Journalism professor Tim Page wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post titled: "Talented young musicians run the risk of burning out early." Page writes about 11-year-old Jackie Evancho from "America's Got Talent": "I fear that this premature and unwarranted exposure will ruin a genuine and valuable talent," he wrote. "A sweet-faced child with a naturally pretty voice is being primed, packaged and promoted as though she were a finished artist. And she isn’t — not yet anyway." "If I were king," wrote Page, "I would put some kind of ultra-restrictive law on the books that would permit the best and the brightest of our children to flower to ripeness, follow their curiosities, study their art, learn about joy and heartbreak and, ultimately, to turn into people before they are trotted out as the latest phenomenon."
Read the full article here
