Bluecoats 2023 Diversity & Socioeconomic Impact Report

[scheherazadesghost]

45 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

My own response to your quoted observations (aside from agreeing with these sentiments) would be only to point out that drum corps provides an opportunity for participants to learn (be "educated") about competition.

Agreed. I can't say my experience was educational, at least not intentionally so, as I learned what I didn't want to be. That doesn't count. My HS experience in colorguard was more educational than in drum corps by light years.

45 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

Meanwhile, I imagine that DCI and their corps believe that the current activity is "educational".  To be candid, though, the "curriculum" is now analogous to masters and PhD programs, while the elementary education which the drum corps activity formerly provided is now delegated to literal K-12 schools.

I wouldn't elevate the "education" in drum corps to graduate level work, especially not in colorguard. But I see your point, in relation to K12 education. I think it's more like vocational that rarely leads to job prospects. (This coming from someone who's happily attended both graduate and vocational schools.)

45 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

With that in mind, to whatever extent scholastic marching arts experience is a prerequisite to DCI participation, any DCI corps will have their demographics dictated to them by the (mostly affluent) schools from which they recruit.  Add that to the irony of DCI, a private club operating for 50+ years and still structured on its founding principle of exclusivity, suddenly showing interest about inclusivity.

This is how you can tell when DEI efforts are genuine or not. It takes an org with that kind of history added "oomph" to make these efforts thorough and lasting. You can also tell because there's no partnership with institutions who make DEI their sole purpose (research, advocacy, the lifting of lived experiences.) To rely on the hope that these orgs have innate talent and experience internally already to keep these kinds of efforts afloat is silly and can, again, easily make genuine efforts come off as window dressing. *cough* my own house *cough cough*

Also, I see your point made earlier about distinguishing "inclusion" from "inclusivity." I think the term used by experts in the DEI field for the latter is "access."

I appreciate the dialogue.

[MGCpimpOtimp]

I'd just like to point out that a corps can still be educational if it has a base of required knowledge/skill to enter. Are we saying that Julliard and other college music schools aren't educational because they don't teach people how to read music?

 

[KVG_DC]

11 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

Omg how about that? I love the tournament. 

SEC is taking it hard this year so far.  This year's version of the tourney is nutso

[scheherazadesghost]

6 hours ago, MGCpimpOtimp said:

I'd just like to point out that a corps can still be educational if it has a base of required knowledge/skill to enter. Are we saying that Julliard and other college music schools aren't educational because they don't teach people how to read music?

Nah, I'm saying that my personal exp, and those of enough I've talked to, was one in which drilling members into the ground via repetition of material masqueraded as education. In that vein, is the military also "educational?" I mean, perhaps in the "better fn figure it out or else kind of way" but those of us who studied education may not necessarily call it that.

Again, my HS education in colorguard was more thorough than what I got in drum corps.

[cixelsyd]

Also worth noting that the military does not claim education is its mission.

[cixelsyd]

17 hours ago, MGCpimpOtimp said:

I'd just like to point out that a corps can still be educational if it has a base of required knowledge/skill to enter. Are we saying that Julliard and other college music schools aren't educational because they don't teach people how to read music?

I am not.  But in the spirit of analogy, if the Julliard of the 1950s and 1960s was taking kids off the streets and teaching them starting from scratch and continuing to state-of-the-art expertise over 10-12 years, you could certainly point out that the present Julliard has a much narrower educational focus.

[HockeyDad]

9 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

Also worth noting that the military does not claim education is its mission.

Not its primary mission (travel the world, visit exotic places, meet people and kill them), but, as a side benefit, I received excellent education and training in the military. In fact it set me up for a lifetime career of keeping the neutrons inside the reactor. 

[MGCpimpOtimp]

13 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Nah, I'm saying that my personal exp, and those of enough I've talked to, was one in which drilling members into the ground via repetition of material masqueraded as education. In that vein, is the military also "educational?" I mean, perhaps in the "better fn figure it out or else kind of way" but those of us who studied education may not necessarily call it that.

Again, my HS education in colorguard was more thorough than what I got in drum corps.

That was 20 years ago, a lot lot LOT has changed. I've been constantly involved in the activity since around that time and the improvements in educational pedagogy are MASSIVE. Not discounting your experience, just saying that things have changed in a great way.

[scheherazadesghost]

2 hours ago, MGCpimpOtimp said:

That was 20 years ago, a lot lot LOT has changed. I've been constantly involved in the activity since around that time and the improvements in educational pedagogy are MASSIVE. Not discounting your experience, just saying that things have changed in a great way.

I most certainly hope so. But I still have doubts that are firmly grounded in the experiences of young alumni.

It's easy to say things have improved for everyone but there are still a few here, held silence for fear of being diminished or worse,  who haven't had that fully-positive experience.

Those that don't all too often fall in equity-deserving groups, which is why these initiatives like at Bloo are so crucial. Rising tides and whatnot...

I get the "but things are better now" reasoning all the time. It's not good enough when some marching members are leaving the activity with say, Rx drug addictions, for example.  Or worse. That's not a product of adequate education, it's a product of the worst parts of this activity's history.

[2000Cadet]

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a kid auditioning for your favorite corps. You take look around as you stand in the horn arc, drumline or guard line and realize you’re the only kid of that ethnicity standing in that hornline; no one else there with whom to talk about your background, no one else who identifies with the struggles you’ve had to get to the point where you can actually AFFORD to march; hardly any instructors, staff members or caption heads who identify with your background. This isn’t exclusive to one demographic; in fact, this exists with many different people. THAT was what it was like for me.

I truly believe those who are against diversity or who claim initiatives like DEI are “political” do not have a full understanding of the entire history of this country and why it is important for all of us to have representation in many different aspects of life. There are many historical events in this country that we HAVE to learn and other parts of this country's history that is put on the back burner. That needs to change if we are to truly have a better understanding of EVERYONE'S struggles, triumphs and successes.

Kudos to corps like Bluecoats for delving deep into this and contributing to make drum corps a much better experience for EVERYONE. 

 

Edited March 26 by 2000Cadet