Evaluation of a Kiss?

I recently came across this article from my college days during preparation for a recent seminar study. I thought it would be a fun, yet challenging post.

By definition, a kiss is two sets of mandibles pressed together for certain duration of time, with the occasional exchange of some digestive fluids. Is this definition correct? Yes, technically this definition is true. However, it is so untrue! One misses the passion and intimacy that attend a kiss between two star-crossed lovers. In the Princess Bride, there were three kisses that were rated the most passionate in history, however, the kiss between Wesley and Princess Buttercup left them all behind. The attempt to describe a kiss cannot be merely a technical, empirical enterprise. The description requires a sense of art, a bonding of the human experience with matters of the heart. Scientific quantification leaves behind the depth and richness of an experience if art is neglected. According to Elliot Eisner, a holistic view of evaluation should include a binocular lens—both lenses are needed to “see,” however, the second lens is necessary to capture the depth of vision. If a monocular was used one could still “see,” yet at the cost of depth.

Matters of the heart are critical in the development of teaching and the process of evaluation. Eisner notes: “Through the arts we have an opportunity to participate vicariously in the lives of others, to acquire an emphatic understanding of situations, and therefore to know them in ways that only the arts can reveal.” The language of the arts, in association with educational connoisseurship, holistically completes the evaluative process and opens up an exciting array of possibilities in the practice of teaching.

It should be noted that discursive, scientific language is crucial to evaluation. “Educational programs should be purposeful; therefore, they should have goals” (Eisner). The function of evaluation is to determine whether these goals have been realized. When goals are specific and measurable, it is not a difficult matter to then conclude whether the stated objectives, outcomes, and goals have been achieved. Parents, teachers, and administrators would then have very concrete assessment of what is happening within a classroom, which is necessary and beneficial. One thing is lacking, however, if an evaluator singularly focuses on quantifying the outcomes. He or she overlooks the panorama and depth that connoisseurship implies and offers. Most objective evaluators ignore educational connoisseurship because of the complexity and ambiguity that are precociously attached to its application. Consequently, “the interpretation and appraisal of educational events are impoverished” (Eisner). Educational progress is thus subject to malnourishment when educational connoisseurship is not applied.

Eisner defines connoisseurship as “the art of appreciation. To be a connoisseur is to know how to look, to see, and to appreciate.” In the film, Dead Poets Society, actor Robin Williams emphatically teaches, “we read and write poetry, not because we have to; but because we are member of the human race.” Appreciation of connoisseurship not only relates to literature, but more deeply to the realm of human existence and feelings. There is something inherent in all of humanity in regard to matters of the heart. Passion, love, intrigue, desire, drive, and courage, are not measurable or categorical objectives. These qualities grab the human soul. Eisner discloses: “To reveal these particulars, to capture these ‘essences,’ one must not only perceive their existence but also be able to create a form that intimates, discloses, reveals, imparts, suggests, implies their existence.” The author goes on to say that the use of metaphor is a “centrally important device.”

Metaphorical language used in the teaching process and throughout the implementation of evaluative procedures, provides a vehicle necessary to widen and deepen the course of evaluation. It is this second lens of the binocular that is crucially needed in educational evaluation. Teaching using the practice of metaphors implies a flavor of life that is sometimes only described by a human experience rather than concrete facts and descriptions. Going back to the example of a kiss, one could make a convincing case for the technical explanation of the passionate embrace, but then he or she would miss the account altogether. A kiss entails much more than two lips coming together. Emotions, whole selves, and passions are brought together under an intimate exchange. Metaphorical usages engage the whole being—facts amidst real human experience.

The artistic side of education, or life for that matter, involves the appreciative aspect of not only quantifiable evidences scientific in nature, but equally the flavor of real human experiences and matters of the heart. Looking through the binoculars causes an evaluator to “see” holistically the evaluative process and the needs current systems are neglecting. Using the language of the arts and connoisseurship completes the evaluative process.