Education System Flaws

So our class discussion this week has been about how the grading system we currently use in the educational system is flawed, which I completely agree with.  But that's not what I want to focus on because I don't think that's the only thing that's flawed.  Before reading the rest, I recommend that you watch this video:

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
It's about 20 minutes long, but you can start at 3 minutes and it really is worth a watch.  Basically, the speech focuses on how our current education system kills creativity and is biased towards math, English, and science.  Why don't we have classes in public education for dance?  Isn't being artistically advanced just as important as being able to solve a mathematical equation? Who decided that one was more necessary than the other?  As children, we really aren't given the decision to choose a career path, to be honest.  If that we were, then course work in public school would be FAR more broad.  The narrow path it is on now steers children into academic careers- ones that promise prosperity and are in high demand fields.  It really isn't fair to those who have a passion for the arts, because there just isn't enough career options our there in that field.  But this is the society that we have created.
Another problem is the fact that academics are becoming inflated.  At one point in history, a high school diploma could get you a high ranking job; then one day you needed a B.A., then a Master's Degree, and now any stable job that promises prosperity requires a PhD. What's next?  At the rate we're going, the demand will be some sort of degree that will take half our lives to obtain. This isn't the direction we need to be going.  Values need to be rethought, and the education system needs a redesign.
And now I sound like a political candidate. O boy...

Communication Beyond Language: Music

Staying on the note of communication, I want to look more in depth to language and how we can communicate more effectively even without language, specifically by looking at music.
An official definition of language: communication that combines symbols in rule-based ways to create meaning. My definition: words or signs that tell someone what you're thinking.  Now not to contradict myself, but the other day I realized that there are elements out there, other than words or signs, that can enhance what we want to communicate.  There are probably other elements, but the one that sticks out to me is music.  I began thinking about this over the past weekend when I went to Chicago to visit my friend, Cecelia Erholtz.  She attends Columbia College, a private performing arts college, and is a vocal jazz major.  Being a singer/songwriter, she was playing me one of her newest song and, as always, her music evoked deep emotions and conveyed a powerful message.  I then asked her how she managed to do this with each of her songs. Being the meek person she is, she just responded, "I don't know, I just write down words that I'm feeling and then pick up my guitar and it works, I guess."  I then asked to see her journal so that I could read the words and possibly figure out for myself how she makes her songs so powerful.  Now, to my surprise, when I just read the words, I did not feel nearly the same level of power that I did from the song.  I then asked her to just play the song without the words.  This also had a surprising effect on me, but opposite from the former.  I felt a much stronger emotion from the melody of the guitar than I did from the poetry of the words.  The melody that she played communicated more than the words did.  Which brings me to my point, we have the power to communicate in forms other than by words; we can communicate by music: guitar chords, piano keys, drum beats, etc. It really is a powerful concept when you think about it.  The fact that a beat can penetrate to our emotions and communicate a feeling just as much, and sometimes more than words can.
I'm sure almost everyone can relate to what I'm talking about here in almost any genre of music, not just Cecelia's music.  Although to give a specific example, I recommend "This year's love" by David Gray.  He writes about a simple concept that we can all grasp: hope, love, despair, but the way the melody combines with the words really enhances the meaning.  It really is a beautiful concept.

The Power of Communication

During our class, several ideas about the power of communication have been brought up, ranging from the stick figure drawing on the first day, to Derrida's piece, and even some of my own observations.  The drawing on the first day consisted of two people on either sides of a wall and what would happen if they tried to communicate? Seemingly boring at first, but what if they have different meanings for certain words (i.e. what if one person says dog, but to the other person, a dog is really a tree) are they still communicating the same thing? Personally, I believe that they are.  They have no way to know whether or not they are on the same level, since they cannot see the others vision. They can only rely on words.
Going off on a tangent, this makes me think of they types of communication that we rely on now and how they are effecting our relationships.  Technology has had a major impact on our modern communication.  We now use a combination of texting, email, online chatting, and phone calls to communicate more than actual face-to-face interaction.  Problem?  Only 7% of communication is actually the words we speak.  55% is body language and 38% is intonation.  So because texting, email, etc only allow us to use the 7%, we have to be EXTREMELY careful that the words we choose are conveying the exact message that we want. 7% leaves a lot of interpretation room that could result in a misunderstood message.  I often observe this in my text message conversations.  I will sit with a single message for an average of at least one minute contemplating different word choices to make sure that I am conveying my message appropriately.  I try to avoid awkward confrontation whenever possible!
The overall message that I'm trying to get across here is that our words have power.  And how we choose to use that could make things ugly, or empower us. Choose your words wisely!

Introduction 9/22/10

Well this is my first blog post for Writ 1301 at the U of M. Exciting. I'm not entirely sure what I should include in my weekly posts, but I'm going to give my best effort in staying on track to what we talk about in class.
This week's reading was on the topic of computer communication. The piece we read was entitled "The Computer as a Communication Device" written by J.C.R. LIcklider and Robert W. Taylor. It was written in the 60's and basically predicted what advantages/disadvantages a computer world would bring.
The authors were pretty accurate in their  predictions.  They proposed one idea that hasn't completely come about, but still has possibilities (although I'm not sure if it's something that I like the idea of).  This idea is entitled OLIVER.  An OLIVER is basically a mechanical secretary that will, "Take notes (or refrain from taking notes) on what you do, what you read, what you buy and where you buy it. It will know who your friends are, your mere acquaintances.  It will know your value structure, who is prestigious in your eyes, for whom you will do what with what priority, and who can have access to which of your personal files.  It will know your organization's rules pertaining to proprietary information and the government's rules relating to security classification." For me, the first few parts sound plausible (and handy!) because those are all measurable sets of data.  However, when it comes to differentiating friends from acquaintances, understanding value structure, prestige, and priority, I'm not sure if that part is plausible.  These are all concepts and that are interpreted individually and I don't see how it would be possible for a machine to be able to grasp such a concept and interpret it exactly how my mind would.  And I'm also not sure if I would want a machine to become that powerful. 
It's the common "robots taking over the world" fear.  I don't see computers as ever having as much or more power than the human mind.  Maybe when it comes to mathematics or configuring problems like that, but when it comes to philosophy, reasoning, and pure thinking, it's just not a concept a machine could efficiently achieve.  For example, I often use dictionary.com to look up synonyms for  words to enhance my papers.  Now, although the computer knows more words than my brain, it is up to ME and MY reasoning to pick the one that fits the best and why.  Computers can feed the information, but nothing can replace the expansive thinking of the human mind.
And with that, I conclude.
Haylee Daggett