When the Legend is Discovered to be a Myth

Last week the Stradivarius McDonald was sold at £27,000,000. For those who do not know, a Stradivarius is a string instrument made by Antonia Stradivarius, born in Italy in 1644. The instruments, only an estimated 650 of which still exist, are said to be the best instruments in the world. Typically, Strads are either played by the best of the best or owned by wealthy collectors since they are so costly. Internationally renowned viola soloist, David Aaron Carpenter, was chosen to play the McDonald for the auction. 

Stradivarius

After speaking with David about his experience playing the McDonald(view here), I realized that his feedback was expected considering it was a Strad. He raved about the tone and the quality of the viola; all he wanted to do was play the fine instrument again. I did not doubt his opinion at all and I still do not but after hearing NPR's raido story, "Is a Strad Just a Violin?", I started to think a bit more critically on whether the age of an instrument determines its quality and on a broader scale, how much of something's price and name influence the actual quality.

When shopping for a new violin, the age of the instrument is a huge factor, or at least it has been up until now. The older the better, and typically the more expensive. As I spent my time shopping for a new viola today, the oldest one from the 1700's turned out to be the least attractive in almost all of its aspects. In NPR's study, they did a blind test on master musicians by giving them a mask which blurred their vision and sense of smell and having them play many different instruments, some modern and some old. In the end, the majority of the musicians preferred a modern instrument over the Stradivarius and guessed which were old and new incorrectly. 

This was shocking to me and very hard to believe. As the radio story speaker addressed, it is a disappointing study that musicians don't want to hear. Although it is relieving that you don't have to spend $45,000,000 to get the best instrument you can, the legend of Strads is something that you want to believe in and I know that personally I still do. Because I know that many people don't  particularly care about string instruments, the study can be put into a different setting with almost anything. If a name is passed around so frequently and the price is so high it is nearly impossible to prevent that from influencing you're own bias. How much of what we believe to be true comes from our own opinion versus the legends and prices of items?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/05/09/310447054/episode-538-is-a-stradivarius-just-a-violin

Two Secret Societies

This past weekend I spent several hours listening to the motivating and congratulatory speeches at my brother's graduation from the University of Madison Wisconsin. The speeches were well done but it was hard to stop from zoning out--that is until I heard a phrase that we had been discussing in my American Studies class. One professor who happened to be an alumni told the class that graduating from the University of Wisconsin Madison and becoming an alumni is like "joining a secret society". While the professor did not say anything more on the matter of "secret societies", I could not help but draw some parallels to the Great Gatsby. 

One of the characters, Daisy Buchanan is and has been in the top tier of the upperclass for her whole life. When she is talking with her cousin, Nick, who is upperclass but not to the extent she is, she "asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society" (17). As a class, we came to the conclusion that this secret society consists of old money, people who come from generations of wealth. The secret society in the Great Gatsby is one that Gatsby himself is never able to become a part of no matter how many parties he threw, how much money he earned and money he spent, or how well he dressed--he was never able to quite find his way in. 

Gatsby's failure of attempting to make it into the secret society is evidence that this secret society and the Wisconsin Alumni secret society are two different ones. Even though Gatsby attended Oxford, he could not join yet all you need to do to become apart of the Wisconsin society is to graduate from the school. Although the eliteness between the two societies differ, they also share much in common. The most obvious aspect in the two is money. To be in the old money secret society, you must come from generations of wealth. To join the Wisconsin society, you need the money to pay for four years of tuition. The Wisconsin Alumni secret society also accepts people who don't come from money by granting scholarships where as old money cannot be given and cannot be earned. 

It is clear that the two societies, Wisconsin Alumni and Old Money are two distinct societies but where do they cross? Is the Wisconsin Alumni secret society strictly Wisconsin or is it a college graduate secret society? 

Education Inequality

Through my junior theme research on income inequality, I have found one of the most contributing factors to be America's education system. It is not the total mess that I began to belief in the start of my studies. The problem isn't the quality of education in general, it is the gap between the schools in wealthy areas and in poorer areas.

Walking through New Trier, there are kids on their own iPads, at least 100 computers in the library alone not to mention the ones in science rooms, labs, and offices, an endless library of all the recourses we could ever possibly need, and a unbeatable staff that is there for what seems to be our every need.  New Trier, a public school, has all these yet other schools in the center of chicago, not more than 30 minutes away, lack books. This gap of material and recourses between schools is to me one of the biggest problems.

In addition to the material difference comes to difference of teachers. The teachers at New Trier at are a much higher level than other schools not only academically but also in a way that encourages the students to pursue academics and get excited about school. In "So Rich, So Poor", Peter Edelman addresses education in a chapter. He makes some claims and gives statistics that are almost too dire to believe. He calls the less regarded schools that cater to inner city poor kids "dropout factory(s)", the kids simply do not see the payoff of going to school. It almost seems to be that the staff pushes the students out of school instead of helping them achieve their academic goals. The teachers suspend kids for "discretionary offenses" that weren't really discretionary. For example, speaking out in class would not lead to the suspension of a kid at New Trier but it may in another school. The statistics show that 23% of kids who are suspended end up in Juvenile Justice where as only 2% of the rest end up in Juvenile Justice. Although this 23% is not a huge percent, is is 21% more that teachers could be keeping out of jail.

In order to even out this education gap leading to a lower income inequality gap, students in these less fortunate schools need a sense of effect and reward. Something to show them that school is beneficial to them. In addition, it is necessary that recourses and technology is spread out more evenly between schools.

Is America Plutocrazy?

Recently, I came a cross an article by Michael Brenner with overwhelming evidence that America is not a republic but a plutocracy. Although it is clear that the author of this article was very opinionated, I could not help but find the mountains of evidence persuading. He seems to address every aspect of a plutocracy and how America fits into that category, he goes on for pages. To challenge your view of what America calls its government, read this article. 

Throughout my research for my paper I have come across a common problem of billionaires lobbying and paying for campaigns. As Robert Reich says in "Inequality for All", it seems to be that in these  days you can "buy your own president!" Once a billionaire funds for a certain campaign, that candidate is in moral debt to them. The billionaire will have control over them or at least some of the decisions they make in office. After searching for Obama's lobby reform, I found that Obama is trying to combat this aspect of the plutocracy. In his words, he "will not drown out the voices of the American people.” Although his efforts to end this issue have not been as successful as he expected, the simple effort shows something about both sides of it. 

When Brenner addresses the end goal of a plutocracy, he says it is to "legitimize itself by fixing in the minds of society the idea that money is the measure of all things." This point was the one that mainly made me question my own views. In this country, prices are on nearly every item and based on what you can buy, you might as well have your own price tag. Is America not a materialistic nation? Does wealth not determine your class and how much you are worth? Although I was reluctant to think that this was true, I could not deny it when looking around my own neighborhood. 

Taking into account the opinions of Brenner and matching it up to reality was hard to do without doing an immense amount of individual research on America. Still, Brenner left me questioning the society I live in and whether it really is a republic, or actually a plutocracy.