DISCUSIÓN Y POSIBLES VÍAS DE CONTINUACIÓN

7.0 Aim

Chapter 4 and chapter 5 presented the analysis of the MOE arts syllabuses and MICA reports by using the research method of documentary analysis to seek the rationale for visual arts education in Singapore. This research method was to enable me to analyze and identify common ideas or themes from the MOE and MICA key documents through a process known as “content analysis”. It was achieved by using the key points from relevant and appropriate literature review on arts education and cultural and creative reports to search for similar common ideas or themes that were found to be related to these key points in both of the MOE and MICA documents.

This method was similarly used to interpret the common ideas or themes in the qualitative interview based on the comments from the art teachers, arts scholars/academics and former policy makers.

The examination and analysis of the MOE arts syllabuses show that the rationale for visual arts education broadly relates to the development of personal developmental skills through a creative process. These personal developmental skills were similarly mentioned by the art teachers in the qualitative interviews. However, the arts scholars/academics and former policy makers have indicated that arts education is to develop extended logic, self-confidence and cultivate learning art history. On closer examination, it can be argued that the development of extended logic, self- confidence and learning art history can be related to the personal developmental skills.

The analysis of the MICA reports has also shown that the cultural and creative economy could be significantly influenced by certain important skills that are developed through arts education. These important skills are in fact the personal developmental skills that were found in the MOE arts syllabuses and were commented on by the art teachers in the qualitative interviews. Hence, it is necessary to explain how personal developmental skills relate to extended logic, self-confidence and art history, which is the aim of this chapter.

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7.1 Extended Logic, Self-Confidence and Personal Developmental Skills

7.1.1 It is useful to review some literature on extended logic and self-confidence in order to understand the relationship of extended logic, self-confidence and personal developmental skills.

7.1.2 Extended Logic

Although writers tend not to use the term “extended logic”, we can still learn more about the concept from their writings. Wiseman (2008: 366):

… nevertheless shows how something like a “concrete logic” (the concept needs to be extended and diversified) relocates elemental thought-processes outside the confines of the mind, and recognizes the importance of the dynamic interaction of mind and world for the development of symbolic systems.

It means that a human mind is able to think beyond by reinterpreting the actual meaning of the actual object or situation a person had seen. In other words, the mind has the capacity to interpret twice. Murphy (1877: 50) quoted Hamilton who referred to, “... the double interpretation, in extension and in comprehension (or intension), which the terms of the ordinary logic admit of.” This can also be explained from Eldridge‟s viewpoint (2003: 38-39):

…that there is a natural human capacity to become acculturated and aware of multiple perspectives on the same object or event. But this natural capacity becomes actualized into an explicit ability only in and through social interaction. It is through participating in what Tomasello calls

“extended joint attentional interactions,” particularly in cases in which we become aware of others as agents who may have both multiple goals and multiple available means for achieving a goal, that we become aware that how objects are picked out can vary and that this matters.

Eldridge made it clear that human beings are capable of assimilating with other cultures and to see a similar thing or situation in various aspects. This can be achieved by interacting with the social surrounding based on Tomasello‟s theory who labelled it as “extended joint attentional interactions.” Eldridge further explained that human beings are capable of learning from others who utilised many different ways

Page 146 to achieve a single objective and human beings are capable of seeing and identify things in various perspectives at the same time or sequentially.

Extended logic is integral to human beings and this means that the mind is capable of giving meaning to an object or situation in more than one aspect. Such a phenomenon corresponds with imagination and intuition.

7.1.3 Extended Logic: Imagination and Intuition Priest (1991: 369) said:

As Hegel, the most insightful but frustrating obscure commentator, put it in one of his more lucid moments: … great stress is laid on the limitations of thought, reason, and so on, and it is asserted that the limitation cannot be transcended. To make such an assertion is to be unaware that the very fact that something is determined as a limitation implies that the limitation is already transcended. (Logic, p. 134) Thought can, indeed must, therefore, think beyond its own limits.

