Let’s draw, children!

 

By Tina Zhang Muyuan

 

Many children are sent by their parents to learn drawing in arts institutions in Macao. This kind of art education does not bring children only drawing skills, but also artistic attainments and positive reinforcements in life.

 

“Drawing can help to stimulate children’s imagination and creativity,” Cai Guojie, an art teacher stated. “It can also provide a way for children to have fun and express their feelings freely. Moreover, art might give them some inspiration of life so that they can find their own pathway and happiness while pursuing their goals as well.”

 

Cai is also a well-known artist, who serves as the art teacher and vice director of Art For All Society (AFA) in Macao. AFA is a non-profit art organization founded in 2007, aiming to promote the development of local art and betterment of local artists.

 

According to Cai, most of the customers choose to enroll in art classes for their children, as the children can learn useful art skills, to be more competitive in the future. “Therefore, some parents are too eager to see their children’s improvement in drawing, which is directly against my educational principles,” he said with a sigh.

 

He said that children aged from 3 to 7 are at the age to explore and play, but not to sit up straight in front of the desk and learn “useful” but tedious drawing techniques unwillingly.

 

Cai gave the example when he had encountered two parents who complained about not seeing their kid’s improvement in drawing skills. They even blamed Cai for not being a “responsible” teacher as he let the children draw freely, without pushing the kids to finish their works.  Under this pressure from the parents, Cai changed his teaching style and pushed the kid to finish an artwork every class.

 

A few classes later, the parents came to Cai again, claiming that their child hated to take Cai’s class because he was not a good teacher. Cai responded, “What he hates is not my ‘original’ class but the class you asked me to give. When I taught him in my way, he was happy. However, his happiness diminished when I changed to the way you wanted.”

 

“Whenever I show some new drawing tools to the kids in class, I won’t tell the kids how to use them but I will let them play with it and figure out by themselves instead,” Cai said.

 

For example, one day Cai gave the kids cotton as a drawing tool in class. The kids were confused because they assumed that only crayons, pens and brushes could be used in drawing. Then Cai asked them to discover how to use the cotton with imagination. Shortly afterwards, they figured out many interesting ways to paint and create drawings with cotton by themselves.

 

He intrigued children into creating their own works and “be themselves”. “Our hope is on the next generation,” Cai said.

 

Generally, children are believed to be happier as they have much less pressure than that of adults. However, living in Macao, this fast paced society, children’s pressure is increasing as they are encouraged by their parents to spend more time on studying and participating in various extra-curricular activities.

 

“Most of the time, children’s unhappiness are actually from the expectations their parents have for them” Cai said. “So I let them release their pressure and have fun via drawing in my class. At the same time, I will try my best to persuade their parents to change their attitude towards education.”

 

According to Cai, children can release their feelings through drawing freely, and gain happiness by getting the correct education from their parents.

 

It might be impossible to ask parents not to expect their children’s achievement in academic or extra-curricular activities as Macao is highly competitive nowadays. But it’s not difficult for parents to let their kids spare a couple of hours per week to draw happily. There’s something parents might have to bear in mind -- after recharging their body and mind, their children can continue to work and strive for their future, willingly and happily.