How Small The Worlds

I'm going to risk a few generalizing statements today. Playing with people studying at another jazz school than I last week, and talking about plans for the (professional) future, I realized once again how strongly jazz musicians are influenced by their upbringing, meaning their educational environment. I guess it's human to orientate yourself, wherever you are, to the leading ideas.
In my jazz school there is a rather international vibe. A lot of the teachers have studied in Berklee, or Graz, and we have many masterclasses by jazz stars such as Mark Turner, Eric Harland, or Esperanza Spalding. The best students talk about their plans to study abroad after the bachelor's degree. There is idealism in every corner. People are talking about getting better, about bands, and cd projects, and getting reassured by the teachers who have led very interesting lifes. Discussions about money, about the future and about a job are very rare.
In the other jazz school, the leading subject seems to be different - I've found a more down-to-earth approach. Of course people talk about getting better and their cd projects, too. But a lot of the people put an end to their jazz studies after the bachelor. One statement that I've heard more than once is that with a master's degree in performance you don't have a profession, and with a master's in composition you'll just end up writing for carnival groups (called Guggenmusik in Switzerland). If you want to be a teacher, you will study pedagogy, but if not, you'd better try to find a job that guarantees some financial stability and practice your instrument on your own. I have never heard statements like these in my jazz school.
There are a lot of other differences. For example, a subject I will elaborate on a later date, in the city I live in there is a large jazz scene. Newcomers can play in lots of restaurants or small bars, gig that are neither paid well nor attended by many people, but still, there is often more than one jazz concert a night.  In the city I study in there are much fewer jazz locations, jazz concerts concentrate in one bar, open from wednesday to saturday.

I'm often astonished how quickly a rather self-orientated, self-sufficient subscene can build itself, and how quickly you find yourself believing that in there, you'll find the truth - not knowing that just a hundred kilometres away, there is a very similar subscene holding on to a totally different set of truths.
I guess I'm in a good position - studying there and living here!