[Leica] declining quality now why are these illiterates

[rpalmier at depaul.edu (Robert Palmieri)]

Leonard Kapner wrote the following in response to my original posting:

Bob,

If the "larger problem" you contend is true, then our society's
education
mechanism (not just the schools!) has failed these individuals, allowing
them to mature without a sense of self-worth, or the potential value of
their prospective contribution to the whole. This is a bleak and
disturbing
conclusion, and one that is apparently at odds with the desire to become
educated.

If your students are studying to express themselves in music, how come
they
can't cross the chasm to understand that expressive skills are part of a
critical social set that includes the spoken and written word, not just
notes on an instrument, played to a beat?

Why has that concept become so difficult to understand?

Len

Len - 

Actually, it wasn't my music students I was referencing in this part of
the dispatch; apparently my own writing isn't as clear as I would like
it to be...

However, I'm intrigued by your question; my best guess is that they
simply haven't had the experience of seeing good things come from clear
expression.

Bob Palmieri