The place of art in education

Nandalal Bose

An extension of the write-up

Nandalal Bose has rightly pointed out in his thoughtful essay that art has a specific and distinguished contribution in the field of education. According to him, those who argue that education and art are separate fields with individual identity and not at all interrelated go for prevarication of truth and it’s a novice interpretation. It is basically a false notion. To be very frank, education remains unsaturated if it is not mingled with art, especially what nature contributes to our life. Education remains disorganized if we don’t allow it to go deep into the field of art. We learn from books and it is called education. If we ignore art out of prejudiced thinking education is sure to be nosedived without subscribing any notable values to our life. The author has felt this truth by heart and he pleaded for it without raising dispute or confusion even the least. In the run of the essay he has expressed his strong reservation against the exclusion of art in the syllabus of school-education. This approach is detrimental to the advancement of education. This is called the orthodoxy out of limitations of knowledge. If we exempt art from our education system we will captivate our education in a cage without any scope to fly in the infinite horizon.

We all look for better education in all respect because paucity of knowledge derived from education brings narrowness and meanness in our mind. Without contesting the main theme of the essay even the least I am taking the privilege to extend the essay with certain additional peripheral zone and it may enhance the spirit and the theme of the essay in a more realistic way.

Direct knowledge and indirect knowledge lead education to the confluence of precise perfection. Learning from books in many cases runs with inadequacy if it is not verified from the practical concept. When we read a book it appears boring to us, but the contents of our reading are represented elegantly in the form of art our attention is raptly drawn. Art is always living and living elements create our interest at the optimum point. To be very honest, avid interest paves the way of our learning smoothly. When students take interest to learn the theme of the representation through visual art the demand of his learning is increased. As soon as the demand of learning is increased education moves ahead to ultimate perfection through repeated queries. So; place of art in education is undeniable.

Apart from this culture has a distinctive role to build up a nation. Cultural heritage is the main stream of our life. It is nothing but the character of a nation. A nation is well identified when its cultural composition runs in excellence. Art personifies the basic trend of the culture of a nation. Development of art grows up holding the main theme of cultural heritage. If a student is not well conversant with the cultural heritage of his country his education will remain ever incomplete. Besides this, art ignites the soft and tender instincts of a student. A touchy mind is always appreciated because it develops commonness and togetherness.  Art does it very effectively without leaving any shortcoming. If education becomes classical castle of our knowledge art is the doors and windows of that castle. A castle without doors and windows can never be termed as beautiful.

We all seek rhythm in life. A life with no synchronic rhythm appears to us dull and insipid. The pleasure of life is dancing rhythm. Sense of art and culture beautifies our life in an exquisite loveliness. It never allows a life to plunge into stagnancy. Suppose a student is drawing something applying his creative concept. At once the world of that student is shifted somewhere else where absolute pleasure and joy exist very much. His mind is filled up in exquisite loveliness. When a student is connected with performing art he finds an inexplicable joy. The field of art is well associated with education because it is education what matures our concept. Rhythm of life helps us to know the real meaning of life. Those who want to enjoy the life in consonance with the spirit of life must have knowledge on art and culture. Those who say art has no function as such in development of education live in fool’s paradise. They overrule the truth behind education.

Sense of art appeases one’s mind bypassing restlessness. A mind gets disturbed while encountering the challenges of life. A disturbed min is the cause of many unwanted problems. It is well known that problems trap us in conspiracy to spoil our life. So’ disturbance in life should always be avoided. But it is next to absurdity because life is full of ups and downs. Trials and tribulations in a life is a very common. So we can’t avoid vexation in our life. Mind being vexed is the cause of all disturbances in life. How to appease mind is a process to be learnt by heart. Art gives a definite room to that process. It gives us a space to rethink with values of life. The contribution of art in our life is priceless.

Nature is our mother. She teaches us many notable things with great educative value. Sense of art does exist very much in nature with her all natural components and elements. So to have kith and kin intimacy with nature is very much mandatory in student’s life. The teaching what a student finds from nature and natural elements remains incandescent during the rest of his life. The application of those learning gives his enough room to fight in the struggle of life. Nature unveils the elements of art without any paucity every moment. We can never catch them if we don’t have the requisite sense of art. The education which is disassociated from art is no education at all. If education is called the development element art is obviously considered as the maintenance element. Keeping aside sense of art and culture with due deliberation; development in education remains always infertile. It can never germinate.

So.’ if we want to make a change in the form of education in the true sense of the term we must include art with education in order to comprehend the true values of education. We talk flat for the reorientation of education, but we ignore the inclusion of art or performing art in our syllabus of education. It is absolutely nonsense and a foolish act. If we want the true development of education we should let run education and art parallel. It is the call of time and need both. It is high time to think over the issue levying justified importance.                       .