1. Introduction
It has been realized that the
industrialization and urbanization of Nigeria
Therefore this paper tend to
highlight the roles Arts can play in our Educational system especially among
budding architects in this 21st century Architectural Education. For
proper understanding of this paper most especially by those not too expose to
the antecedents of Arts, the paper will start by explaining concisely and
lucidly the concept of Arts, the relevance of Arts to society. The roles of
Arts in Architectural Education and the hindrances in the present curriculum of
Architectural Education, vis-à-vis the challenges of the 21st
century.
2. Concept of Art
Art is a difficult concept to
define consequently no single definition of it will be wholly satisfactory to
all artistic and consumers of art. Art is both a process as well as product. As
process, Art is a means through which we give sensuous and concrete expression
to our ideas and feelings about the world around us. As product, Art includes
pictures, images, buildings, clothes, furniture, utensils, music, dance, drama,
food, etc.
Art expresses itself through two
major modes-visual and performing. The visual arts includes objects and
experiences such as painting, drawing, sculptures, collages, printmaking,
photography, films, ceramic, fiber arts, jewelry, metal work, environmental
arts such as architecture (Landscape and building), interior design and
decoration, clothing design and graphic communication. The performing Arts
include dance, music and drama. (Wangboje, 1999).
With the above definition, arts
then is a complex phenomenon that is as dynamic as it is elastic. It touches
every facet of our lives individually and collectively, introducing into
society changes that can affect our lives for better or for worse. It also
serve as an instrument of social change and provide products for meeting our
most basic needs.
Similarly, Arts are languages that
all people speak and cut across racial, cultural, social, educational and
economic barriers which enhances cultural appreciation and awareness. They also
provide opportunity for self – expression, bringing the inner world into the
outer world of concrete reality.
3. The Role of Arts to Society
When it comes to choosing careers
people frequently choose more prestigious disciplines such as medicine, law,
engineering and the sciences. Rarely do they ever choose art. Averagely people
believe when they are in trouble with their body they need doctor, when in
trouble with society they need a lawyer and when in trouble with the
environment they need an engineer or scientist. But nobody seem to see the
immediate need for art, for an average person, art seems so useless and so far
away from his most basic and urgent needs. Yet if the truth be known art is
even more basic than for law, medicine and engineering. For arts is the basic,
the very foundation upon which our human existence, our life in society rests.
We live in a world that is full of art. We live in a society that is avidly
consuming art every moment without realizing it, the houses we live in, the
household utensils we use, the clothes we wear, pictures we hang on our walls,
furniture we use are all products of arts. In this sense we are all consumers
of arts products.
The ability to see and appreciate
as well as distinguish between what is beautiful and what is ugly is a direct
result of our experiences with art as makers or consumers of art. Certainly,
without art and its various products, human society as we know it today cannot
exist.
4. The Role of Arts in Architectural Education
Art been a language through which
we can speak to other people irrespective of differences in language or
nationality. It is a language through which the budding architect can talk
about himself, his environment and about life. He can also use the elements of
art such as colour, line, texture and form to make his communication possible.
Art is the only subject that he
can use to illustrate accurately his ideas and vision than he may be able to
express in words. The national policy on Education also envisioned the
following objectives:
1
Promote
creativity in the field of arts, science and technology.
2
To
acquire skills, develop potentialities, abilities and talents.
3
Inculcate
national consciousness.
4
Become
good and productive citizens capable of and willing to contribute to the
development of the nation.
The role of Arts in Architectural
Education cannot be over emphasized, in this 21st century arts
should be used as a creative force and a cultural catalyst, it should not be
under estimated or neglected because the so-called technological activities of
the world cannot be sustained without tremendous artistic abilities such as
imaginative thinking and creative reasoning-seeing things in relationship,
clear perception, observation and detailed analysis of parts to parts and parts
to whole.
Furthermore, in the visual world,
nothing stands alone, no image in isolated. An image is related to its
backgrounds and cannot be properly seen or described without reference to its
components or environment. All these things imply that artistic training is
developmental. It provides opportunities for promoting general concepts of
educational awareness, including the development of an all-round abilities such
as the following:-
1
The
acquisition, development and inculcation of accepted value orientation for the
survival of the individual among his group.
