I was involved this morning in our local church with a little project set for the children. At least, it was intended primarily for children, but nobody actually said that adults couldn’t take part as well. Without going into the details, it required us to make little boats out of various kinds of bits and pieces. It was a great idea, relating well to the general idea behind the occasion. There appeared to me to be just one snag. The tools the kids were required to use were pretty well useless.
The scissors were blunt. The sticks with which we were expected to make holes didn’t have points. The glue was useless. I know why this was the case. The cult of “health and safety” rules everything these days. To every activity there is a form requiring that a “risk assessment” be conducted first. Of course the scissors were blunt, otherwise there was a risk that a child might accidentally nick its finger. Glue that was any use might have got onto their clothes, and be difficult to wash off. Every conceivable risk has to be anticipated, and steps taken to ensure that it could not possibly happen.
But what might be the consequence of this approach for the teaching of art? My guess is that the most likely outcome will be frustration. Any intended result that can be imagined by a creative child will be impossible because the tools and materials on offer are incapable of realising that idea. No teacher will be able to set a task that is challenging because challenge necessarily implies risk. How dull will art become!
The dreadful irony of the occasion was that the title of the project was the phrase, “Boats are safe while they are in harbour …. but that’s not the purpose of boats.” The purpose of life is to embrace challenge and the risk this entails.