Culture and arts taught in the classroom

I read with interest yesterday's article on the disappointing state of the arts which highlighted a report published in December 2009 that shows that Maltese young people are lagging far behind their European counterparts when it comes to an interest in culture and the arts.

As a lecturer at the Junior College I can confirm that too often I am faced with an alarming lack of interest in and knowledge of cultural and artistic matters and current affairs. I attribute much of this to our educational system, based as it is on too much cramming for exams.

I have a degree in History of Art and Archaeology and have been teaching Systems of Knowledge, an inter-disciplinary subject of cultural enrichment, for the last 14 years. I take strong exception to the comment of theatre director Chris Gatt, as quoted in The Times, in which he states that Systems of Knowledge does more harm than good as far as culture is concerned.

I'm asking Mr Gatt on what basis he makes such a damaging and gratuitous statement. Is his remark based on hearsay, or has he perhaps carried out some sort of scientific survey?

I'd like to invite him to sit in on any number of my art lectures in April or May, illustrated by hundreds of slides. He will then be in a better position to point out to me how I'm harming my students. I'm more than willing to learn and am ready to take his comments and suggestions on board.