Research:

Philosophy of Education
and Social Justice
Pacific Oaks College

By:
Miranda Valdescona
HD363
April 09, 2017
Thesis Statement

As far as education is involved into shaping and developing an integrated democratic

society and/or culture, it is the idea of incorporating and encouraging creative thought

process and the arts from authentic life-experiences as part of the critical pedagogue for

children of underprivileged, ethnic, less-fortunate and illiterate communities.

Introduction

An artists duty, as far as Im concerned, is to reflect the times. Nina Simone

In a democratic modern society that is striving to transform towards a more integrated

and collaborative culture, the process in which the change is expedited is crucial to the

apparent effect that is to surface. In this process, the choice of focus and theory in

education is key to achieving an effective, substantial and humble progress towards

change. Taken from an excerpt in the reading from Freires book Education for Critical

Consciousness in reference to a society in transformation, Thus, in that transitional

phase, education became a highly important task(Freire, Pg.8, 1998). Education with an

emphasis on creative thought and the arts through real-life experiences among

underprivileged children is a focus of teaching that supports the overall composition of

the childs development in a transformative, oppressive and challenging environment.

Through creativity and the arts, the underprivileged child is provided the mediums to

fully express themselves without limitations or fear, resulting in a deeper, more authentic

knowledge and learning of the society and the world around them.

As an educator of early childhood and an advocate for the development in the arts

among the underprivileged child/student, it is imperative to place high virtue on real-life

experiences and utilize it as a central resource to facilitate in the student/childs creative

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process. According to the reading by Sylvia Asthon-Warner in Teacher, It helps to set

the creative pattern in a mind while it is yet malleable, and in this role is a humble

contribution to peace(Warner, Pg. 93, 1963) in reference to creating a vast creative

vent(Warner, 1963) among young children in relation to their current experiences in the

environment. Integrating and encouraging creative thought and the arts in early

childhood education of the underprivileged, less fortunate and illiterate communities is

the purpose and focus of my journey as an educator in a constantly changing democratic

society.

Analysis
In reflection to the modern democratic society with its advancement in technology

and the media, scholar education for the arts and the creative process among children in

underprivileged, less-fortunate and illiterate communities has become a mere

afterthought. In reference and in contrast to the concept of time that Freire presents in the

reading on mans idea of temporality, As men emerge from time, discover temporality,

and free themselves from today, their relations with the world become impregnated

with consequence(Freire, Pg.4, 1998), the advancement of technology and the media has

taken temporality and the concept of time to a much faster, more fleeting and less thought

out way of education that eliminates the critical process and its aim for integration.

Automatic, unlimited and vague resources that are made available through the media and

technology is the initial resource for education that children of underprivileged, illiterate

and less-fortunate statures are more likely to turn to. As a result, these children/students

remain compromised in the critical processing and still robbed of a literate education in

the creative process and the arts. In addition, the mainstream curriculum provided in the

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schools, where scholar educators would be available, of underprivileged and illiterate

communities, do not provide ample support for the education of the arts and the creative

process leaving the underprivileged and illiterate child still with limited to no option for

integration through their creativity. Without credible resources or educational platforms

allowed in the development of the creative process and the arts to the underprivileged

child, they are left with no choice but to adapt to the changes of a democratic society

ironically leaving them as mere objects in its process paralleling Freires argument on

adaptation in reference to the shift of the Brazilian government into democracy, To the

extent that man loses his ability to make choices and is subjected to the choices of others,

to the extent that his decisions are no longer his own because they result from external

prescriptions, he is no longer integrated(Freire, pg.4, 1998).

In an effort to encourage and develop integration from the underprivileged

child/student, the educator must understand the critical value of the child/students

experiences in adversity and the manner in which they are able to apply it into creative

thought and art. It is through these authentic and organic instances in a child/students life

that creativity is cultivated from inside out, as quoted from the book Teacher, Sylvia

Asthon-Warner presents the idea that Children have two visions, the inner and the outer.

Of the two the inner vision is brighter. The picture of the outer, adult-chosen pictures can

be meaningful and delightful to children; but it is the captions of the mind pictures that

have the power and the light. The illustrations seen by the inner eye are organic, and it is

the captioning of these that I call the Key Vocabulary (Ashton-Warner, pg.32, 1963).

In the same manner of generating the Key Vocabulary from the inner visions through

the authentic and organic reactions of the child/student, creative thought process and art

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is also produced. Once the cultivation of the creative process and the arts is encouraged,

the child/student instantly enters into a learning process that allows for them to use their

experiences and imagination without limitations or prerequisites to any other skill or

ability. It provides the underprivileged child/student the opportunity to express

themselves with no regard to the bounds that society restricts them of and the power to

express the learned knowledge and wisdom that they have attained from their authentic

lives. As an educator of early childhood development, creative thought process and the

arts are subjects of teaching that requires more attention and practice in the classroom. As

teachers, it is our responsibility to be aware of the underprivileged child/student in the

class and to instill and encourage in them the power to expand their thought process into

creativity. As Ashton-Warner argues, With no opportunity for creativity, they may well

develop, as they did in the past, with fighting as their ideal of life(Ashton-Warner,

Pg.94, 1963) in reference to the effects in a emergent society of an underprivileged

child/student oppressed from creative thought and the arts.

Conclusion

Referencing to the quote by Nina Simone in the introduction, the reflection of the

changes in a society is most apparent in the creative expressions of the artists of the time.

In a modern emergent democracy that our society faces today, underprivileged, illiterate

children/students are running rampant through the education system without any concrete

guidance and education in creative thought and the arts. However, as educators in the

system we are allowed control on the subjects that we can focus on that is supportive of

an educational system that encourages the development and progress in creative thought

process and art. It is our duty to our democracy, to the children of the people and not of

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the 1%, to provide a learning environment that caters to the authentic, real-life

experiences and adversities of a less fortunate, ethnic, underprivileged child through their

creative expression. After all, it will be up to to the children of the people to navigate

through the future of a democratic society with a beautiful mind, And in beauty are

included the qualities of equilibrium, harmony and rest(Ashton-Warner, pg.93, 1963) in

the hopes of a integrated, united and peaceful journey.

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References

Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. 1963. Teacher. New York, NY. Simon & Schuster Inc.,
New York.
Freire, Paulo. 1998. Education for Critical Consciousness. New York, NY. The
Continuum Publishing Co., New York.