Work

My son is cutting the lawn and doing a pretty bad job of it.

What has that got to do with arts education?

He's 8. I can't expect him to do that good a job. But I have to constantly point out spots he's missed, reiterate that he needs to follow a pattern so he doesn't keep cutting the same place over and over again, remind him to lower his hands down so if he hits a stick the shock doesn't travel from the mower to the handles and jar his arms into his face (which happens every week).

I could do a better job in half the time.

I can praise him, I can yell at him, I can nag, remind, cajole, reward (he does get paid for doing it)... I can step in and correct him. I can watch over him like a hawk and fix things the moment he screws up, or I can wait until the end and then point out every spot he missed.

I have a lot of tactics available to me, and still he does a mediocre job.

In fact, regardless of what I do, he'll keep do a poor job of it until: 1) he decides he wants to do a better job; and 2) he does it enough such that the skills needed take root.

So, all I have control over, really, is motivation and my own patience. And this is foiled, of course, by the urgency of the lawn cutting (is my wife mad about it, is it raining, etc.) and my ability to do it really quickly myself.

It is pretty obvious how this is about arts eduction, and the tension between the teacher and the student. By tension I don't meed emotional tension, although that could come into it. By tension I mean the push pull of roles, skills, personality, and the dynamics created.

When do I step in? When do I give up? When do I encourage? When do I ignore? When do I yell? When do I step in? When do I do it myself?

When do you decide you want to do something well?

Can you do the same thing over again and again until the skills sink in?

Can you push yourself to work?

Can YOU PUSH YOURSELF to WORK?

This is our tension for the entire year, the rest of our lives, between you and me, each other, our individual selves.

Class begins in exactly three weeks. Let the countdown begin right now.