In 2023 our Ministry of Education employed 4,311 people, up from 2,630 in 2017 when Ardern, Robertson and Hipkins first came to power. How have they defined "the arts" to our youth? The NZ Curriculum states on page 20:
"What are the arts about? The arts are powerful forms of expression that recognize, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealanders".
Since when are the arts tied to a single nation? Since when is art only art to the extent it "values" one nation's unique character? Since when should artists have any interest at all in the nation in which they live? Doesn't much art transcend national boundaries & can be appreciated by humans the world over since it gives expression to fundamental human truths & the nature of reality? Do Wellington Ministry staffers live in a world so closed, so parochial that they've now mislead our children into thinking art is so limited, so chokingly small minded that unless it is connected to "valuing" NZ culture then it cannot be art? Is our Education Ministry's conception of "the arts" the bucket fountain on Cuba Mall?
Picasso observed, "Art is a lie that makes us realize truth". How does this relate to recognizing NZ's unique character? Oscar Wilde said, "Art is the most intense mode of individualism the world has known". Valuing the culture of their country maybe the last thing on an artist's mind. Da Vinci stated, "Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all generations of the world". Even centuries ago he had the insight to realize that the arts were not about recognizing just Italian culture. Abolish the Education Ministry for putting in writing an ignorant definition of the arts that is a turn off to school children and closes their minds to the arts' soaring influence on all of humanity.
Sources:
https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum
Since when are the arts tied to a single nation? Since when is art only art to the extent it "values" one nation's unique character? Since when should artists have any interest at all in the nation in which they live? Doesn't much art transcend national boundaries & can be appreciated by humans the world over since it gives expression to fundamental human truths & the nature of reality? Do Wellington Ministry staffers live in a world so closed, so parochial that they've now mislead our children into thinking art is so limited, so chokingly small minded that unless it is connected to "valuing" NZ culture then it cannot be art? Is our Education Ministry's conception of "the arts" the bucket fountain on Cuba Mall?
Picasso observed, "Art is a lie that makes us realize truth". How does this relate to recognizing NZ's unique character? Oscar Wilde said, "Art is the most intense mode of individualism the world has known". Valuing the culture of their country maybe the last thing on an artist's mind. Da Vinci stated, "Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all generations of the world". Even centuries ago he had the insight to realize that the arts were not about recognizing just Italian culture. Abolish the Education Ministry for putting in writing an ignorant definition of the arts that is a turn off to school children and closes their minds to the arts' soaring influence on all of humanity.
Sources:
https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum
9 comments:
Yes...... but everything evolves. Art is now very political.
The weekend Financial Times of 20 April comments as follows on the political mission of the 2024 Venice Biennale:
" Here as nowhere else, chosen artists represent a nation, and by extension, that government."
Interesting to research which NZ artists have represented the country at this event. Example: Lisa Reihana in 20022 - her art explores the interaction of Polynesian and European
Certainly no artwork is ever done at my kids' schools unless a tiki is involved.
Any national curriculum should be about the provision of first-class education for each and every child at each and every school. Instead, the refreshed curriculum is a vehicle for political ideology, and this situation is not acceptable, irrespective of the colour of the ideology - whether left or right wing.
The first active sentence in the Introduction to Te Mataiaho, the refreshed curriculum, reads: Te MÄtaiaho is designed to be a curriculum that gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is inclusive, clear and easy to use. No problem with a mention of the Treaty here and there, but right throughout the curriculum document we see demands to honour this Treaty and even to hold ourselves to account in doing so. Instead, we should see demands to deliver wonderful education for everyone across all of our schools.
We have nothing against Te Tiriti if it is invoked to achieve positive socioeconomic and other outcomes for all disadvantaged groups - but for one group only - or mainly? What about our Pacific children? Our Asian Children? Our Muslim and other immigrant children?
Equality of any form of Indigenous Knowledge of centuries ago with modern global science? A life force that pervades all inanimate as well as animate things, and given a scientific definition in our Chemistry and Biology Glossary? Thankfully, some progress here.
Very little subject-matter detail, requiring schools to spend much time and resources to develop their own curricula, with the possibility of significant variation in content and quality.
Remember - this curriculum is to be implemented on each and every child in each and every school. Children will have to spend class time away from literacy and numeracy to take in this kind of content. What about the world views of the 25% of New Zealand’s population who are neither Maori nor European? Yes - attend to the needs of disadvantaged groups and give respect to their world views, but this curriculum must be challenged. David Lillis
This definition is just the Marxist woke again - with a touch of parochial apartheid.
Prof MacCulloch should read the below:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/phenomenal-nz-s-mataaho-collective-wins-one-of-the-world-s-top-art-prizes/ar-AA1nmTXg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=0690b9c3b41d4280bb0abba492987a0e&ei=42
Prize at the Venice Biennale for the entry of the Mataaho Women's Collective. The winners say this will inspire other " queer and indigenous artists."
Yes, anon@12.01pm, and Claudine Gay was appointed the President of Harvard.
Enough said?
Arts is an acronym paths.: Anti Rational Tolerant Society.
It is now about
Aggressive Ridiculous Torrid Sociopaths.
We are all aware how ugly art has become in the Western world. This I think may be in keeping with the brutishness that has crept into our society through godless materialism.
My experience of visual art in primary schools is of children doing much the same every year which doesn't develop because they appear to be given no instruction in perspective or shading, or drawing skills.
As with all subjects 'taught' in our schools, the methods are ineffective and only the naturally gifted or financially endowed can acquire any skills whether it be learning to read or create a picture. This was happening even before the latest curriculum attempt with the emphasis on Maori themes.
I have had visitors narrate having been afflicted with hours of tedious Maori music over the speaker at the airport while they waited for a delayed flight.
Oh, so New Zealand is "bicultural" AND 'multicultural" That's like the activist judges' concept of "mutual exclusivity" with regard to the Maori iwi coastal claims.
Complete bullshit and worthy of a place in 1984's Newspeak
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