Education and the element of "risk"

A Love Story, Chapter One

Author Greg Windsor   2010-10-08“

Art is risk”  

Song by Harry Manx, Something of your grace

Images are not for commercial use. This video is for educational purposes only

In Australian Education the goal to succeed at the academic level is paramount.  It is well known that most artists who are gifted in art may have more functioning of the right side of the brain as opposite to the left.  Those of logical and mathematical tendencies, usually rational thinkers succeed in this area and the irrational thinkers suffer.  Are you competent in learning or are you a successful student?

 The video clip which has text as image and text as letter and word, reads as a poetic reflection of the struggle of art and life.  In life the answers to the hard questions about success and failure arise first in school where there is a kind of rite of passage.  The mystery of career doesn’t become an issue until high school nearing the end of this required education.  In the song the question is asked what can you give that lends worth?   The answer soon follows, ‘something of your grace.’ There is a sort of softness to the answer which in art speaks of the aesthetic. But what is that something, that Je ne c’est  quoi?

 How has assessment and reporting failed our children?  What does it means to take risks in art, and why are some students apprehensive to venture out of their comfort zone?  Is it the nature of making judgements about right and wrong that is inherent in testing?

Riches ruined the foolish but some are ruined by the sound of loves own drum.

Still you believe but you can’t say why

It’s better to fail than never try

It’s better to fail than never try

And here in the eye of the hurricane

One mans lost is another mans gain

World by passions you could go blind

With just one heart torn between two minds

Watch silently by the window

All alone with what ya gotta face

Things that have no worth till ya lend them something

Something of your grace

You spoke your truth

You ignored the lies

 The broken promises and the alibis

 You been there ya ya you paid the price

You don’t try to stand in the same river twice

You stood there with your back to the world

All alone ya with what ya gotta face

Well these things have no worth till ya lend them something

Something of your grace

The song lyrics play an important role in the telling of a story.  The images unfold a meaningful visual story suggesting a leap of faith… that there is value in trying even if it may result in failure.  The video is suggestive of beating the odds and become something beyond our knowing.  The song repeats the lyrics “something of your grace” signifying the special qualities of individual effort and each one of us having a grace of our own, and without trying we may never know unless we are courageous.

Young adults are intensely curious souls often not afraid to be wrong.  Do we affect this attitude with testing?  With the confidence of encouragement and a safe environment, students take risks by discovering the making of art.  It is through failure that we realise we can overcome failure. We start to understand how resilience can be a favourable attribute for stepping up the ladder of life.  If we develop an understanding of why failure occurs then these measures of success have a greater chance of becoming.   It is the predictions then that are the challenges of life and art.  The excitement occurs with prediction because with our prior knowledge we have and the experiences in life we gain, they add to the mysterious leap of faith.

We use our courage to move closer to or away from what we may predict to happen depending on the circumstance.  We use our intuition and judge risk accordingly.  In art we must be courageous to allow failure to happen and understand there are degrees of such failure.  Art needs risk.  Only in the subject of art in the Australian Curriculum is risk part of the essential learnings.

There is a sense of wonder when we reach places that have little or no explanation to their something.  This is the mystery of art.  Do we really want to know the mystery fully?  These are questions that we encounter when we immerse ourselves in art. 

Can anyone be an artist?  Can anyone be creative?  We only need to look at the master Picasso for these insights as he is famous for saying all children are born artists until they grow up,  and when we grow up we are told to get serious. We must hold on to the child within our being where the world of mystery and unashamed self lies.

The lyrics mention “mind with two hearts” which is prompted by the words successful student and competent learner taken from Christine Johnstons book Let me Learn.  Creativity comes from both areas, however I think students lacking the self confidence, who fail academically in schools and are often too, those students that go through life never having a go at finding the artist within.  Failure is very hard for any individual to face especially a child.  Through art, building confidence in self efficacy leads to a place where it is ok to fail. 

My intention to address this video toward both parent and student is for the purpose of inspiring all of us to realise that it is better to try and fail than to never try and not know.  The purpose of choosing the song was to demonstrate the importance of humility and this notion of grace.  It is a word that suggests softness and integrity.  In a world filled with economic rationalism, there seems to be little about the rich nature of the personal expression.  We are being forced, it seems down the road of accountability; of outcome based results. The assessment criteria used by the education system is highly dismissive of the creative curriculum, in favour of the academic.  When we think about grades as an [academic] economy it is another way of understanding that in a culture of testing only a small percentage of students will have the right to celebrate success or be celebrated as successful (Kleinsasser, 1995:206). 

 There are certainly many artists in the world filling the needs of many consumers who seek entertainment and soul food in the arts. Technology has brought us the world to our doorstep and therefore we are exposed to a whole new understanding of art through multiliteracies and the multimodal connections.  We can now see all the possible ways in which students demonstrate their progress both success and failure through new media.

One thing about failure that is important to understand is the fact that when we fail at something, we must recognise why and make steps to learn from our mistakes.  I think the lyric in the song, never standing in the same river twic, has a couple of meanings. One is change is always occurring.  The concept of a river flowing will never be the same river, speaks of this change.  We cannot get away from the notion of change.  We can sometimes get caught up in a routine that seems to never change and from that we assume nothing is improving or moving forward.  Secondly, it is important to innovate and creativity is key to building new meanings.  Actually standing in the same river twice can be quite dangerous metaphorically and literally in the case of the crocodiles in the river.  

Sir Ken Robinsons suggests that “Creativity is as important in education as literacy.”  And what schools are doing with literacy and numeracy is killing creativity.

“Children are not afraid of being wrong.  Kids will take a chance …they are not frightened of being wrong.  If you’re not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original.  We are running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. The result is we are educating people out of their creative capacities (K. Robinson, 2006 Ted Talks).”

This is failure on the part of institutions not recognising that innovation and success in all areas of learning is connected to creativity.  He poses the solution that education put creativity and the arts at the top of the pyramid of achievement.  The hierarchy of academic subjects with maths is at the top, and then languages and the humanities and art is at the bottom.  This stems from the need for a work force, and what some would call economic rationalism. By limiting success to the fulfilment of criteria that excludes the craft of innovation, the education system creates a student who is capable of success, but not necessarily capable of learning in a competently and creative manner.  In this way a successful student may be a competent learner, but a competent learner is not always a successful student (Johnston, 1998).

In conclusion art is risk for those willing to renew their skin in search of new meanings.  It is important for students and parents alike to understand that art is also freedom to express with courage to seek the unknown.  It can be difficult to face the times when failure occurs however the reward for trying and finding new meaning comes with the shortcomings and the resilience to refocus and renew.  Art and failure are often side by side, and life continues to challenge those in search of the mysteriously just left of stage.  Failure is only when you stop trying.

References

Johnston C, 1998, Let me learn, Corwin Publications, Thousand Oaks, California

                    Kleinsasser  A, 1995, ‘Assessment culture and national testing’, The Clearing House, Vol.68, No 4 Mar-Apr, pp.205-210.  www.jstpr.org.ezyproxy.usc.edu.au:2048/stabsle/30195639

Robinson K, 2006, 'Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity', Ted Talks, http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html