The death of the individual.

People die in various ways. Most nowadays die of old age. Some, however, are killed, as children, by their education. I saw something recently that made me reflect how dangerous “education” can be. It was a simple thing really, something that most might overlook – but to me it was quite disturbing. It was a school art exhibition.

Now, you may be wondering why and how I could find a school art exhibition disturbing. It was, actually, more than disturbing – it was saddening too. What provoked me to feel so was the manner in which the works had been carried out, and the way in which the children had been taught. The works were all in the style of Paul Klee, the painter. There was, perhaps, the work of a dozen children, each absolutely indistinguishable from the next, because all sought to be imitations, as perfect as they could render, of the style of Paul Klee. There were other artists too, in this exhibit, who had been imitated and echoed. It was dispiriting. Each child had been taught to give up their instinctual creativity and in its stead, taught that they must copy to create art. Every child, in that school, under this particular teacher, had had their creativity extracted from them. Not a single piece had anything unique, special, or in fact, artistic about it. They were all slavish copies.

I should point out at this point, that this is not a criticism of Asian schooling, in particular, although Asian schools are just as guilty of this practice – for this school was an international school in Malaysia (I shall not name it). Thus, it is clear that the policy of encouraging students to copy, has crossed over into the international schools.

To teach a child that to create is to copy, is to kill something very fundamental to the mental health of the child. In a way, it kills all that is special about them. These children would be better off not having any art lessons at all. Being taught in this way, ensures, indeed absolutely guarantees that none of these children will become artists. True artists never copy – their art emerges from within them, and is not dependent on external models. None of these children had the outlook of an artist. They had the perspective of photocopiers.

It is hard to understand, for me, at least, how their teachers and their school can consider instruction in imitation, to be an art lesson. Art is not about imitation – true art, at least. Those who think art is about imitation haven’t really understood it.

I have some advice: if your child ever comes home with an artwork in the style of or manner of a famous artist, please withdraw them from the art class. They will learn nothing there, they will, in fact, unlearn their innate creativity. Art lessons like that, will turn your child into a derivative clone. They are better off with no art lessons at all, if all they are teaching is the art of the plagiarist.

Sometimes the best education, is no education at all. It might be hard to accept that, in this world of high pressure schooling and home tutors. However, it might be worth your time to have a good look at the way your children are being taught. Are they learning to copy or create? If the former, no school, would be better than that kind of school.

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The Super Secret PAP Kindergarten.

Openness and transparency are much spoken of in Singapore. Many a time, the national newspapers of Singapore have reassured me that Singapore's government is one of the most transparent around.

This most transparent of all governments is called the PAP. (The People's Action Party, whose main "action", for the entire history of Singapore, is to have remained in power.) The PAP maintains a series of low-cost kindergartens throughout the length and breadth of Singapore. Since the kindergartens are affiliated to the PAP, I rather expected them to embody the values of their sponsoring government.

Today, my wife called quite a few kindergartens seeking a place for one of our sons. He is not happy where he is, presently, so we thought to find somewhere else for him. Being open of mind and prepared to give anywhere a chance, we thought to place a call to a local PAP kindergarten, among the other selections we had made, just to see what they had to say for themselves and to find out more about what kind of education they actually offered young children. It was a most instructive phone call.

Firstly, no-one wanted to take the phonecall. Teacher after teacher came to the phone, heard what Syahidah wanted, put the phone down and wandered off. Others picked up the phone in due course and did the same. She began to ask to speak to a supervisor. After the phone had passed through many unwilling, uninterested and unhelpful hands, she finally got to speak to the "supervisor". It wasn't much of an improvement.

Syahidah explained that she was looking for a school for her son.

"Could I come and see the school?", Syahidah asked, then, quite reasonably.

"That's not the policy.", said the PAP supervisor, firmly.

"Oh, I would just like to look around.", continued Syahidah, even more reasonably.

"What do you mean "look around"...if you REGISTER then you can look around.", said the PAP supervisor, as if nothing could be more obvious.

Ah. So, you can't see this school, until you agree to join it. That is like a shop where you can't see what you can buy, until you have already bought it.

"I want to look around before I register.", said Syahidah even more reasonably than before.

"Cannot.", said the PAP supervisor, even more firmly.

"Could I see a lesson conducted, then?", said Syahidah, with more patience than many could have managed.

"Cannot!", said the PAP supervisor, immovably.

Finally the PAP supervisor could take this enquiry no longer: "Why you want to see, ah?", she asked, as if truly puzzled why any parent would want to actually SEE the school their child was to go to.

Syahidah gave up. There was no way that our son was going to go to ANY PAP kindergarten, given that kind of approach to parents.

Though she had tried her best, Syahidah had gained only two pieces of information about the school: that none of the staff wanted to speak to a prospective parent - and that this particular PAP kindergarten was the most secretive organization she had ever encountered. So much for transparency and openness...even the kindergartens behave as if they are the secret service.

Usually, an organization reflects the values of its founders, organizers and sponsors. There is an interesting message, therefore, in the behaviour of this PAP kindergarten. We were left wondering just what it is that the PAP is doing to young children in its kindergartens that they just don't want prospective parents to see. We were left with no idea if the education received is good or bad. We were left with no idea if the children are well looked after or not. The only impression we were left with is a complete unwillingness to be forthcoming about what type of school it was and what exactly happened there. As you can imagine, in consequence, we don't feel secure in sending any of our children, to any such school.

This is our first encounter with a PAP kindergarten. It shall also be our last. It cannot be good when a school is super secretive with prospective parents. It does suggest that perhaps parents might not like what they would see, were they allowed to see anything at all. Either that, or it reflects a total contempt for the parents. Either one is unacceptable to us.

Luckily, one other conversation with a school turned out much better. They were warm, welcoming and forthcoming. They could also speak English properly. So, not every school in Singapore is like the "Super Secret PAP kindergarten" we called. That school is not affiliated to the PAP...and could not have been more open. I thought this an interesting lesson.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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