Monthly Archives: December 2003

visual aspects of music

Hearing live chamber music one night last week, I thought about the visual dimension of music, which we miss when we listen to recordings. Musicians often show a lot of expression on their faces, and they exchange meaningful looks that are interesting to interpret. In a string quartet, they all hunch over when they’re playing fast and intensely, and then sit back during lulls. I also like the general sight of their gleaming wooden instruments and slender bows, vibrating like insect wings.

I suspect that composers often think about visual issues when they write. For example, why give a theme to the first violin and the accompaniment to the second, and then switch their roles after a few bars? On a recording, it would sound the same if the first violin repeated the melody. But it’s visually interesting to see a motif passed around a semicircle of musicians, or bounced back and forth.

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universal v. particular in ethics

In ethics, the words “universal,” “general,” and “particular” are used in three entirely different contexts. First, there is the issue of cultural difference. Some people say, “Morality is universal,” meaning that the same rules or judgments ought to apply to members of any culture. Their opponents reply that at least some moral principles are particular to cultures (they only bind people who come from some backgrounds).

Meanwhile, some people say, “Obligations are universal,” meaning that we have the same duties to all human beings. For instance, perhaps we are required to maximize everyone?s happiness, to the best of our ability, not favoring some over others. Opponents of this kind of universalism reply that we have stronger obligations in particular people, such as our own children or compatriots. (See, for example, this good article by blogger and public intellectual Amitai Etzioni.)

Finally, some people say, “What is right to do in a particular case is shown by the correct application of a general or universal moral rule.” Their opponents reply that we can and should decide what to do by looking carefully at all the features of each particular case. They agree that there is a right or wrong thing to do in each circumstance; but general rules and principles are unreliable guides to action. Any rule or principle that makes one situation good may make another one bad.

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mapping work

I received news yesterday that we were awarded $106,230 by the National Geographic Foundation. The project involves working with high school students to make computerized maps of safe and walkable streets, parks,?and?nutritious food sources (stores and restaurants) in their city. Kids will walk around the community with Palm Pilots, entering data. We will also collect data on adolescents’ “healthy living” behavior (nutritious eating and exercise). Using these data, we will be able to create maps showing safe streets and good food sources, for public display on our website (www.princegeorges.org). Such maps are an example of the kind of relatively sophisticated public good that I find most valuable in the Internet “commons.” We will also try to generate?a statistical model showing the impact of highly varied local geography on residents’ health-related behavior. This model will address the question: “Can we reduce obesity through urban planning?” Finally, we will keep track of the students’ civic engagement, on the theory that community-based research is a good form of civic education.

lessons from Houston

According to today’s New York Times, the Houston school “miracle” was illusory. After the state imposed a strict regime of standards and high-stakes assessment, students in Houston dramatically improved their performance on a specific Texas test. However, scores on the national Stanford Achievement Test did not rise much (no faster than in other cities) and actually fell in 9th-11th grade. Moreover, gaps by race disappeared on the Texas exam but remained unchanged on the Stanford Achievement Test.

The argument for standards-and-accountability runs like this: Students’ general aptitude can be measured with standardized tests. The higher their scores, the better prepared they are for college or work. Any responsible test should generate roughly the same results. Forcing students and schools to score well on tests will spur them to improve their aptitude. Instead, we find that raising the stakes can cause students to do much better on one test while not budging their results on another exam. In principle, the reason could be that either the Texas exam or the Stanford test was flawed. More likely, teachers learned to prepare their students for the particular instrument that would determine their fates: in this case, the state test. Scores on that instrument rose. But students’ “aptitude” or general educational preparation (if such a thing can be measured at all) did not rise significantly.

This finding will not surprise the many critics of No Child Left Behind, the federal law passed in 2002 that is transforming American education. But for friends of NCLB, the Houston results should be deeply troubling.

Iraq and Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda hasn’t attacked any US domestic targets since 2001. Maybe this is because Osama bin Laden is only interested in worse crimes than the ones he ordered on 9/11, and he’s now planning something truly devastating. Or perhaps Al Qaeda has been temporarily battered and foiled, but will soon strike again.

On the other hand, could it be that that the invasion of Iraq has made the US a less desirable target? A “Tom-Friedmanesque” argument would go like this: Osama bin Laden is only interested in overthrowing secular or corrupt governments in Muslim countries. He doesn’t care about an infidel nation like the US. He does, however, regard America as a source of support for the regimes in Egypt and the Gulf. Furthermore, he used to think that we would be easy to scare. Thus he believed that he could move toward his goal by striking a blow against the United States, thereby causing us to disengage from the Middle East. This was supposed to be an easy step in his overall plan. Instead, 9/11 led to the occupation of two historically Muslim states: Iraq and Afghanistan. To be sure, these US adventures have created targets and opportunities for Al Qaeda. But they also pose serious risks for Islamic extremism. Thus it’s no longer clear that attacking the US is a logical step on the way to bin Laden’s goals. Instead, he is now ordering attacks aimed at destablizing the regimes that he actually wants to overthrow, in Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

By itself, this argument (even if true) would not justify a war against Iraq, but it would weigh on the scales of judgment.