2
The
development of the individuals intellectual capacity to understand and
appreciate his/her environment.
3
The
acquisition of both physical and intellectual skills which will enable
individuals to develop into useful members of the community.
4
The
acquisition of an objective view of the local and external environment.
5
The
development and acquisition of the visual and mental sensitivity to things and
ideas about associative knowledge and societal values.
5. Arts in Curriculum Development of Architectural
Education.
Art Education can be used to
promote and enhance creativity among budding architects in terms of functional
relationship of the various shapes, images, forms and values in the world
around them.
There is the need today for
curriculum review of Architectural education to enable the 21st
century architects have the opportunity to participate actively in contributing
their quota toward the development and administration of societal values in
evolving new cultural policies. The curriculum of Architectural education will
not only improve creativity in academic subjects but understanding of the
content and self – regulatory behaviour. The emphasis behind curriculum review
in this paper is to establish standard that will make budding architects
achieve high level of discipline that will prepare them for facing realities of
the 21st century in terms of skill acquisition.
Fatuyi (1999) similarly identify
Arts as functional and purposeful, dialectical and communicative, it is social,
it has a voice and message for you and I, it is also a language of form and
colour. He went further to stressed that it is a language that differs from
place to place. These arts languages has many culture and people who relates
together through art form. This implies democratic living and sharing of
resources and values.
6. Hindrances in
the Present Curriculum of Architectural
Education in Nigerian
Schools
The present curriculum of Architecture in Nigerian
schools does not give enough room for arts to play its roles in terms of
fostering creativity that will culture budding architects toward democratic
leaning, towards development and administration of societal values required in
this 21st century ,
especially at the undergraduate levels
where they need a lot of brainstorming.
The undergraduate level curriculum from practical
experience is choked up with more of theory courses that are not creative
oriented, or very relevant, but take most
of their time and at the end, students are not doing well on both
sides. For instance between one hundred
and three hundred levels it is observed that courses like freehandsketching,
architectural composition, architectural graphics, further freehandsketching
and further paintings are courses that are meant to develop students
creativity, but are not given enough priority in the current curriculum. Even
when it is a known fact that these students are science oriented coming from
secondary schools mostly through Jamb and not through polytechnics.
The credit units for these courses are
also not adequate in this 21st century where volume of experience is
required, intellectual formation of skills and attitudes, societal values,
moral stance are also needed to nurture the desired creative behaviour among
budding architects, hence, the need for curriculum review in Architectural
Education.
7. Arts as an instructional strategy for character
moulding among budding architects
Art
activities can be used to promote cultural knowledge, sound attitudes and moral
training among learners. This implies cultured manners, truth, reality, social
order and discipline. Thus, inculcating
cultural knowledge is to reshape their lives through art activities that will
truly develop their basic skills and attitudes necessary for creativity and
productivity
Similarly Art is scientific and it promotes scientific
thinking, while cultural knowledge is a science of society and social
behaviour. In the light of the above we
need architects in our society with more scientific orientation, who will love
their society be committed to the society
so that our society can become much more reliable through the dedication
of its citizens. Art is an integrate
element that can be used to inculcate disciplined knowledge through visual
forms of symbolic images and their appreciation and interpretations. Learning
of symbolic phenomena is what most art education literacy sources call
“Fostering aesthetic experiences”. This
process will enhance the promotion of aesthetic life by capturing, recording
and conserving the richer aspect of the artistic heritage of the people. Also cultured manners here implies acceptable
behaviours, manners or positive attitudes or discipline that the larger members
of the society have endorsed as normal within in each communities. While cultured values or knowledge is a set
of ideals behaviours or values cultivated by gradually breeding more-or-less
like growing a plant, or breeding a set of animals, especially to produce.
These proceedings implies that arts are universal symbols of
communication and indeed of teaching to cultivate cultured values or knowledge
of acceptable behaviour in any civilized society.
8. The Challenges of The 21st
Century: Roles of Policy Makers In Architectural Education
1.
The policy maker should design a system that will
change the class structure, at the same time should provide teachers with the
tools needed to effectively teach with arts embedded at the core of the
curriculum.
