Artist's Statement
When I was trying to decide which nursery rhyme to choose for this project I began thinking about what nursery rhymes actually are. Why do they exist? Nursery rhymes are one of the first introductions children have to repetition, memorization, and group recitation. These have long been basic elements of the educational systems in this country.
The Bay State Primer was one of the earliest texts used to teach grammar in America. This text was used to teach the alphabet by matching each letter with a word within a phrase. There is a rhyming pattern that exists, which, like nursery rhymes, made it easier to memorize. There is also a great deal of biblical imagery referenced within the rhymes.
As we continue to put higher and higher premiums on the education of children in this country, is there a risk that something of their childhood will be lost in the process?
The text of the Bay State Primer served not only the purpose of teaching children the alphabet, but of instilling in them a sense of the permeating nature of religion in their lives. Today, we would be hard pressed to find elementary school texts with religious elements, but there is another undercurrent that I am afraid exists, not only in our schools, but in our culture as a whole. This is the undercurrent of accelerated learning, efficiency, and pressure to perform. It appears to me that children are being inundated with educational toys, videos, and texts at earlier and earlier ages.
The video footage I used is taken from content I filmed of my 2 year old nephew this past summer. One of the many joys I’ve experienced in my time with him has been being able to witness his discovery of language. Garrett’s experience of language so far has been fairly organic. He learns the words that are important to him, and each one seems like some sort of treasure that he has decided to pick up and hold on to. I find myself increasingly worried, however, about the changes that may occur in his relationship to learning when he enters school.
The text in this piece represents my fearful take on the potentially damaging process of learning in an overly structured environment. As a child absorbs one language, what other forms of interaction/communication might they be sacrificing at the same time? At the same time, my use of the text and sound represents the potential for us to reinterpret our relationship to language as sound, and to text as image.
Lastly, as I critique these different elements of schooling, I am also aware that I would be unable to make these criticisms if I had not received my own education. I am just as reliant upon these forms of communication as everyone else. The final moment in the video demonstrates my own inability to remove myself from language.