An alumna of Harvard University, Dr. Ellen Winner is professor and chair of psychology at Boston College and senior research associate at Project Zero of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. An expert on gifted children, Dr. Winner also directs the Arts and Mind Lab at Boston College, which focuses on cognition in the arts in typical and gifted children. Summiya Yasmeen interviewed Dr. Winner in Bangalore.
In India encouraging gifted children is considered elitist and unegalitarian. Your comment?
Ditto in the United States — providing special facilities for the education of gifted children is considered elitist. This is unfortunate. Still, there are many advocacy groups and progra-mmes for the gifted in the US. And work on education of gifted children is now beginning in India. I met with an inspiring group working to identify math and science talent in urban and rural disadvantaged populations, led by researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College, and the Agastya International Foundation.
Gifted children are certainly a challenge for educational systems because schools are designed for typical children, and gifted children, like those with other special needs, are clearly not typical. However, there are ways of nurturing them without hurting other children. I’ve been advocating that schools should organise classes according to ability rather than age.
For instance, maths classes across all ages could be scheduled at the same time in the school time-table. This would allow a seven-year-old gifted child exceptionally good in maths to attend a class VIII math class and then return to her age group for subjects where she is not especially gifted. Ability rather than age-grouping would help schools with even limited resources to meet the needs of gifted children. Simultaneously, serious attempts should be made to improve learning standards for all. I say this with respect to the educational system I know best: of the US, where I believe too often standards are too low. We are satisfied with minimum competence when we should be striving for excellence.
You have written extensively on the importance of visual and performing arts. In India, these arts are not a priority because of excessive focus on academics. What are the socio-economic benefits of education in the arts?
An education without the arts is lopsided education. Some of the most important human accomplishments are in the arts. Why should we teach children only about the sciences? Also, some children have the ability to go on in science; others are more artistically inclined. It is important for the latter genre of children to discover their strengths. If schools ignore the arts, how will that child ever discover if he/she could be a graphic designer, musician, etc? In addition, our research has revealed that teachers in the arts stress very important skills: learning to observe, imagine, learning to persist, and to make critical judgements. Arts classes, I suggest, are where these skills can be best taught. And these skills will be important in all areas of life.
You have researched arts education in China. what’s the striking difference between India and China?
In 1987, I made a research trip to China to learn about the Chinese method of education in the arts. I found the Chinese method of that time was based on a view of creativity and learning in the arts that is fundamentally different from the Western view. In China, arts education is controlled and children usually learn to sketch and draw by copying schemas in a very step-by-step fashion. It’s error-free, skills-based learning. As a result, Chinese children can draw in an exceptionally skilled manner. In the US, arts education is unregulated — we let our children draw what they want and how they want. About India unfortunately, this is my first visit here and I haven’t studied its arts education system adequately to comment. However I am more in favour of the free way of teaching the arts for very young children — letting them experiment and invent ways of representing the world around them.
From your brief visit to India, what are your impressions of the Indian education system?
India has a vast challenge — to provide quality education for all its 300 million school-aged children, rich and poor. During my visit, I saw some elite private schools that compare with the best anywhere in the world. These were progressive schools. By progressive, I mean schools which allow children to construct their understanding rather than memorise answers given by teachers. I also saw a child-centred class developed by XSEED — created by iDiscoveri — in which hands-on learning is infused into the curriculum. These classes are excellent and help teachers to move away from rote learning, which we know does not lead to engagement or understanding.
From my many conversations with educators in India, I’m aware that the majority of schools teach in a top-down, teacher-centred — rather than child-centred, enquiry-based — man-ner in which rote learning rather than understanding is stressed. I know there are many dedicated foundations and NGOs working to change this. But there are no magic quick-fixes, and it’s going to take a long time to provide quality education for all, rich and poor, urban and rural. I believe this should be one of India’s top priorities.