Gryphon 1962 - Adm.monash.edu.au

ART-EDUCATION AND YOUMrs . A . D AT E.• Biologicall y ma n is essentially (he -a me cre a tu reas h e was 2,000 yea rs ago.Emotionally and biologicall y man is sti ll aprimitive - that is you and 1 are primitives. Birth,Man 's physical and in tellectu al development ta keapproximately the sa me time to rea ch maturity asth ey did with prim it ive man. " T he average sciencestu de n t today kn ows more (han Arist otle but Idoubt if h is intelligence is superior". (Mayer ­"T he Scho ols" .) Man then is a Primitive in anIntell ectual age. 'Total knowled ge, th e res ultof centuries of primitive trial and error of coll ectivejudgment is formidable. Can h e su rvive as aprimitive in su ch cond itions?'J'h t: fac t 1I 0t well appreciated in a m oderned ucation is that man learns ba sically at the samerat e and in th e same manner as hi s distant forbears-bytrial a nd error and selec tiv e ju dgeme n t.H ow he forms his judgements is no t well under ­stood, resulti ng in strange con st rict ion s a nd breakclownin contem porary ed uca tive processes. Mem or yand ro te are no t en ough . Can we remedy the sit ualion?F irst let u s examine it.Science today forbids na tural experime n t throu ghtri al an d error becau se the conseq ue nce of " toomuch " could be fa tal. Primitive experiment involvedperhaps on e man or h is immediate andna rro w ci rcle, the burnt finge r or Ior est fire,and allowed su rvival of th e main m ass. T odayerror can involve th e whole of m a nki nd - atomicdes tr uction.H ow th en ca n man (orm his judgeme nts fro ma'prio ri thinking a nd grea t " mass informati on "?More tha n ever is it ne cessary to be mo re selec tiveand surer in judgem ent than be fore.No single man co u ld in o ne lifet im e be in fu llpossession of all th e facts and findings of collectivedata or master of one subject; in fact , it is doubtfulif one lif etime would allow the mere collectionof such m aterial. let alone selectio n from it.If scientific examination by trial and error is nolonger " safe" for man, how can h e th en tr ain hismind in selec tive thinking and arrive at confidentp erson al judgement. One of th e fundam entalmanifest ations of ma n's a bili ty to perfo rm withtrial a nd error an d then proceed to final judge.ment ha s been throu gh out the ages, his Ar t.One can see th e dev elopment of man, hi s con ­cep ts, hi s techniques, his who le being manifestedin the art he leaves beh ind h im. Ani mals leavethe ir footprints in the sands of time but manthrou gh h is Art leaves hi s "soul p rints". All menhave this ca pacity, if allowed , in chil dhood toexp ress th eir in nermost self with their arts ­music, painting, etc. Art is irrational - in spiteof all cha nge it persists in time with all men nomatter wh a t th ei r race and creed . In fact it ispart of the eterna l nature of man a nd a meansof his de velopment.Scientific exami na tio n being no longer safe, itwould seem desirable that the techniques of thearts of man be emplo yed as a means of his th inking, acti ng a nd forming judgements, testing h is23