"We are all born artists, we are just educated out of it"

I thought I would share some thoughts that I have gathered on education. It is something that is very important in our society and in other societies it can actually mean the difference between the gutter and the luxurious life we consider to be normal and mundane.

Under the current education system within our country, the arts are often considered to be of lower priority than other subjects. There seems to be an idea that is drilled into our brains from a very young age that you need to be good at Maths, Science and English in order to survive whatever the future may bring. The problem with this is that it is essentially an outdated system that was introduced to meet the needs of industrialism and gear us toward working in factories and managing buisnesses.

Sir Ken Robinson is a man with extensive recognition for his work into creativity, innovation and human resources. He argues that the current education system actually hinders the artistic minds of children that are lead through it. In a radical lecture posted online to TED.com he expresses his desire to see multiple forms of intelligence recognised and celebrated within our society. He reminds us of something Picasso once said: "We are all born artists, we are just educated out of it".

The current culture has resulted in a certain amount of mild prejudism. Many have been known to consider the arts as a less valid career option and suggested an academic qualification as a more valid career option. I have experienced this is the the last 5 years of my life as I have started my serious education in Art and Design subjects. Even reading that previous sentence will be enough to make many people scoff and chuckle:

"oh yea?... so wait... you want to get a job colouring things in?"
"it's not REAL work is it, it's all a doss really isn't it?"

I have experienced both of these comments within the last week and I, like many others, wish for a change and for a sense of recognition for the kind of work that I aspire to and train toward. There is also the question of relevance: many people will often comment that they will not ever need to know about volcanoes from year 9 geography when doing paperwork in Slough.

"I've got qualifications in biology and metalwork. So if you ever need someone to weld your budgie, I'm your man!" (tacky jokebook... it makes a point somehow!)

As a rich nation, Britain has a large supply of luxury items. Something to consider is, how many of those actually have creative individuals within the design process? Something that people forget is that Film, Games, Music, Textiles and Fashion are all highly in demand and there are growing oppertunities to gain a sustainable career after studying into these areas.

Interestingly, some schools and colleges have started to recognise this and invest in new ways of inpiring children to retain their fearless creativity. Many of the people in my family are teachers. When talking with my sister she mentioned that the primary school she works at is actually investing money and time in a kind of "creativity time" in which they explore the visual, audible and kinetic arts. On the other end of the spectrum, when my Dad stepped down from being a full time Art and Design teacher, the man who replaced him stripped the classroom of all its visually inspiring trinkets that were full of great textures and forms. This must have taken away a great deal of inspiration that the students could have gained from real life.

I will continue along this line of thought soon. There are many things to be said about education and I would like to cover more of them.