I keep seeing things like this, from friends, and in opinion pieces about what's wrong with the millennials. But I don't see it in the actual millennials that I meet. I don't find this "special snowflake," "participation trophy" fragile, "safe-space," whiny caricature that shows up in print all the time. The millennials I know, friends of my young adult children or people working in my town, are generous, hard-working and idealistic, nothing at all like the delicate, lazy, entitled waifs I keep reading about. To me the important question is not whether exam standards are changing but whether the number and quality of pianists being produced by the system as a whole is getting better or worse. I'm a retired doctor, and when I was in medical school there were lots of older attending doctors who thought it terrible that interns and resident didn't live in the hospitals anymore, or that we were arguing for (wimpy) 80 hour work weeks, or one full day off each month. The point is not whether a system seems tough and demanding enough to people who've been through it, but how well it works in producing whatever it's supposed to produce (good pianists or good doctors).
Agreed.
Shall I be more precise.
The people I am referring to, in music, or otherwise, are a minority; however they are the age-old vocal minority.
Analogically speaking, you are far more likely to tend to the needs of a screaming child, than one who remains silent.
Every now and then, I get an inquiry for lessons from one of these millennial types. They are utterly deluded, they expect to become a fully fledged concert pianist or similar standard in only a few weeks; like most other areas in their life, patience is a sin. Of course, they get a shock when they soon realize that simply arriving and being in the room wont allow them to achieve a professional level of playing.
These students often stop after a few lessons.
The problem is not with the generation of millennials, but their behavior is a symptom that is now rearing its ugly head. An abridged version.
Baby Boomers: As a direct result of the war these children became the hippies in the 60s, a direct result of the past wars and looming wars after. It was a rebellion to the old ideologies of separation, elitism and class warfare.
Generation X-ers: Raised in a post war world where personal freedom took priority over that of social responsibility. This generation saw rise of women in the work place; it became socially acceptable to leave your children to their own devices; with the advent of broadcast TV, this was easier to do. Cartoons and children's entertainment became higher profile (worth-mentioning, the ideals they depicted were that or more traditional and nationalist values, and sometimes outright racism).
Latchkey kids: Due to parents being absent at work, this generation was raised by television. Evening cartoons and computer games became their past time; the content used to reinforce gender roles. Cartoons often arrived coupled with toys and merchendise due to lower manufacturing costs in a post war world. To make up for their absence, parents would shower these children with gifts (usually the merchendise and toys from the cartoons); often at birthdays and Christmas, and if afforded at intervals during the year. This is also exasperated by the social normality of divorce, prompting divorced parents to shower their children with gifts to make up for more absence.
Mellenials: Raised in a world with technology, these children were born in the information age. Social networking, and mass-media and mass-marketing prevail. Children as young as five with high-priced electronics. Adults taking out loans to pay-for said electronics that now, with improvements in manufacturing, are cheaper. Children are used to getting what they want, when they want. Even the people dangerously close to the poverty line, crave the latest electronics, cars and social lifestyle. Reality TV paints a picture of what the 'perfect' life is, duly imitated by the consumer masses (these pictures targeted to specific demographics in metropolitan society). Traditional ideologies are not marketable, and so, in mainstream media, they take a secondary or even tertiary place over more marketable practices, concepts and products.
Its worth mentioning, businesses or institutions marketed to the upper-middle class, or upper class, still very much drape them-self in tradition, and longevity; a reason why top-ranked universities and businesses that survived the millennium have a rustic ambiance with hard-wood, leather and high-polished brass. They also do not need to market themselves because the applicants, candidates and clients generally do not fall into the archetypal structure of the general masses; hidden curriculum, and stealth-elitism.
Obviously, these are broad generalizations, but these are demographics and do not account for individuals.
How does this relate to exam-standards?
Due to cultural change in the west (i.e. social freedom, technological improvement), children in the general public are not used to the draw-backs of a pre-industrial world. Before the war, many practises carried out by machines today were carried out by hand. Imagine, there was an entire generations in the 80s and 90s, that were not taught grammar or arithmetic; the result a generation of illiterate children. With the introduction of computers and tablets in the classroom during the 90s and 2000s, there is an entire generation of children who struggle to spell and use pen and paper to write. Also worth mentioning, with the rise of film and media, how can the wonder of the grand canyon, or history of west-minster abbey compare with Kanye West's latest drama, or Justin Bieber's latest meltdown? Going back to the latter part of victorian society (ca. 1900) the world was smaller, and the lens to view it came through knowledge gathered through study.
When we consider that Classical music, is from a time-span where people were used to waiting days if not months for various activities to run-through to completion, it should not be hard to see why many children born today are not used to the concept of waiting, being patient and taking responsibility. Couple this with the novelty of discovering a frontier, and, much, much larger world, today's children take for granted education and learning. People died for the right to learn, vote and be equal; now, we see it as common place, and quite mundane.
Also, we have a button for that now.
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Disclaimer: this is merely a social commentary based on my ready and research over the years, not a crtique of 'today's youth'. My opinion on the mentioned is that they, the youth are under tremendous pressure: inflation, no job prospects, and betterment syndrome.