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Bell 8 Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 481064346 USA ENLIGHTENMENf, ART, AND EDUCATION: BECOMING FULLY HUMAN Isabelle Basmajian A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto @Copyright by Isabelle Basmajian 1998 National Library Bibliothkque nationale I*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1AON4 Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordk une licence ncm exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, Qstribute or sell reproduire, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thbse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique . The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celleci ne doivent &e imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. To the Memory of my father, Kamer Ohannes Basrnajian and my brother, Shaunt Basmajian. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Introduction CHAPTER I Full Humanness: A Personal View and The View Implied in Ontario's Public Schools Introduction On Being Fully Human A More Concise Concept of Full Humanness Making Connections Looking For Full Humanness in Our Schools The Impact of Art CHAPTER 11 Obstacles to Full Humanness Introduction Fragmentation and the Modern Mindset: A Synoptic View Instrumental Reason's Role Dehumanization of Humanity CHAPTER 111 Changing Arts, Changing Society: Changing Society, Changing Arts Introduction In the Beginning Relating to the Beginning Cherchez I'art The intellectualization of the Arts The Rematerialriation of Matter The Reduction of Art iii CHAPTER IV The Nature of Art and Elementary Education Introduction The How and Why of Thi.-?k!~nand Feeling: Equal Partners in the Eniightened Being A Sketch on the Nature of Art: Getting Closer fc an Explanation A More Precise Explanation of the Why of Art The Quest for Magic: Art in the Elementary Curriculum On Disciplined- Based Art Education CHAPTER V Learning Through Art: Experiences in the Early French Immersion Program Introduction 239 Some Background Information on the French Immersion Program 242 A Brief Discourse on Method in EFI: Putting it in Perspective 246 On the Curriculum in Primary Grades 249 Implementing the Curriculum in EFI 255 Assumptions of EFI classes 256 Learning Through the Arts in a Grade One French Immersion Program 268 Summary 281 Notes 290 References 305 Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude goes to my thesis supervisor, Professor John Eisenberg, for his consistently heartening support. My meetings and discussions with him were always lively, stimulating and inspirational! I left them with a rejuvenated enthusiasm towards my work and a clearer understanding of my task. My sincere appreciations as well to my thesis committee members, Professors Jack Miller and Johan Aitken, for their encouraging critical remarks and suggestions. Also thank-you to the other members of my Examination Committee, Professors John Davis, Bernie Warren, and David Booth for their valued and useful comments. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to the Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario for honouring me with the Florence I. Henderson Doctoral Scholarship as I embarked on the first year of my Ph. D. studies. I should also like to mention a posthumou.s note of gratitude to the late Professor Richard Courtney who gave me the welcome boost of confidence I needed as I began my work. And last, but not least, thank-you to my sister Silva and the rest of my warm and generous family for their unwavering affection and help. Abstract Enlightenment, Art, and Education: Becoming Fully Human Isabelle Basmajian, Ph. D., 1998 Curriculum Department Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University c! Toronto In this thesis I argue that modern Western society has changed the practice of art and in so doing has thwarted its role as an important contributing element to the development of fully human beings; that is, persons with equally balanced faculties of thinking and feeling and all that these imply. Prior to the Renaissance, the practice of art was an integral feature in the life of the majority of the people in the West; an experience that allowed its participants to access their feelings and by bringing them into consciousness provided the opportunity for self- actualization. Subsequent to the Renaissance, art became subserviant to the causes of instrumental reason, a particular mindset likened to Weber's notion of Zweckrationalitat. An emphasis on developing such a limiting form of thinking reduced the role of the arts on many levels, stultifying in the process an aspect of natural human growth for those who ceased to "engage" in art. Such is the role of art that is reflected in our schools and communities. This thesis attempts to substantiate such claims by presenting a personal understanding of what it is that makes us fully human and, within that context, examine the role art played in the past and plays today in the West. My suggestion is that the reintegration of the 2 practice of "authentic" art in the life of individuals and the community will help humanize our societies, its continuing absence dehumanize; and that the artistic experience, whatever form it takes, is a valid form of inquiry and perhaps the only way that may enable humans to illumine the self and educate the feelings. Towards the end of the dissertation, an argument is presented that suggests the role of art be rethought, reworked and reconsidered in the public school system; deliberations that are specifically located within my greatest sphere of teaching experience, the Early Total French Immersion Program. INTRODUCTION Every child starts off with the capacity if not the opportunity to unfold and to turn every experience of living into new growth ... The instinct is toward love and laughter, compassion and kindness, to live in the light and by the light. 1 N. J. Berrill INTRODUCTION The ultimate intent of my thesis is to try to find a feasible way by wh~ch our education system may contribute to the development of fully human beings; an outcome which I believe to be a tacit mandate of any human's education. However, my suggestion is that we are not particularly successful in helping develop enlightened beings, a term, amongst others, I use synonymously with being fully human. I contend that our Western society mostly values human beings with specialized thinking faculties and that is the primary emphasis in our schools. My proposal is that to become fully human both the faculties of thinking and feeling need to be developed equally in a person. An overlooked area of the curriculum which may be used for this purpose is art. My position is that art is an indispensable element in helping a person become fully human, but not as art is generally thought of or practised today. It is my contention that art's role has been restrained and altered by certain factors in Western society and culture, factors that have become obstacles in maximizing the conditions that allow for humans to develop fully. To be able to realize my ultimate aim, my position, propositions, and contentions will have to be substantiated and clarified. The bulk of this thesis will be concerned with doing just that. 5 The discussion in the first chapter will begin with an attempt to define \w!?zt it is that makes us fully human. The argument will use as its starting point, Abraham Maslow's notions of peak-experience and self- actualization, a term first coined by Kurt Goldstein which Maslow sometimes uses interchangeably with full-humanness. Although I do not adhere to all of Maslow's theories, some of them do contain the foundational elements upon which I will build to make my case for what it is that makes us fully human; propositions that are not claimed to be true or false but rather serve as the premise upon which will hinge the discussions that will follow. I will show that as humans we all strive to self-actualize, thus qualifying this quest as a natural part of human growth, and as we achieve this growth, we gain the enlightenment or wisdom needed to shape our lives, which will allow us to aim for a higher plane of existence each time; to move "upward," as Maslow puts it.