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A Modest Proposal
Nov. 15th, 2006 04:38 pmWith respect to the claim by Sir Cliff Richard and others that the copyright in their recordings should be extended from 50 years either to the 95 years "enjoyed" in the USA or to "life 70 years" as provided for the composer of the music and lyrics, there follows a modest proposal regarding recognising the contribution of educators to the creative industries.
Many famous people when appearing on shows such as "This is Your Life" or "Desert Island Discs" acknowledge their debt to their teachers earlier in their life. Whether it is the primary school teacher who first aroused their passion in music/science/engineering/history etc, or the University lecturer who gave them a fine understanding of their craft, they recognise the influence all of their teachers had on their lives. Many teachers end up in relative poverty in old age, while those they have taught go on to fame and, usually, fortune. It is a disgusting state of affairs that those who create the minds of our finest talents do not receive any royalties on their work. Since it can be difficult to judge exactly which teacher was the principle author of a creative mind (we might consider an actuarial model based on how long the teacher taught them for, and how close their subject was to the arena of their success, later on) I propose a tax of 5% on the earnings over 50,000 pounds per year to be distributed amongst their teachers and lecturers. This royalty to be retroactively introduced and applied to all high flying businessmen, musicians, politicians, scientists, TV presenters, actors and military officers. This will provide an incentive for good people to enter teaching, and to pay particular attention to nurturing the talents of the brightest students to ensure that they reach the tops of their chosen professions. Eventually this system will produce highly paid teachers who will then be sufficiently wealthy to focus on teaching only these exceptional students, to the benefit of society.
Isn't everything Sir Cliff has done in his career a "derivative work" of his education? Shouldn't his music teacher(s) have been receiving a cut of his royalties (and all other significant income) for all these years?
Many famous people when appearing on shows such as "This is Your Life" or "Desert Island Discs" acknowledge their debt to their teachers earlier in their life. Whether it is the primary school teacher who first aroused their passion in music/science/engineering/history etc, or the University lecturer who gave them a fine understanding of their craft, they recognise the influence all of their teachers had on their lives. Many teachers end up in relative poverty in old age, while those they have taught go on to fame and, usually, fortune. It is a disgusting state of affairs that those who create the minds of our finest talents do not receive any royalties on their work. Since it can be difficult to judge exactly which teacher was the principle author of a creative mind (we might consider an actuarial model based on how long the teacher taught them for, and how close their subject was to the arena of their success, later on) I propose a tax of 5% on the earnings over 50,000 pounds per year to be distributed amongst their teachers and lecturers. This royalty to be retroactively introduced and applied to all high flying businessmen, musicians, politicians, scientists, TV presenters, actors and military officers. This will provide an incentive for good people to enter teaching, and to pay particular attention to nurturing the talents of the brightest students to ensure that they reach the tops of their chosen professions. Eventually this system will produce highly paid teachers who will then be sufficiently wealthy to focus on teaching only these exceptional students, to the benefit of society.
Isn't everything Sir Cliff has done in his career a "derivative work" of his education? Shouldn't his music teacher(s) have been receiving a cut of his royalties (and all other significant income) for all these years?
