It's important to give teacher credit where due, and I'm sure Mr. White is doing his best as a teacher and perhaps even deserves a little blurb in this community's publication, but I'm disappointed that Bonnersprings.com chose to reprint/republish the information from the Choral Director magazine. It is rife with overstatement and flat out misinformation. If Choral Director magazine isn't going to fact check, it's still the responsibility of Bonnersprings.com to ensure that falsehoods are not published on their site. One problematic item is calling White a "finalist for Outstanding Young Choral Director for the state of Kansas," when the selection process for the above named honor does not involve a "finalist." One is simply nominated by peers and decided upon by a committee. You either receive the award or do not. Furthermore, the paragraph referring to Bonner Spring's performance at Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop is full of misleading statements. First of all, there were more than three choirs chosen. Choirs selected for the 2008 convention were Bonner Springs, Hays High, Frontier Trail JrH, West JrH, and Washburn Rural HS. The article also says, "usually larger schools such as Shawnee Mission East or Lawrence Free State are chosen." This statement is deceptive for several reasons beginning with the impression it gives that Bonner Springs was chosen over SME or FSHS when, in fact, neither of these schools submitted tapes for entry. Your school cannot be considered for performance unless you submit a recording. It is also important for the reader to understand that each entry is categorized by school size and every effort is made by the board to have representation from each. Therefore, a choir from Bonner Springs would never be "competing" for a performance against larger schools such as those named above. Finally, the Bonner Springs choir did not get a standing ovation. I won't digress into the subjective to repeat the concerns about the performance expressed by attendees, but suffice it to say that as an audience member, I've witnessed many standing ovations at KMEA, but there simply was not one for Bonner Springs. Expressed here are just a few passages I found problematic in the article and the list is certainly not all-inclusive. I find that education, especially music education, for being such a vital and integral part of building a strong future for our country is often overlooked, underappreciated, and under funded and I appreciate any effort to remediate this problem. However, in order to maintain the integrity and accountability of public education, it's vital that evaluation and recognition of teachers and schools be deserved and honest. I have no doubts that Mr. White is doing noteworthy things in his classroom, and had those items been truthfully reported the credibility of Mr. White, Bonnersprings.com, and education as a whole would be much better served and maintained.
Magazine features Bonner choir director's achievements
It's important to give teacher credit where due, and I'm sure Mr. White is doing his best as a teacher and perhaps even deserves a little blurb in this community's publication, but I'm disappointed that Bonnersprings.com chose to reprint/republish the information from the Choral Director magazine. It is rife with overstatement and flat out misinformation. If Choral Director magazine isn't going to fact check, it's still the responsibility of Bonnersprings.com to ensure that falsehoods are not published on their site.
One problematic item is calling White a "finalist for Outstanding Young Choral Director for the state of Kansas," when the selection process for the above named honor does not involve a "finalist." One is simply nominated by peers and decided upon by a committee. You either receive the award or do not. Furthermore, the paragraph referring to Bonner Spring's performance at Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop is full of misleading statements. First of all, there were more than three choirs chosen. Choirs selected for the 2008 convention were Bonner Springs, Hays High, Frontier Trail JrH, West JrH, and Washburn Rural HS. The article also says, "usually larger schools such as Shawnee Mission East or Lawrence Free State are chosen." This statement is deceptive for several reasons beginning with the impression it gives that Bonner Springs was chosen over SME or FSHS when, in fact, neither of these schools submitted tapes for entry. Your school cannot be considered for performance unless you submit a recording. It is also important for the reader to understand that each entry is categorized by school size and every effort is made by the board to have representation from each. Therefore, a choir from Bonner Springs would never be "competing" for a performance against larger schools such as those named above. Finally, the Bonner Springs choir did not get a standing ovation. I won't digress into the subjective to repeat the concerns about the performance expressed by attendees, but suffice it to say that as an audience member, I've witnessed many standing ovations at KMEA, but there simply was not one for Bonner Springs.
Expressed here are just a few passages I found problematic in the article and the list is certainly not all-inclusive. I find that education, especially music education, for being such a vital and integral part of building a strong future for our country is often overlooked, underappreciated, and under funded and I appreciate any effort to remediate this problem. However, in order to maintain the integrity and accountability of public education, it's vital that evaluation and recognition of teachers and schools be deserved and honest. I have no doubts that Mr. White is doing noteworthy things in his classroom, and had those items been truthfully reported the credibility of Mr. White, Bonnersprings.com, and education as a whole would be much better served and maintained.
August 6, 2008 at 9:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )