Let’s Nurture ART throughout Life !
Every Child is an Artist. The problem is staying one when you group up!
We all are blessed to stay on this beautiful planet. Every second, on this magnificent planet, a life is conceived; and at
every other, a new life is born. As these seconds pass by, these new born lives; grow, develop and they start witnessing what we call ‘Life’.
These newly born, are then given the prettiest names by their
creators ‘their parents’ and they begin their journey of: exploration,
creation, invention and experimentation. As they grow, each parent
invests enormous efforts in their upbringing and ensures that the
little one gets the best of everything. These tiny tots then learn to
speak a language. They learn to converse and express their
random thoughts, feelings and emotions to the best of their ability.
They begin their schooling; where they learn the fundamentals
of every subject: vocabulary, numbers, science or even Art for that matter.
Initial years of schooling for most children are super fun,as there is a greater emphasis on imparting education in a holistic and fun way. Learning is colorful in all terms, it is more visual, auditory and kin aesthetic in nature. Children get several opportunities to express their creative and Artistic edge. They acquire, observe and grasp things with ease; and are open to commit mistakes.
It is in these years, that kids develop a very strong
bond with Art.Further, the school environment and
family members also facilitate the bond by providing
encouragement to these young minds; so that they
experience the different shades of Art while learning
at school or elsewhere. Hence, we can see children
explore the domain of Art through drawing, painting,
sculpting, clay work, play or even dance and music
for that matter.
While at home, the walls of the rooms become nothing but
large canvases to draw and scribble. Newspapers become
more useful for making airplanes, paper boats and origami, than for reading. Used bottles, card boards, buttons and tins become raw material for most school projects. Life for them becomes truly experiential in all terms. It revolves around actually creating things and learning from them.
As kids grow, keeping Art alive is no longer the focus
as it was before. The reason being, other subjects are
given more importance by the school and parents. Kids
often hear every one saying, “Now other subjects such
as math, science and computers should be your priority;
as these subjects are going define your future; so you better
focus only on them”.
This situation is further worsened when the teaching
methodology becomes more academic and children
have to learn everything the ‘Rote Way’. An element
of experiential learning is now, nowhere even close
to existence. As kids climb the grade ladder, from
7th to 8th, 8th to 9th and so on,rote learning becomes
even more dominant at every grade;and there comes a time,
when these kids are no longer in touch with the Art which
lived in them before. These kids have simply forgotten the
strong bond they shared with Art! They have forgotten that
Art was something which made their life so colorful and
learning so much fun. Unfortunately, this is a personal loss
for these kids and that too unknowingly!
So, who is to be held responsible for this loss? Who is to be blamed for this separation of kids from Art?
Is it the educational system? The parents? Or the kids themselves?
