Evening star., 1935-05-13
Child'S Own
Mind Must
Be Creative
Good Teachers Aim
to Free Powers of
Bright Pupils.
BY ANGELO PATRI.


WE GIVE children lessons in vari-
Gus branches of human expert
ence-reading and writing and num-
ber. art and craft, science, religion,
the high points of accomplishment of
past generations. We teach these
tiny bits of knowledge in the hope
that they will take hold in the child's
mind and fire him to doing noble
deeds on his own account L he is
not driven to activity by wakened
inner force our teaching has not done
much beyond informing him of a
very few facts of history. We have
failed.
The aim of all good teachers is to
waken this inner force in each pupil.
The facts of lesson are not as i'm
portant to the child, or to the teach
er'S point Of view, as the effect they
have on the pupil. If he sits rigidly
IN his bench, his face set, his eyes
dull, no enthusiasm of spirit evident,
he is not getting what school and So
ciety sent him to school to get-cre-
ative imagination and creative power
I am not talking about genius. I
have the ordinary workaday boy and
girl in mind, those who compose
the great mass of the children in our
schools. Every one of them has the
spark of creative power in him and
it must be touched and driven to act
on his mind and behavior before we
can say that the child is learning.
How can this be done in big classes
and crowded programs?
In my experience it is not so much
what is done in the class room-al-
though that is highly important in
many WayS-aS il is how the teacher
and pupil look at what is done. The
aim of the teacher, the accomplish
ment the teacher has in mind, its
effect on the individual child, is the
germ of the matter. When the COM
position is to be written does the
teacher want a perfect production to
file for the supervisor or does she
want each child to set down on paper
some idea that sprouted in his mind?
Does the teacher want the mechanics
of the exercise or does she want the
creative power of the child to func-
ton? Can she look at a scrawly blot
ted, poorly spelled paragraph with
out fear? Can she search it for the
light of understanding that was or
was not in the Alind of the child?
Does the child feel free to let go and
allow the voice that is whispering
deep within him to struggle through
to the end of his pencil?
A child's creative work is never
technically perfect, or even nearly so.
1t is in violation of all rules, but it
Is vibrant with life and color and the
JOY of childhood. Technique must
be taught because it saves learners
much time and trouble in expert
mentation, but it comes after creative
expression and not before The two
are not to be demanded in the one
lesson because neither will be given.
If you set the stage for creative eX-
preston you get that If you call for
technique, the position of pencil and
paper, the quality of line, the laws of
form, the accurate adjustment of I'M
trained, even undeveloped muscles,
you will get tidy paper, dead, fiat,
ColorlesS as the rules they set forth.
Creative power is so precious to
each child, because in it lies the re-
lease of the inner self, that nothing
should be done to hinder its growth.
Teach technique, but make it the
servant of the creative force, not the
master. Use the course of study less
as mass of knowledge to be stored
and more as means of releasing
each child's personal and peculiar
power To do this We need the mind
of an enlightened teacher. It is not
equipment, not method, not a
technique. 1t is a point of view.