Art Education Prolegomena

According to Poet John Milton, education aims to “repair the ruins of our first parents” with a “complete and generous” curriculum. This was an improvement on Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s earlier exhortation to “hold childhood in reverence, and don’t be in any hurry to judge it for good or ill.” Rousseau’s only curriculum was to “give nature time to work before we take over.” He was convinced children weren’t ruined, but innocent by nature.

A prolegomena for education starts with either premise—that of Milton or Rousseau, and attempts to meet student needs accordingly. A ruined child, for example, will need outside help, where an innocent child’s help comes from inside himself. Milton’s student needs instruction; Rousseau’s needs only permission.

Milton better describes humanity’s fallen state—broken-down, busted-up from birth. Adult men and women can’t fix themselves, much less children. There’s something right about humans that has gone horribly wrong; we need help. If we're relational beings intended for community then there's nothing more "natural" than needing help from God and from other people in order to be better humans.

Helping is the beginning of education, and of art education. Art helps humans.