Opinion Educating emotions
One dreads the morning newspaper. Has one more child killed himself or herself? Is one more nine-year-old raped somewhere? Has one more teenager gone on a drunken spree?
One dreads the morning newspaper. Has one more child killed himself or herself? Is one more nine-year-old raped somewhere? Has one more teenager gone on a drunken spree?
There are of course no easy answers to why this is happening; but as a teacher,all I can think of is: is our school curriculum,the life our children live outside school,balanced? If a child is sad for whatever reason,we cannot remove sadness from a childs life what outlets are available to him? Can playing computer games alleviate his sadness? Maybe temporarily. Can talking to a friend or family member help? Well in todays busy world friends are mostly at tuitions and the nuclear family doesnt let you talk that easily to available family members. More often than not,this inability to cope with sadness is turning into anger.
A possible answer: art or music. I believe that the expressive arts can bring young people much more than simply aesthetic pleasure. True,inculcating a cultural hobby is not an easy task. It requires patience and perseverance; aesthetic pleasure is a learned and acquired skill. Yet if music and dance are encouraged and validated by our school system,we would be doing our youth a big service. Yet in todays busy world their value is readily sacrificed to accommodate,for example,extra science or maths lessons.
Let us assume that an important role of education would be to enable students to make sense of the world around them; to equip them to deal with reality. A very vital part of human experience is linked to the senses: we see,we feel,we touch. This experience might be difficult to put into words but is vital to our emotional well-being. It is often through these experiences,or maybe the memory of these experiences,that we collate our own conceptual tools; often it is these that determine our values,our goals,our aspirations.
Elliot W. Eisner,in the Art of Educational Evaluation summarises this caseas follows: Each symbol system maths,the sciences,art,music,literature,poetry and the like,functions as a means for conveying what one knows to others. Each system has unique capabilities. Each symbol system sets parameters upon what can be conceived and expressed.
We often use the verb to know in the educational context. The expressive arts constitute another way of knowing. Knowing how to be aware of any stimuli,be it tactile or social; knowing how to connect with various types of experiences; knowing how to distinguish nuances within a given context; knowing how to react to beauty; knowing how to pursue quality; knowing how to listen,not just with the ears,but with the mind.
These are the qualities that can,maybe,help our youth to deal with todays pressured world. They are faced daily with unbelievable pressures. Choices supposed to bring freedom are sometimes terrifying. We are now faced with a situation where our youth are actually choosing death over life.
It is possible that,even in a life of despair,there are moments of happiness. Moments that can keep you going. There is a scene in Shawshank Redemption where listening to opera music lifts Tim Robbins lifts his spirit completely out of a life imprisonment sentence; there is a scene in Life is Beautiful where music played across a concentration camp allows a husband and wife to connect. The expressive arts allow us,at times,to deal thus with the unknown; to face adversity with positive resignation.
My father was both a physician and an accomplished sitar player. He has been dead now for over 35 years. The other day I met one of his former colleagues. He said that sometimes,when they were both young resident doctors,a patient under their care would die and there would be an incredible sense of helplessness,of futility. But then late at night,he added,hearing the strains of the sitar would take them through the entire night; the loss was not in any way lessened,but they somehow felt that we were able to face the coming dawn.
The pressures of daily life in urban India are only increasing. Sports and the outdoors are great ways for kids to let off steam and our school system recognises their value. Let us strive to equip our children,with other ways,too,to respond to these pressures with some measure of calm. Let us have more students of art,dance and music. Not giving our children that opportunity is to deny them the education of their emotions something they sorely need now,and will more and more.
The writer is founder of the Mumbai-based Sujaya Foundation
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