Some Things Just Really Make Me Angry :: Education Educational Essays

Some Things Just Really Make Me furiousI was reading Chapter 2, Its all in the sign, of Danesis Messages and Meanings when I ran into a passage that, to put it politely, just truly made me angry. Angry because my translation of this passage brought back a lot of memories of events that I have had to circularize with in my educational c argonr. There were two sentences, in particular, that really ticked me off. The first wasIf a drawing instrument is put in the sisters hand, that pip-squeak will almost instinctively use it to draw--a attainment that no single has imparted or transmitted to the child.The second wasThe child must be open to language in rove for him or her to acquire it that same child does not, however, need to be exposed to visual art in order for him or her to draw.These two seemingly innocent statements (that can be erect on page 27 and which I have taken let come on of context) undermine everything that I hold dear. There is a huge hypothesis in the fir st sentence that drawing, as a skill, is innately obtained, especially when no one has imparted or transmitted to the child.Your of course talented Your daughter has so much talent I wish well I had your talent Your so productive Well, creative people are like that. I wish I could be as creative as you are Youre the artist of the group/class/school/etc... recover of something creative/original/newAs I see it, these comments are not compliments of my ability to create visual images but at my gift, my talent. Hard work, practice, trial and error, learning the rules, processes, techniques or transparent tricks..none of these are examined. The artistic process, to many, remains this mystical and quite godly chemise of something out of nothing and those with this gift of transformation are artistic. What it tells me as a teacher of the arts is this, that I am wasting my time attempt to teach everyone, for there are only a talented some (please read the last sentence sarcasticall y).There is another point of contestation that I have with the first statement. What I have taken out of context is the comparison that Danesi makes between language acquisition and drawing skill development. O.K. Danesi states that a child picks up a crayon (drawing instrument) and uses it to scribble naturally and spontaneously, without anyone imparting this knowledge to the child.