Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for December 08, 2014

Wow. I would’ve thought the father to be furious at his son taking ballet.

Depends on the parent some have a soft spot for classical works

@Zen PencilsGavin-sama, how can I thank you enough? You have created the ultimate statement of purpose for the existence of creativity! In an age where instant fame is a plausible reality and nobody cares about the importance of things anymore, the chance of enjoying dancing and music has been stripped of its essence and whored out to amateurs like One Direction. I’ve spent six years now as an academic trying to give things a sense of purpose again and prove that even the humanities need a purpose in life. And here, this comic is the standard I will bear.

The problem being, we use math pretty much everyday, in various forms, while we seldom dance. No problem with the arts, but dancers are not going to solve the food problem or the climate problems, or crate better solar panels, find a cure for cancer/aids/ebola/etc. Math and science are important to our survival as a species. Arts are less important to our survival as a species. This from a fellow who likes to dance, draws hot rod cartoons and plays the blues harmonica, as well as holding a Bachelors degree in mathematics and working at Battelle. Science for survival, arts for the soul. As a species we can afford arts specialists as long as too many don’t take that road. OBTW, I’m happily going to attend The Nutcracker at the Ohio Theater on Dec 12th.

It’s also harder to automate the arts. Right brain thinking is the new frontier for human economic progress.

It made me remember that, in elementary school, we girls were told that our choices were to become nuns and live a life of celibacy, or in order of career choice, teachers, nurses, secretaries. These 3 choices were, of course, only until we married because then we were, as good Catholic girls, to dedicate our lives to our husband and children.

Critical thinking means, among other things, refusal to automatically believe someone for whom your belief provides them with a benefit. For instance, the belief that someone whose business enterprise is the promotion of arts in education is right and that every educational institution on Earth is wrong, and, of course, evil.

“Dance like no one’s watching.”

Props to any parent who supports their child with what they want to do in life.

I would be running to dance class with a smile too if my teacher looked like that!

If you enjoyed this strip as much as I did, try reading a book called “Future Shock” by Alvin Tofler. It’s from back in the early 70’s (I believe) and first hit Americans with the reality behind our educational/programming system and much more…

A big part of the reason why people are told they’ll never make money in the creative arts is because the odds are against them succeeding. []However, if one is clever enough and does some thinking, they can find ways to integrate the arts into a paying job. []For example, a good “personal selling” class will come off as surprisingly reminiscent of drama 101, as people need to learn how to, in essence, “act” so as to control their emotions and maintain proper bearing during a sales call. In this scenario, a would-be acting talent could work sales until they make it. []A real-life example of this concept at work is musician Gene Simmons (re: Chaim Witz) of KISS. Simmons’ mom told him that she would support his decision to be a musician if he would go to college and get a degree. Gene’s degree not only allowed him to take a series of white-collar jobs to help pay the bills untill KISS took off, it also made him astute enough to avoid many of the pitfalls that doom so many professional musicians. This is a very large part of why KISS has been going for 40+ years while a number of their peers are nothing but memories.

Brilliant comic!!! :-D

There is also the small matter of opportunity. Or should I say, commercial opportunity. Dancing for your own enjoyment will not pay the electric bill, and only a tiny proportion of dancers (or artists, or singers, or actors, etc.) can make a living wage in their chosen field. Public education is geared towards the most good for the most people. You are more likely to find a career on the academic side of the equation. The few who will succeed on the artistic front, will probably be like the young man in the cartoon. Identified at a young age by a teacher who can recognize the potential and provide a path to nurture it.

That’s not completely true – cause however you dance – you can’t be wrong, if you are dancing to feel good and not to entertain others – there is no wrong way of dancing if you’re not doing it for profit but to make you happy, but there is a wrong way of doing an assignment in math and so on…

Here, here!

What a great comic!

And this is one of the reasons that I homeschooled my children! I use to be a professional dancer myself (tap, jazz, ballet, character). I didn’t want school to strip them of their desire to learn. It was difficult; and my life was on hold for 18 years, but when I look at them now, I know it was soooooo worth it! :)

Except for every one kid (easier in this example, as he’s male and with male dancers most companies can’t afford to be as picky) who both LOVES to dance and makes a career of it, there will be about 500 or 1000 who won’t make it, not because the eeevil everyday world is against them, but because they didn’t hit the genetic lottery. Dance is brutal on everyone and especially hard on women. If you want to be a pro in any mainstream discipline pray you are naturally slim and not too tall or too short, or you will never be anything other than a sideshow freak at best. Singer? Better be okay with choral singing or being the local discount wedding singer, unless you have looks and a freakish amount of luck to go with it. Writer? Good luck, the odds are even if you’re talented you’ll be stuck in the slush pile forever (and God help you if you don’t slot easily into a category.) Almost everyone can learn some sort of practical if boring job skill, but no matter how much you love the arts, talent you can’t learn and luck you can’t buy are bigger factors in making a living at it. And you have to make a living. If anything the truly overlooked disciplines in school are voc-tech. You have a better shot at being a well-off arc welder or pipefitter than you do a dancer or a doctor, but both the college-prep side and the artistes sneer at the vocational classes despite the majority of students probably being best suited to them, rather than higher academics or fine arts.

I had to stop piano lessons because it interfered with my academic studies. One by one those other subjects have become unimportant in my life. Piano, however, remains. I don’t play as well as I might have, but it continues to nourish my soul. Would that I could go back in time to tell myself this: Liszt, Liszt, O, Liszt …

I have to use drops to keep my eyes functioning, but my lachrymal ducts almost opened for this one..emptc12: I was “sociologically unemployed” within a year and a half of graduation, but what I learned kept my family fed from countless jobs during the blacklists, exile (thanks, Canada), and “retirement”. In my 80s, I still play in two community bands and it has provided an essential continuity through it all.

This quote fits what my history teacher said about a week ago, how public schools are designed to send students into the work force, not necessarily teach them anything.

Quoting Sir Ken Robinson. The whole thing is exactly his words. Heres the link to him talking about it in a TED talk.https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

lol “Robinson Public School”? Nice tribute.