Decontextualising the academic value of the arts
Dear Editor,
Over the years we have experienced an evolving education system. Education should be the holistic development of a person to function with purpose in our society. People are introduced to mathematics, languages, the sciences, history, and the arts to unearth talent and skills. However, over the last two centuries we have manipulated education, decontextualising the academic value of the arts.
Let us put this in historical context. Mathematics, the sciences, and the arts have been around since 2000 BCE. It is documented in Egypt that the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is one of the first recorded mathematical systems.
The sciences date back to between 3000 to 1200 BCE, with a focus on astronomy and medicine. The arts go back to the Middle Stone Age in South Africa. In addition, puppets, as have been found in Egyptian tombs, date as far back as 2000 BCE.
These subjects have historically been on the same level of importance. They provided an avenue for political statements, learning, and communication of law. When Julius Caesar assumed sole dictatorship in 46 BCE, he used arts to make a statement for the new Athens. The Egyptians and the Greeks used mathematics and the sciences to solve surface area, geometry, algebra, and to engineer architectural development.
Mathematics, the sciences, and the arts were considered core subjects in education and were viewed on the same level of importance and value. Somewhere along the line, during the renaissance period and with the introduction of democratic influences, unread political directorates created a linear structure of learning, placing mathematics and the sciences at the top as core subjects and the arts at the bottom as electives.
Interestingly, critics of the arts would spend time listening to music, purchasing artwork, seeing a theatrical performance, and even watching all their favourite episodes on a streaming platform but fail to recognise the academic value of the arts.
There seems to be a disconnect between the historical context of the arts and learning. The linear approach to the arts is deeply entrenched in our curriculum design, which may take another century to evolve. In the Stone age, the Greeks era and ancient Egyptians saw the necessity of a level field for mathematics, the sciences, and the arts. Why change something that was not broken?
It is our duty to encourage our political directorate to place the arts back among what we now call core subjects.
Dr Oniel Tobias
onieltobias@gmail.com