Facilitating discovery is the essence of education.

A couple of years ago, I attended a school concert where our grandson was participating. All the children robed in fancy costumes were trotted out onto the stage where they performed some steps which were badly choreographed, poorly synchronised and badly guided and then trotted back off the stage.

To be fair to the school, our grandson is somewhat like me, not musically or artistically inclined but intellectually, scientifically and philosophically inclined; nevertheless, he enjoys music, singing, drawing and painting.

I could not help but think that we were investing so many resources of time and money in the so-called education of the children, only to be disappointed. Rather than awaken, the school seemed to be dulling them and driving them towards mere acceptability.

The teacher's job is not to parade the children like this, just trying to make them fit into a common theme, where some kids perform well and some others, not so well. It seemed that the people in charge were merely performing a chore

Art, like play, is something one can participate in and enjoy even without being good at them. The idea should be to let the child (or even an adult) enjoy what they do and to explore, because through art we can learn much about our world, others and ourselves.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to stay an artist once he grows up." ~ Pablo Picasso

Education comes from the Latin word 'educere', meaning to 'draw out and bring forth'

This is what is needed when we involve children in any artistic journey, or for that matter, any other educational endeavour. Facilitating discovery, because the learning journey is inwards rather than outwards, to help children discover for themselves.

ps. We soon changed the school our grandson attended, and now, we see in him a flowering.

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