the help of illegal substances.
There are even examples in the world of finance. You can't help but think of Bernie Madoff who cheated his way to the top of the investment industry robbing innocent people of everything along the way. By 2009, it seemed that nearly all of Wall Street was cheating its way to supposed financial success by selling worthless junk to regular folks like you and I - and laughing while doing so.
There have been countless cases of authors getting caught lying in their books or flat out plagiarizing the work of others - but the case of 17-year-old German author, Helene Hegemann, is very interesting, and I believe speaks volumes about how younger people look at the creative process.
Hegemann's debut novel, "Axolotl Roadkill", won acclaim upon its release. The book reached the top five on German best seller lists, and then it was revealed that Hegemann lifted entire pages of work from another writer. When called on it, she apologized for not being "more open" about her sources. In a telling quote, she stated; "I myself don't feel it is stealing, because I put all the material into a completely different and unique context..." She also said, regarding the first edition of her book, she did not "fully understand" the process for acknowledging borrowed material. The following statement, though, speaks loudest: "There's no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity."
I am not defending Hegemann, but I think her mindset is one of an entire generation who has been raised believing that creativity holds no value. To them, it is simply "content". This is a generation that has never had to pay for music or movies (if they don't want to), and whose high school and college careers have been plagued by cutting, pasting and lifting information without even thinking about it (Hegemann blatantly took verbatim from a Bloggers page).
My son and daughter are both in high school and have grown up engulfed in technology. I am shocked that no where in our children's education is there a course or class given on Internet responsibility. This massive technology has been handed to our kids, and nowhere are they instructed on its proper use. Yes, it is up to us as parents to present proper guidelines to our kids, but I know many parents who steal their music and movies as well - and brag about it.
As generations get older, progress through High School, and into college, the cheating becomes more apparent. Don McCabe of Rutgers University performed a survey of 14,000 undergraduate students, and asked if they had cheated. Two-thirds of those surveyed admitted to cheating on tests, papers and/or homework. The worst part is, many of the students surveyed were unsure what constituted cheating, and what didn't. Again, young people are growing up with very blurry lines when it comes to coming up with, and creating original ideas. Many of the students McCabe spoke with also said they cheated because "everyone else is doing it". McCabe concluded the number one reason undergraduates are cheating so much: "The Internet."
You don't have to look far to see the results of what's happening. Just enter "College graduate writing skills" into Google, and see what comes up. Employers everywhere say the number one thing college grads lack are writing and/or communication skills. A report released by the Chronicle of Higher Education stated: "When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written, and oral communication skills, adaptability, and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions, and problem solving."
It sounds to me like they simply lack the skills to be creative.
In the world of sports there are figures like Alex Rodriguez, and Lance Armstrong. Two men who competed at the top of their respective games, but did so with the help of illegal substances.
There are even examples in the world of finance. You can't help but think of Bernie Madoff who cheated his way to the top of the investment industry robbing innocent people of everything along the way. By 2009, it seemed that nearly all of Wall Street was cheating its way to supposed financial success by selling worthless junk to regular folks like you and I - and laughing while doing so.
There have been countless cases of authors getting caught lying in their books or flat out plagiarizing the work of others - but the case of 17-year-old German author, Helene Hegemann, is very interesting, and I believe speaks volumes about how younger people look at the creative process.
Hegemann's debut novel, "Axolotl Roadkill", won acclaim upon its release. The book reached the top five on German best seller lists, and then it was revealed that Hegemann lifted entire pages of work from another writer. When called on it, she apologized for not being "more open" about her sources. In a telling quote, she stated; "I myself don't feel it is stealing, because I put all the material into a completely different and unique context..." She also said, regarding the first edition of her book, she did not "fully understand" the process for acknowledging borrowed material. The following statement, though, speaks loudest: "There's no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity."
I am not defending Hegemann, but I think her mindset is one of an entire generation who has been raised believing that creativity holds no value. To them, it is simply "content". This is a generation that has never had to pay for music or movies (if they don't want to), and whose high school and college careers have been plagued by cutting, pasting and lifting information without even thinking about it (Hegemann blatantly took verbatim from a Bloggers page).
My son and daughter are both in high school and have grown up engulfed in technology. I am shocked that no where in our children's education is there a course or class given on Internet responsibility. This massive technology has been handed to our kids, and nowhere are they instructed on its proper use. Yes, it is up to us as parents to present proper guidelines to our kids, but I know many parents who steal their music and movies as well - and brag about it.
As generations get older, progress through High School, and into college, the cheating becomes more apparent. Don McCabe of Rutgers University performed a survey of 14,000 undergraduate students, and asked if they had cheated. Two-thirds of those surveyed admitted to cheating on tests, papers and/or homework. The worst part is, many of the students surveyed were unsure what constituted cheating, and what didn't. Again, young people are growing up with very blurry lines when it comes to coming up with, and creating original ideas. Many of the students McCabe spoke with also said they cheated because "everyone else is doing it". McCabe concluded the number one reason undergraduates are cheating so much: "The Internet."
