There are many different conceptions of the child from the romantic notion of the innocent child to the more utilitarian view of the child as developing adult. These discourses subjugate the child to a place of inferiority. I personally favour the view of the competent child which recognizes that young children have their own knowledge and come equipped with strategies to function in the world they have come to understand through their experiences.
Child with a Dove, Picasso
My recollections of my early childhood and recent interactions with young children have provided compelling evidence to support the case for the competent child. I am reminded of a story involving my friend Cathy’s 3 year old daughter Lorelai. Cathy was getting ready to take Lorelai and her younger brother Jackson out on a day’s outing to the zoo but first, she wanted to check the weather. She told Lorelai that she had to stop watching her cartoons because she had to check the weather and they had to leave in 5 minutes. Lorelai immediately suggested, “Well then let me watch my show for another 5 minutes and you can stick your head out of the window to check the weather.” Most adults are incapable of making such quick executive decision making.
Incidentally, this is the same little girl who started painting tinfoil yellow one evening when I was babysitting. I asked her what she was doing and she casually replied, “making gold.” This littlest alchemist is prove positive that children can think critically, use deductive reasoning and courageously take risks to make improvements to the status quo.
Picasso, however, goes one step further from suggesting that children are merely competent. He posits a different paradigm, that of the child sage. He equates mastery with childhood abilities. He suggests that children are more than competent, they are the proficient experts.
This is not an entirely new idea. I am reminded of Jesus Christ’s nativity tale and the scene of the three wismen kneeling before the newborn in awe.
Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi
A further example is the Tibetan Buddhist belief that the Dalai Lama is the latest reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders born to enlighten others. Although, the Dalai Lama spent 18 years in intense religious study, it was based on the premise that the child was born enlightened, with superior wisdom.
In Hinduism, the Lord Krishna is depicted as a god-child performing courageous acts of ingenuity to vanquish threats to himself and his people.
Baby Krishna, Dolls of India Art Store
Also consider the Greek myth of Athena, the goddess of wisdom who entered the world (via Zeus’ head) fully grown and armed to take on the world.
Zeus giving birth to Athena, by Rudolph Tegner, 1873-1950
Some contemporary philosophers and spiritualists speculate that we are born enlightened, knowing everything we need to know about the universe and gorwing up is really the process of forgetting. schooling is really an exercise in de-education.
If that was the case, then the baby-proofing industry would go bust. Moreover, subscribing to such a theory would make me a fraud if I continued to pursue a career in primary education.
Yet, there is something infallible about Picasso’s words. I also find the statement very confronting. Moreover, the multiple truths revealed are unescapable. As I consider the various commentaries on creativity, arts education, pedagogies and politics that I have explored throughout this term on my journey towards becoming the competent teacher, I have continually come back to this quote. It has served as the lens through which I have examined the course material and tried to develop as an artist in my own right.
I therefore feel that the only authentic way to demonstrate my learning in this course is to continue to put Picasso under the microscope through inquiry based explorations of the question: What does it mean to me as a pre-service primary school teacher that Picasso spent his whole lifetime trying to draw like a child?
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