But the slogan for Mr Clean is okay?

Then I'd suggest hiring private tutors for your kids.

If you're poor and disempowered like the majority of the world's poplulation, then good luck waiting around for a government institution to give your children a Classical education.

I just thank the Lord every day that I can spell my own name and add fractions!

Oh, no! That's a lawsuit right there!

"He called me a janitor!"

Do night shift managers even do the hiring?

Understanding is not what I'm looking for. Just constant exposure to it. Through constant exposure maybe more people will get to the point where they like to challenge their minds. Where thinking is a fun part of life, instead of a chore.

I tried to learn all I could about the world around me, even when I had 2 jobs and school. It's all about motivation and dissuading passive entertainment.

This planet will never get to the point of world unity until people start learning more then what wacky adventure Reba is getting into this week.

Also, one of those jobs was a Janitor.

You mean "post consumer residue manager"?

I tried telling that to my boss once and he stared at me over his glasses and told me to go and sweep the parking lot.

Well, when I have Little The Zolas running around, all their knowing will come from me, Mrs The Zola, and mountains. All that job-requirement stuff will come from school.
May I direct you to some words of worth of a dear friend of mine:

Up! up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double.
Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble...

Books! 'tis a dull and endless trifle:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it...

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things -
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art,
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

Funny...in L. A., the closest thing we have to a tree is a book.

I thought about this a few months back, specifically about the suburb around where I live but I suspect the deal is the same in most places. There isn't a great culture of art appreciation around here, in fact it's virtually non-existent. Trends seem to dictate most of what people occupy themselves with. A few years ago Japanese sports cars took off and recently, as we're hearing more My Chemical Romance and less Britney Spears, a lot of teenagers have gone from sunshine teenybopper to emo wrist-slitter. Very insular people.

I don't have illusions about my own intelligence, I'm aware I have many limits, but I still get frustrated with the apathy and just plain ignorance of so many people I see from day to day, mostly the younger generation. Maybe I have no basis to make the comparison, but I thought that perhaps a more culturally developed society was a wiser society, like mpittman said. I saw the appreciation of art, and the critical thinking it can require, as a catalyst for critical thinking beyond aesthetics.

But then, I go to arts school. I meet so many self-indulgent artists who aren't exactly examples of a the well-rounded contributing member of society fine art should breed, as I described above. Sure, they may make amazing artworks, perform or compose amazing pieces of music, but I've found so many of my peers don't give a shit about anything outside their own life. Again, insular people. In other words, I don't know what great positive change these artists are inducing. If this is the case at an Art School, then what else can you expect of an art-savvy society?



So, is music really a pillar of humanity? I'd like to think so, its been around me for the bulk of my life. But like tanjello stated, there do seem to be a myriad of issue that are far more important and immediate to deal with, and these could be as simple as making sure there's food on the table. Or at least, that's how it seems, and has for a while.

Also, regarding what T Bogus said about 'fine arts' and 'wealthy'.

I was among a few others from my music school who were granted awards with prize money from the Atheneum Club. This was one of the more generous cash awards handed out in the performance competitions. Membership to the Atheneum Club is invitation only. I was told that to be invited to join the club you had to acquire a certain amounts worth of art, as in, be rich.

I think it's a good thing that an organisation supported artists (not just musicians, the club also had awards for visual artists), myself included. But it's one thing to appreciate the arts and another to throw money at it because you can. In what was described as a 'legacy', the Club donated four violins to the school. These were expensive instruments, but that didn't make them good ones. The performers where expected to play on them, and this made a them very unhappy. It's all pretty messy, but the Club have no idea, and believe they've done something great for the arts by being rich without engaging.

Just a little anecdote.

I doubt the sincerity of the Club. A few other things about the club put me off including the fact that there was a floor of their building that women weren't allowed on (wtf?) and that they hosted Liberal Party events. This may be irrelevant, but it was under Liberal Party rule that my college lost $4.5million funding per year. Real champions of the arts...