Priest quoted Hegel who stressed that there is no limitation in thinking, and therefore the mind is able to think of an object and store the image of an object that is not found in a real situation (Edmonston, 1982: 49). However, imagination initiates the mind to retrieve these stored images by questioning whether these stored images would be able to exist in reality. Eisner (1986: 60) said:

The point is that, while the sensory system provides us with information about the world in sensory form, our imaginative capacities-when coupled with an inclination toward play-allow us to examine and explore the possibilities of this information… and I have pointed out that concepts formed from sensory information can be recalled and manipulated through imagination … The problem of representing conceptions is a problem of finding or inventing equivalents for those conceptions.

Eisner explained imagination stimulates the mind to investigate, explore, invent and manipulate in order to search for ways to materialise the stored images that have been conceived in the mind. Such an activity is not absurd because Scruton (1974:

98) said that imagination is a rational activity and it motivates one to find ways to relate what he or she imagines in reality. In other words, imagination gives a person

Page 147 the impetus to find solutions in order to translate the idea that was conceived in the mind into real life situation. Imagination and rationality that have often been seen in opposition need to be seen together.

Intuition is the ability to give another meaning to the object or situation immediately (Thompson, 1878: 340) and (Eldridge, 2003: 37). Reid (1961: 14) explained that the mind has “the power of seeing many things altogether, at once and at the same time.”

The discussion of imagination and intuition is consistent with Eldridge‟s explanation (2003: 38-39) on extended logic in regards to the capability of a human to look beyond and classify things in various perspectives at the same time or sequentially and this relates to intuition or imagination respectively.

7.1.4 Self-Confidence Jones (1997: 34) said:

The task to be mastered must be considered of at least medium-level difficulty. The more difficult it is perceived to be, the more impact it will have on self-confidence when a person is successful. In his goal theory of motivation, Bandura (1991) notes that goal motivates by stimulating self-evaluation and the opportunity to notice progress and success.

Jones quoted Bandura who said that a person becomes motivated through personal assessment by monitoring personal development and achievement. Consequently, this also develops self-confidence. According to Benabou and Tirole (2002: 877):

Motivation value. The explanation that we emphasize most is that self-confidence is valuable because it improves the individual‟s motivation to undertake projects and persevere in the pursuit of his goals, in spite of the setbacks and temptations that periodically test his willpower…The link between self-confidence and motivation is also pervasive in the psychology literature, from early writers like James (1890) to contemporary ones like Bandura (1977), according to whom “beliefs of personal efficacy constitute the key factor of human agency” (se also, e.g. Deci (1975) or Seligman (1990).

Page 148 This means that self-confidence improves personal motivation to take on tasks and to persevere regardless of obstacles for the purpose of meeting personal objectives.

In return, Masley (1954: 17) said:

…the individual evaluates the returns from his exploratory experiences.

They make him feel good, confident and pleased with his efforts. He accepts his demonstrated amount of competence as indicative of his ability to meet the test and rise above the situation. He is now ready to continue the experience exploring more fully the expressive potentialities of the art materials and the processes necessary to use them.

Masley explained that a person not only finds pleasure to witness the positive returns from the amount of efforts contributed to the task, this will also cause a person to believe that he or she has the capacity to meet adversities and rise to the occasion and hence a person will be motivated to explore more extensively.

7.1.5 Relationship between Extended Logic and Self-Confidence

Imagination and Intuition relate to extended logic. Imagination is a process that not only allows a person to conceive another meaning from the same object, imagination also initiates a person to find solutions to materialise the conceived meaning into reality. In the midst of seeking solutions, a person needs to examine, explore and experiment to seek a suitable solution, which also indicates that a person needs to continuously try to search for a best way to meet the objectives. This is consistent with the development of self-confidence because a person becomes confident when a person sees that he or she has met his or her objectives after attributing the amount of effort and persistently to search for the best resolution despite encountering hindrances. This argument reflects that imagination and self- confidence are related and this also means that extended logic and self-confidence are related to one another. I have created a diagram to show the relationship between extended logic and self-confidence.

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I speak of dispositional outcomes such as the following:

1. A willingness to imagine possibilities that are not known, but which might become.

2. A desire to explore ambiguity, to be willing to forestall premature closure in pursuing resolutions.

3. The ability to recognise and accept the multiple perspectives and resolutions that work in the arts celebrate.

Eisner attempts to explain that in order to partake in a creative process, the person must be enthusiastic enough to think of various types of ideas, which are not found to