THE EVIL OF EVALUATION IN EDUCATION - THE ARTIST

THE EVIL OF EVALUATION IN EDUCATION - THE ARTISTYour child is an artist! He or she will be the next great writer, actor,dancer, singer, painter. What child does not have some artistic ambition? Where can you send a budding artist to murder their growing skills anddestroy their ambitions? Try school.Young artists (by this, I mean ANYONE OF ANY AGE learning an art) are notonly learning their craft, they're putting their hearts and minds and soulson the line with each work they create. They do this, believing that whatthey have to offer is valuable, and expecting their creation to be valued.They create because they have what they perceive to be a worthwhile point ofview to share. The teacher comes along and instead of approval, dishes outcorrection. Correction of technique, spelling, quality control.Correction.Correction, if professional, would be fine if preceded by a large helping ofgenuine approval. Sadly, many arts teachers are wanna-be artists. Theydidn't have the persistence, skill or support to make it. What do they haveto offer the student? Their own UNSUCCESSFUL approach to art, unless theytruly experienced some success and are sharing what worked. Career teacherswho have never worked in the arts professionally can be deadly, having hadno real world experience, and being reduced to regurgitating book-gained,second-hand knowledge they neither understand nor know how to evaluate inrelation to life. What's more, some art teachers do not wish success on their students in anarea they themselves did not succeed in. Hence, instead of a flood ofneeded and wanted information and applause, the student receives an ooze ofveiled or open hostility. Does the student know why the laundry-list ofminiscule corrections? No. Does he understand why he has not received deserved accolades for having created a thing he perceives is valuable?Unlikely. Does the teacher in a classroom situation, even awell-intentioned teacher, have the time or understanding to look at andappreciate what each student has accomplished? Very unlikely.This occurs even with the best of intentions! I once met a mother who toldme her son had been writing a brilliant book, when he suddenly stoppedwriting, refusing to write any more. I asked "Did you help him?" "Oh,yes", she said, "With spelling, sentence structure, ideas." I told her this was why he'd stopped writing. I suggested she go back and simply read andapplaud everything her son had written, without "helpful" commentary. Shemeant well.Creativity can be illusive, and requires acceptance to bloom, notcommentary. This is true in any field of study, not just the arts. Anyhuman endeavor can be creative. The student needs two things fromeducation, information and acclaim; information in the form of definedmethods explained and demonstrated; acclaim to fuel each beloved creation. Expertise will develop with enough useful information, acclaim, and thestudent's own hands-on experience creating.Steven HorwichEmmy & Dramalogue Award-winning author/directorConnect The Thoughts


Dalai Mama's note:
Okay, so I came across this article on one of my waldorf/natural mama group sites and it really resonated with me...unfortunately, I don't have time to discuss it this morning as I'm off to discuss natural holistic dentistry with a local traditional dentist! But...I really feel the article is well written and covers this issue well. I'm saddened that I've subjected my children to the homogenous nature of the public school system...How disheartening to see the art projects in younger grades are all the same! Each penguin is identical, all jack-o-lanterns have triangle eyes and the same tooth-missing grin, etc....I could go on...I will say however, that in the older grades (my daughter's age) they are fortunate to be allowed some autonomy in their art.....Still they must all do the "same" project (understandable) but at least they can decide that their jack-o-lantern can look like spongebob, or a fairy or something! In his defense, the local art teacher is a top, notch, very cool creative kind of guy...I enjoy his smile and frenetic energy and... his compliments on my children's artwork!!! Okay, wish me luck trying to dissuade the dentist from using flouride toothpaste during the cleaning and approving of cloves as pain management during possible fillings (hopefully not necessary).....more soon.