WHY TEACH DRAMA?

One and All will enjoy the gift of our boys on stage, be part of the humour, excitement and entertainment that is the staff and boys on the stage, as we perform Pirates of the Curry Bean.

The link for booking tickets is: http://ststithian.nutickets.co.za/bprep.

The article that follows, captures the value that drama “plays” in our development of our boys.

"The future of our nation depends on our ability to create-and to be creative. During the coming decades our most important national resources will be human resources. If our nation is to continue to meet the challenges of the future, today's schools need to develop creative leaders."

"Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand." Chinese Proverb

Dramatic Arts education is an important means of stimulating CREATIVITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING. It can CHALLENGE BOYS' PERCEPTIONS about their world and about themselves. Dramatic exploration can provide boys with an outlet for emotions, thoughts, and dreams that they might not otherwise have means to express. A boy can, if only for a few moments, BECOME ANOTHER, explore a new role, try out and experiment with various personal choices and solutions to very real problems-problems from their own life, or problems faced by characters in literature or historical figures. This can happen in a SAFE ATMOSPHERE, where actions and consequences can be examined, discussed, and in a very real sense EXPERIENCED without the dangers and pitfalls that such experimentation would obviously lead to in the "real" world. This is perhaps the most important reason for Dramatic Arts in schools.

Still, there is far more that Drama can do. At the centre of all Drama is COMMUNICATION. Like all the arts, Drama allows boys to communicate with and understand others in new ways. Perhaps more than any other art form, Drama also provides training in the very PRACTICAL aspects of communication so necessary in today's increasingly information-cantered world.

Boys who have participated in Dramatic activities are less likely to have difficulty SPEAKING IN PUBLIC, will be more PERSUASIVE in their communications, both written and oral, will be better able to put themselves into others' shoes and relate to them, and will have a more POSITIVE, CONFIDENT SELF IMAGE. Participation in Dramatic activity requires SELF CONTROL and DISCIPLINE that will serve the boy well in all aspects of life.

Boys in Drama will learn to WORK TOGETHER, to cooperate, to find the best way for each member of a group to contribute, and to listen to and accept the viewpoints and contributions of others. NO ART FORM IS MORE TRULY COLLABORATIVE.

Drama also helps boys develop TOLERANCE and EMPATHY. In order to play a role competently, an actor must be able to fully inhabit another's soul. An actor must be able to really understand how the world looks through another person's eyes. This does not mean he must agree with every character. In today's increasingly polarized and intolerant culture, the ability to understand others' motives and choices is critical. Drama can help build responsible global citizens.

In addition to its intrinsic educational value, Drama can REINFORCE the rest of the school curriculum. Since communication and empathy are central to Drama, a boy who has explored life in the Drama classroom will be better able to UNDERSTAND IDEAS in History and Current Events. He will be able to put himself into the shoes of figures in history and literature, to UNDERSTAND THE WAY HUMAN BEINGS INTERACT. The link between Dramatic Arts and subjects such as English, History, Social Studies, and related areas is obvious. The study of literature would be impossible without Drama. More importantly, Drama can be used to promote ACTIVE LEARNING in any subject-to give boys a KINESTHETIC and EMPATHETIC understanding as well as an intellectual understanding of a topic.

Matt Buchanan

http://www.childdrama.com/why.html