Should one aim of education be

the development of talent in

such fields as music, art,
drama?

It is only a tiny minority who are

born without a talent in one
direction or another. Even these
people are usually employable. It
seems logical, in general, that one
aim of education should be to
develop latent ability, whatever
that ability may be.
However, the pressure from
educational theorists today is to
concentrate teaching on
preparation for employment.
Parents, also, feel that the priority
for their children is to become
equipped to earn a good living.
Governments urge concentration
on certain subjects, so that a pool
of labour can be formed which can
move easily into specialised
training. These essential subjects
include English, or another
international language, since these
languages possess technical
vocabularies and also equip young
people to travel overseas in the
course of their work. The other
favoured subjects are
mathematics, the sciences,
computer literacy and other office
machinery, engineering, and
general handwork.
Given proficiency in some or all of
these, it is a short step to useful
employment. Modern job
opportunities lie in the fields of the
service industries, i.e. banking,
insurance and stockbroking,
technology and the manufacture of
sophisticated products, research
and development and computers.
Governments see these
occupations as essential to national
wealth creation, and therefore
crucial to the general improvement
of the national standard of living.

Moreover, there will always be

young people more interested in
the arts than in the sciences. The
arts are usually bracketed under
the general heading 'liberal
studies'; they include history,
languages and literature,
philosophy, politics and economics,
social and environmental studies.
Some require exact knowledge and
serious study, while others are
'soft options'. In any real sense
they are totally unproductive, and
modern education has spawned
(produced) these. It is small
wonder that both governments and
parents discourage some of them
nowadays. We live in a real world.
Yet the reverse of this coin is the
necessary enrichment of the
culture of all countries in
successive generations. What is
material success if there is nothing
to engage the artistic side of our
nature in our spare time?
Perhaps the greatest concept of
education originates in the
European cultural renaissance in
Italy, and dates back to the late
Middle A'mens sana in corpore
sano ges. It is the development of
the whole person. Perhaps the
modern version of ', a 'healthy
body in a healthy mind', still has its
place. So even attention to sports
training is justifiable.
So music, art and drama must all
have their place in the curriculum,
even if this is not a prime place.
Every country has its own artistic
heritage, and it would be tragic if
that heritage is lost through
neglect. Yet this is not merely a
matter of conservation. Artistic
pursuits have now become
international and offer brilliant
careers to gifted young people of
every country. It is clear that those
with this kind of talent should be
encouraged.