The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
This time of the month is not usually the time for resolutions. Resolutions are usually made first week of the year. So if by now you still find yourself having made no concrete resolutions for the year then just forget about making any. It is Ok to try and improvise as the year goes by. I know a few people that do not believe in New Year’s resolutions. And they are very normal people.
According to these people they live on the edge, improvising on a daily basis, taking each day as it comes. I honestly believe people who make resolutions are people that strongly believe they are in charge of their lives. People that believe in order.
And those who do not do resolutions believe there is someone above who writes a script for them. The educated call this destiny. They believe no matter how much you plan you can never run away from your destiny. How many in the arts sector have resolutions written down for 2016?
Anyway, this time of the month is the time for A-level results to come out. These are always immediately followed by O-level results. This is the time for the “gnashing of teeth”. This is the time for results that will definitely change lives forever.
However, it is not just the former candidates alone that are sweating. Their parents too are having sleepless nights, wondering what is coming. Some teachers too.
Let us not forget that teachers are always judged by the results they produce. I know a few teachers that are double anxious and will only have proper sleep after they set their eyes on the results. I am talking about arts and culture teachers, particularly drama patrons and teachers. These are the ones that are always accused of failing students by recruiting them for their activities.
Most teachers, especially those that teach the so called prestigious subjects, have this warped belief that drama activities are designed to fail students. In fact they believe drama or any arts and culture activities should be nowhere near the school as they see these as a waste of time and a serious inconvenience to students’ studies.
These opinionated teachers are known to victimise drama students in their classes, taking every opportunity to humiliate them for their involvement in drama or arts and culture activities. Anything a student does which is out of order is traced back to drama or the arts. A student misbehaves in class it is because of drama or arts related activities. A student skips classes, for whatever reasons, “yidrama em’phambanisayo”. The worst humiliation comes to those that fail examinations. “How were you going to pass when you spent your time clowning around with your drama or arts and culture club?” students are told. Yet there is no scientific proof that drama or any art related activity can make a student fail examinations. In fact there is actual proof that drama and art related activities can actually improve a child’s intellect, memory capacity, language proficiency, and psycho-motor skills. This has been proven.
I want to believe that anyone in the education system, and not by default, is supposed to know that a holistic approach to education includes educational experiences outside the classroom or formal spaces of learning. Sadly, most of the teachers who have a negative attitude towards arts and culture have never really bothered to find out what drama or arts and culture is all about. Their attitude is based, mostly on assumptions or misconceptions.
During my High School years I was in the First class and was part of the school drama club. I was good with sciences and I always remember the look of one of my science teachers when he discovered that I and a few classmates were part of the school drama club. It was as if cold water had been thrown at his face. Years later he nearly “disowned” us when we went to A-level and instead of taking up science subjects we all opted for arts. It was too much for him. What he didn’t know was that arts made us alive. We discovered a lot about ourselves in literature classes and art activities. We were happy. The truth was that we were not doing it to spite him or any science teachers that had taught us. And we were not doing arts to run away from challenging science subjects. Not at all.
Yes. There is a lot of negative attitudes against arts and culture in schools mostly because arts and culture is not examined and therefore do not appear on one’s O or A-Level certificates. But this will change soon. Teachers, especially those that teach science subjects, need to be educated that arts education contributes immensely to the holistic education of the child. It is a fallacy that drama activities automatically lead students to fail. It is also malicious to think art and culture teachers are there to lead talented students astray. No teacher in his/her right mind will want a bad future for their students.
So please no pointing of fingers when results start coming in, especially among teachers. No bad mouthing each other in secrecy. Remember, every subject is important. Also remember that every teacher has the best interests of the child at heart.
No teacher will deliberately cause a child to fail.
