Take a look at this picture.
Picture 1 – A child’s drawing
What do you see? A riot of colours and lines. How would you react if a child presented this as his drawing? Would you think it has a meaning, a story? Or would you be inclined to believe it is gibberish?
Now take a look at this.
Picture 2 – An adult’s drawing
What do see in this picture? Controlled, conformed, structured, lines and a defined form. It looks like the artist had a definite idea of what the objects look like, almost like they couldn’t look any other way.
We live in times of innovation where we constantly look for novel solutions, out-of-the-box thinking, ideas that maybe unconventional but ground breaking. Innovation requires creativity.
Whereas we teach children, with enthusiasm, how ‘apples are red’. When a child comes up with a drawing of a purple apple, we disapprove and tell them to do it ‘correctly’. We never stop and ask the child what he/she was thinking while drawing a purple apple. We are so keen to propagate norms and teach the child what is ‘correct’, that we overlook something equally important. While criticising a four-year-old for drawing a purple apple, we actually tell him/her that thinking beyond ‘apples are red’ is taboo. Thus instilling in his/her mind a rigid thought.
Picture 3 – Adult’s drawing of a house
Picture 4 – Child’s drawing of a house
However, is it really wrong if a child drew a home any other way? From experience or from imagination. Did you ever stop to think that everything that children draw reflects what is going on in their minds? Take for example, Picture 1. It comes with the most magnificent story of a snake eating eggs from a bird’s nest, while the mama bird is away.
When you first looked at Picture 1, you may have never thought that it had such a deep meaning for the artist. Imagine if some adult wrecked this wonderful story by saying, “What are these squiggles? Go and colour within lines.”
This sort of an attitude would just crush the child’s imagination and confidence. He/She would feel uncomfortable when asked to draw again.
Think of when a four year old says, “I can’t draw.” Such loss of confidence at such a young age!
Picture 1 – A child’s drawing
Now take a look at this.
Picture 2 – An adult’s drawing
We live in times of innovation where we constantly look for novel solutions, out-of-the-box thinking, ideas that maybe unconventional but ground breaking. Innovation requires creativity.
Whereas we teach children, with enthusiasm, how ‘apples are red’. When a child comes up with a drawing of a purple apple, we disapprove and tell them to do it ‘correctly’. We never stop and ask the child what he/she was thinking while drawing a purple apple. We are so keen to propagate norms and teach the child what is ‘correct’, that we overlook something equally important. While criticising a four-year-old for drawing a purple apple, we actually tell him/her that thinking beyond ‘apples are red’ is taboo. Thus instilling in his/her mind a rigid thought.
Picture 3 – Adult’s drawing of a house
Picture 4 – Child’s drawing of a house
Look at these pictures of adult and child drawings of a house. The child’s drawing is visibly influenced by the teacher. Many of us will draw a house similarly when we are asked to draw one. Can we for a moment reflect on where we see such a house that looks like a box with a triangle on top? More importantly, why do we continue to teach children to draw such a house? Since it is a convention?
However, is it really wrong if a child drew a home any other way? From experience or from imagination. Did you ever stop to think that everything that children draw reflects what is going on in their minds? Take for example, Picture 1. It comes with the most magnificent story of a snake eating eggs from a bird’s nest, while the mama bird is away.
When you first looked at Picture 1, you may have never thought that it had such a deep meaning for the artist. Imagine if some adult wrecked this wonderful story by saying, “What are these squiggles? Go and colour within lines.”
This sort of an attitude would just crush the child’s imagination and confidence. He/She would feel uncomfortable when asked to draw again.
Think of when a four year old says, “I can’t draw.” Such loss of confidence at such a young age!
That is exactly what happens when we take a child’s mind - unrestricted, free, a riot of colours with no conformity, as shown in Picture 1, and try to add lines, structure and the ‘correct’ way of doing things.
No comments:
Post a Comment