Natural vs. Experience

          When I first received this assignment, I have to admit that I couldn’t think of anything that I was a natural at. I have things that I am good at and enjoy doing, like music and writing, but I didn’t just wake up one day and realize that I was good at them. I have had to work extremely hard to get where I am today.

                 I started playing the flute in the 4^th grade at a private Catholic school that I had attended since kindergarten. In the 5^th grade, my parents transferred me to a public school with no band program, so I missed out on a full year of band, but took private lessons with a family friend. In the 6^th grade, I started with a leg up on the other kids, because they had never had the private school music experience. Soon after the year started though, my band director died and we were “taught” by a permanent substitute with little or no musical background. In 7^th grade, my musical education finally became more normal. I had band three days a week with a real teacher. I played flute in the concert band and also played the keyboard in the Jazz Band. In 8^th grade I was the first chair flute. I auditioned for Region IX Honor Band and got last chair, but I was there. My freshmen year I started marching band and I was probably the worst flute player there. I’m not afraid to admit it. I couldn’t read music, I couldn’t play the higher notes required by a flute player, and I was a failure on the marching field. Concert Band was even worse. We did chair auditions to place us in a spot in either the Symphonic or “the dumb band” as it was not so affectionately called. I bet you can guess which band I was in. Imagine the torture as a freshman reading your name next to the words: lesser band, last chair. I thought that I was better than that. I worked hard to overcome my problems. I took theory lessons and learned how to adequately read music. I took more flute lessons and I practiced more and harder. Over the next two years, I got better and better. My junior year, I auditioned for Drum Major and I got it! In concert band, the director had combined the Symphonic and “dumb” band. I earned the second chair spot in the flute section. My senior year, I won a best drum major award and became co-section leader. I worked hard because of how much I loved band and it paid off! I felt confident enough with my work in high school to move on to college level music. I am now playing the piccolo in Marshall University’s Marching Thunder. I am not, nor will I ever be an amazing musician. I don't want to be.  I love music, and I am pretty decent at it, but I am not a natural musician.

                I also love writing and a lot of people tell me that I am very good at it, even going as far as to say that I am a natural at it. I am not as convinced though. It takes me forever to write something. I will stare at my computer screen for an hour before I think of anything to type. I will probably type, delete, and rewrite parts of papers at least ten times before I turn it in. My papers are always goldmines for grammatical and spelling errors. If I work really hard and focus on only the paper for several days, I can usually create something really good, but it doesn’t just flow right off of my “pen” (as in my keyboard). I love to write and I work hard to produce good work, but I am not a natural writer.

                I don’t even believe that “naturals” exist. I agree with Gladwell’s theory that it is practice and experience that makes you The Beatles or Steve Jobs, not some mysterious inclination for music or computers.  I believe that it is all hard work and dedication that makes you good at something. Some people are just skilled at making it look effortless.

Failure=Success?

                                   "Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."
                                                                          - Robert F. Kennedy

       Michael Jordan is a pretty popular guy. In fact, a lot of people would say that he is the greatest basketball player ever. (a lot of people, as in every single boy on the playground at the elementary school I went to) So why on earth did he make a commercial about all the times he has failed? It's because Michael Jordan knows that he was by no means perfect. He knows how many times he had to pick himself off the floor and try again. He knows that if he had sat down on the bench after missing one of those game winning shots and said "I'm done", than he would never have gotten as far as he did.

                "I have failed over and over and over again.....and that is why I succeed."

Life is not an easy ride. You are pretty naive if you believe it is. The person who succeeds is the one who, like Michael Jordan, fails over and over again but never stops trying to get to the top. I did a little research and found that this formula for success (the whole "never give up" thing) works pretty well.

*Thomas Edison discovered 1,000 ways how to not make a lightbulb before he succeeded
*Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade
*Lucille Ball was told to "try any other profession" by her acting proffessor
*Freud was booed off the stage the first time he presented a theory
*27 publishers rejected Dr. Suess' first book
*Robert Sternberg got a C in his Intro to Psychology course
                  and how about a little sports?
*Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team
                                  (http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/efficacynotgiveup.html)

*Julie Andrews was told she "wasn't photogenic enough for film"
*J.K. Rowling's book "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" was rejected 12 times
*2 companies turned down Steve Jobs' offer to buy one of Apple's earliest computers
                                 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120940892966150319.html)

These are just a few examples of people who took their failures and turned them into success because they never gave up. If you have a goal for yourself and you never give up, than you are unstoppable. Success is yours for the taking.  That is the message that Michael Jordan wanted to send in this video.
 I end this blog with one of my favorite quotes:

                    "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
                                                                           -Confucious

Marita's Bargain

"Outliers are those who have been given opportunities- and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them."
                                                                 -Outliers, Malcom Gladwell, pg 267

It is a lot to ask of a twelve year old to overcome problems such as those faced by Marita and her fellow KIPP classmates. Marita wakes up at 5:45 every morning in the one-bedroom apartment she shares with her mom in the Bronx, and is in class by 7:25. School will not get out untill 5:00, but leaving the school building does not bring freedom. Marita, a fifth grader, must stay up until 11:00 studying and doing homework. Unlike most American students, KIPP students go to school on Saturdays (9:00-1:00) and over the summer (8:00-2:00 in July). They take Critical Thinking, English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Music classes and all students participate in the Orchestra. After school brings many activities such as "homework clubs, detention, and sports teams". You would think that the students who get the privilege of attending this school would be the children of elite New Yorkers and the brightest of the public school system, but you would be incorrect. Gaining admittance is a lottery for children who live in the Bronx. Classrooms are filled with low-income children from predominantly black and hispanic homes. They are faced with educational setbacks due to their economic status, but KIPP is their chance to overcome those obstacles. Playtime was over for Marita and her classmates the minute they first walked through the doors at KIPP. They have a lot to accomplish.
        
              One example of a problem faced by Marita and her classmates:
Summer vacation is a wonderful break from a long school year, but it probably does more damage than it does good for some students. Middle to Upper class students can learn a lot over the summer. They go to the zoo, plays and ballets, to museums, and have access to a multitude of learning resources. While students of Lower class families can have just as much fun as those students, they are not presented with the same amount of learning opportunuties. KIPP students like Marita have the chance to hurdle this incredibly unfair obstacle.
         
KIPP works.... Marita's bargain is that she has to mature well beyond her years and work harder than a high school or college student might have to work. In return, KIPP will help her out of the rut that her socioeconomic class is stuck in. According to the KIPP Academy website, over 85% of "KIPPsters" will go on to college. "KIPP Academy’s mission is to teach our students to develop the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in high school and college, to be self-sufficient, successful, and happy in the competitive world, and to build a better tomorrow for themselves and us all." I think that every single school in the U.S.A. should be this committed to the success of the students. Then maybe kids like Marita wouldn't have to be Outliers. I agree with Gladwell. It's not about new laptops, shiny new school buildings, or even about the IQ of the individual students. It's about the fact that KIPP gave Marita a chance to make it in this crazy and often unfair world, and Marita took that chance-and ran with it.

Although this is unrelated to the subject of the blog assignment, as a musican I felt obligated to point this out. KIPP students have music class for an hour twice a week and participate in Orchestra for an hour and a half every week. This means that the administrators and program cordinators of KIPP find music education to be essential to the successful student, which I agree with completely. Actually, it does kind of go with the assignment. I think that all schools across the country should include music classes in their curriculum. So there you go.... :)