Visual-Art Education for Character Development

One of the challenges faced by schools nowadays is how to develop the character of students effectively. In this troubling era, the need for effective education is clear when we face new challenges unknown to previous generations such as the distribution of hoax, hate speech, pornographic content on the internet, sophisticated techniques in drug abuse, etc. Research shows that to be effective, character education must involve the entire school community, be based on core ethical values, and be infused into all school subjects. In this paper, I argue that visual-art is one of the potential subjects to develop the character of the students. By integrating character development activities with cultural, productive, and critical aspects of visual-art learning, students character can be developed effectively. Four examples of visual-art learning strategies that are intended to develop students' characters (cooperative skill, perseverance, cross-cultural skill, and self-identity) are presented. It is realized that the goal of character education cannot be achieved instantly but through a long, complicated, and challenging process. Since character development is a must, these challenges must be faced with all risks.