You don't have to look far to see the results of what's happening. Just enter "College graduate writing skills" into Google, and see what comes up. Employers everywhere say the number one thing college grads lack are writing and/or communication skills. A report released by the Chronicle of Higher Education stated: "When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written, and oral communication skills, adaptability, and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions, and problem solving."
It sounds to me like they simply lack the skills to be creative.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Enough is Enough
This Blog was inspired by the source that allows it to exist: The Internet. Since the creation of the world wide web, I have been fascinated by the demise of Intellectual Property rights. Why is it that everyone is under the impression that because it's on the Internet...it's free?
This mindset began with cutting and pasting people's words and/or photographs into reports and papers and has since snowballed into downloading music, movies, and Ebooks without even thinking of paying for them. Please tell me why the same newspaper that costs $2.00 at the news stand finds it increasingly more difficult to get paying customers on its web site? Where did this mindset come from?
Perhaps the biggest perpetuator of this mindset was the onslaught of free music software, starting with Napster. I find this incredibly ironic being that the creator of Napster, Shawn Fanning, made an incredible amount of money (in the reported millions) by knowingly and willingly creating an application that allowed people to obtain music without paying for it. Fanning chose to use the word "share" music instead of "steal", and this clever use of semantics allowed him to come across as some innocent digi-hippy who was just in it for the love of music...man. He essentially screwed musical artists out of money for their own creations while making damn sure he got paid for his. The worst part in all of this has been the artistic community's response: none. Many artists have remained silent while others have gone as far as to endorse the stealing of music. I don't understand that.
I make my living as music teacher and worked as a professional musician for years before that, so yes, this is a subject near and dear to my heart. It's amazing to me that no one in the creative community has come out guns blazing against what is going on. Yes, people use iTunes and other legal means to get their music now more so than before, but make no mistake that there are still hundreds of millions of people out there stealing music and laughing while doing so.
I had to rant this post because I recently read about the wedding of Sean Parker - the co-founder of Napster. This guy is reportedly worth over a billion dollars which is hilarious. Again, this guy helped screw music as well as other artists out of the money they deserve for their legally protected work but made sure he got royally paid for his. To make matters worse he married a musician! Their wedding was an over the top gross display of wealth costing millions of dollars. The most horrific part is that far too many musicians willingly chose to attend this ostentatious affair. I saw pictures of this ridiculous event, and there smiling for the cameras were Sting, Sean Lennon, Lars Ulrich and many others. This douche bag helped take millions out of your pocket, and you're willingly going to go wish him well...and be photographed!!???!!?? That's like the bank manager posing with Bonnie and Clyde! I would have walked up to Parker and asked "Can you help me pay for my wedding? You see because of the software and subsequent mindset you helped create, I don't have the money to pay for it myself...douche."
It's symbolic of what's become of our world. Creativity has been taken for granted for decades and now it's worse than ever with no sign of improvement. That's what I will write about here.
This mindset began with cutting and pasting people's words and/or photographs into reports and papers and has since snowballed into downloading music, movies, and Ebooks without even thinking of paying for them. Please tell me why the same newspaper that costs $2.00 at the news stand finds it increasingly more difficult to get paying customers on its web site? Where did this mindset come from?
Perhaps the biggest perpetuator of this mindset was the onslaught of free music software, starting with Napster. I find this incredibly ironic being that the creator of Napster, Shawn Fanning, made an incredible amount of money (in the reported millions) by knowingly and willingly creating an application that allowed people to obtain music without paying for it. Fanning chose to use the word "share" music instead of "steal", and this clever use of semantics allowed him to come across as some innocent digi-hippy who was just in it for the love of music...man. He essentially screwed musical artists out of money for their own creations while making damn sure he got paid for his. The worst part in all of this has been the artistic community's response: none. Many artists have remained silent while others have gone as far as to endorse the stealing of music. I don't understand that.
I make my living as music teacher and worked as a professional musician for years before that, so yes, this is a subject near and dear to my heart. It's amazing to me that no one in the creative community has come out guns blazing against what is going on. Yes, people use iTunes and other legal means to get their music now more so than before, but make no mistake that there are still hundreds of millions of people out there stealing music and laughing while doing so.
I had to rant this post because I recently read about the wedding of Sean Parker - the co-founder of Napster. This guy is reportedly worth over a billion dollars which is hilarious. Again, this guy helped screw music as well as other artists out of the money they deserve for their legally protected work but made sure he got royally paid for his. To make matters worse he married a musician! Their wedding was an over the top gross display of wealth costing millions of dollars. The most horrific part is that far too many musicians willingly chose to attend this ostentatious affair. I saw pictures of this ridiculous event, and there smiling for the cameras were Sting, Sean Lennon, Lars Ulrich and many others. This douche bag helped take millions out of your pocket, and you're willingly going to go wish him well...and be photographed!!???!!?? That's like the bank manager posing with Bonnie and Clyde! I would have walked up to Parker and asked "Can you help me pay for my wedding? You see because of the software and subsequent mindset you helped create, I don't have the money to pay for it myself...douche."
It's symbolic of what's become of our world. Creativity has been taken for granted for decades and now it's worse than ever with no sign of improvement. That's what I will write about here.
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