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Caribbean Journal of Education

The Arts in Education- Arts for Living

Pages: 
154 - 168
Publication Date: 
September 2001
Issue: 
Abstract: 

I'll change the topic slightly by putting in another "the" and by chang­ing the last word from "living" to "life" so I have The Arts in Educa­tion: The Arts for life-not only because that sounds better, neater, more aesthetically pleasing, but also because the phrase "for life" allows me to manipulate a double meaning which "for living" would not allow. The lesson in our theme should be so self-evident and unex­ceptionable that it should need no repeating. But the very fact that we feel, this evening, the need to repeat it now, The Arts in Education: The Arts for life, and to commend it afresh to public attention is an indica­tion that it is a lesson that has been perhaps more honoured in the breach, as we say, than in the observance. It is a lesson to which every­body pays lip service, but to which few pay time or money. We can put the lesson (it is a platitude but it is a great commonplace) as a syllo­gism. Major premise: education is for life, not only in the sense that education should prepare us for life, but also in the sense that education is a lifelong activity, a process that never ends. Minor premise: the Arts are an integral part of education, or at least they should be. Therefore, conclusion: the Arts are crucial to our quality of life. The Arts are for life both in the sense of enhancing the quality of life, and in the sense of being lifelong. 

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