There is only one thing in this world that could make me irate to the point of not even bothering to argue the point. Education.
It's annoying, there's this assumption that if you have been doing it for a long time that you will know more than the people that are younger than you... in fact generally in society there is an assumption that age = experience = wisdom = better than you. Wow, I could not disagree more...maybe people assume that I am bias. I am a young person and maybe I feel that I'm 'better than the rest' - well no actually... I think I have a pretty good idea of who is better than who!
There are plenty of people who think that they will never have to learn, read or sit and exam or complete an assignment once they have finished their undergraduate degrees. This is completely the worst thinking ever! Professional Development in all it's forms is what keeps education rolling. How can we as teachers not believe in life long learning?! - talk about sending our children the wrong message.
There's one more thing that tends to happen in music education.. this notion of 'collecting students' or 'just earning some money on the side' however wanting a career in performance. Teaching is a legitimate career choice - and in fact from my experience teaching is a performance gig. Not just on the stage conducting, but in the classroom modelling, and even in our lives. I'm not sure what other teachers feel... however I feel like my life is on display. It would be pretty poor form of me to go and get drunk and destroy property then be on the six o'clock news...
Like I said, teaching is a legitimate notion...
Maybe I'm living and learning in an imaginary world? Maybe I'm the one to blame with this idea of young teachers being 'responsible' and 'mature' ... however when you think about it, teaching is a pretty important job. You have so much power. So much influence. Teaching could be the best or the worst thing for a child. Personally I think that I will always have something to learn...
Adios.
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