2.
The policy makers should design a curriculum of
Architecture that allows the infusion of arts to promote understanding,
investment, and standards that will allow teaching of all academic subjects
more artistically.
3.
They should train instructors that are able to think
critically, to make judgement in terms of their feelings, ethical and moral
stance, to be aware of others and be able to work with them, and adopt a
variety of skills and attitudes that would be inculcated among building
architects to be able to meet whatever challenges life presents.
4.
They should provide an environment called “Art
community” to teach and develop peoples creative imagination, spirit of
inquiry, which guide and informs the creative process.
9. The Roles of Instructors In Architectural
Education
1.
The
art instructors should inculcate into the budding architect the cultural
knowledge that, he choose this path and should know he will stand or fall based
on his own effort. And should be made to
understand that, he must sustain himself when the going gets rough, and that
hardwork, discipline are required if he is to succeed.
2.
The
Art instructors should imbibe in the students the spirit of learning by doing,
and true active learning involves the body and mind. They should be trained to
know that “failure” a very powerful corrective major in life, if it is used as part of learning, not as a punishment.
3.
The
Art instructors should develop in students the understanding that learning is
an ongoing process, this will enable them develop high ideas and strive for
excellence.
10. Conclusion
Arts been an instructional media
that is required in the curriculum of Architectural Education in schools of
architecture in Nigeria to be able to succeed in meeting the demands and
challenges of the 21st century in terms of creativity and
productivity. Supporting this view, Olorukooba (1986) observed that for the
country to be reckoned with in the next dispensations the contemporary Nigerian
society urgently requires educating Nigerian youngsters in the creative Arts.
For the creative Arts Education to effectively contribute to the technological
advancement of Nigeria, we must foster and nurture the desired creative
behaviour in our citizens. Therefore, Arts instructors are needed to assist in
nurturing and sustaining this cultured knowledge and discipline among Nigeria
budding architects through art activities in the artistic oriented courses to
be able to trigger off the spirit of facing the challenges of their milieu in
terms of
technological advancement.
11.Recommendation
i. The
curriculum of schools of Architecture in Nigeria need urgent review and
appraisal to be able to train the budding architects for the 21st
century challenges.
ii.
There is the need to infused Art Education into the
artistic oriented courses of architecture for creative development.
iii.
Art instructors with intellectual and professional
background should be employed to give the budding architects adequate training
and be provided with the required materials and good learning environment.
iv.
The Federal Government should make it a policy that
Art Education should be enshrined in the programmes of Science Colleges as a
core subject, and be centered on fostering
creativity.
v.
A supportive learning environment should be fostered
and nurtured in order to encourage budding architects to be active learners in
the training which will foster this creativity.
vi.
The orientation of student-teacher relationship need
urgent attention, therefore there is the need to educate both on the importance
of good teacher -student relationship to learning.
vii.
It is also recommended that the welfare of teaches of
Arts and budding architects should be a top priority in the policies of
Architectural education, to enable them both cope with the training processes
of fostering and nurturing creativity.
viii.
The Roles of Arts instructors is imperative in the
training of budding architects, it is therefore, recommended that the Art
instructors should be allowed to go for professional and intellectual training
on how to nurture these young professionals in schools of Architecture in
Nigeria.
12.
References:
Bala, J. (2002) “Teacher Education and Creative Arts
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Ilorin, Nigeria. Vol. 687 No.1 Pp 7-13.
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classroom Environments for creativity in higher education”. Journal of
creative Behaviour, available at www.ed.utah.edu/-iyncI/creativity.pdf.
Eric, O. (1996) “The necessary Role of the Arts in
Education and society”. Journal of New Horizons for Learning available at www.newhorizons.org
Fatuyi R.B (1985) “Design concepts and appropriate
visuals for the young in a Technological Age”. NSEA. Nigerian Journal of Art
Education 4th National Convention Issue vol. 2 No.1 Pp. 32-33
Fatuyi, R. B. (1990) “Art Education and pedagogy the
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Edited by Dele Jegele. Pp 17-20
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National Convention issue Vol. 2 No. 1
Wangboje, S.I. (1990) “Art Education and the
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