I saw a very thought provoking video from Ken Robinson on the TED show and the idea he presented talked about going back to roots that we tend to 'unlearn' because we get 'caught' up in learning what schools / colleges and university professors teach us. From the many insights he talked about, two stuck with me. What follows is my understanding and interpretation of it:
1: Academics (and I deliberately use that word over education) anywhere around the world follow the same hierarchy of subjects and similar pedagogy. This reminded me of a term 'mass hypnosis': No disregard to academics is intended of course; it is only when it begins to creep over a child's creativity, mutes his capacity of original thought and of asking questions that the whole purpose is defeated. What is meant to augment the individual intelligence turns into an instrument or a tool to propagate ideas of a few, which end up being perceived as the 'correct' way of leading our lives.
We are made to believe that only x number of ways exist to solve a problem. We are made to believe that you can only get work if you score good grades. We are told that to say no when we really want to say yes.
Saying yes will help us explore, will help us look beyond what is proved.
Saying yes will raise doubts
Saying yes will make us think because we might disagree with each other
Saying yes will open doors to uncertainty
Saying yes will raise the probability of being wrong
And yes! That is what we are most afraid of!
This brings me to his next insight:
2. We are afraid of being wrong.
He says that children are opposite to what they are likely to be as adults, in that if they don't know, they will have a go. I completely agree with his view that "If you are not prepared to go wrong, you will not come up with anything original." Schools and colleges alike make mistakes seem the worst thing one can do. Even our societies reinforce the importance of being 'good', 'successful', highlight importance of green over red...you could interpret it as money over love or tick marks over wrongs in an examination. Sometimes it blurs the lines between individualism and disrespect, between disagreement and rudeness.
This also reminds me of a proverb I read, "If we don't disagree with each other, how will we learn?"
Taking it one step ahead, after pondering over all this, are brands too in way cashing in on our fear of going wrong?
How many times have we bought a premium brand thinking that if we pay more, we will not go wrong with our expectation of its quality?
How many times have we preferred a brand because we didn't want to go wrong with our image at a college re-union party?
How important do we think it is, to think about what EACH one of us actually needs or even wants?
Do you have an answer of your own? Or maybe the marketers have branded opinions as well?
Care to go wrong?
the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
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3 comments:
Well Crunch it is! And a big one at that. Talking about creativity…sometimes the whole perception about it is itself not creative I think. For me it is as simple as the literal meaning of the word. A process of creating something that is your own, something unique, something that is a part of your personality, something which reflects your thoughts and your being. In today’s age and time we are unknowingly (or is that so?) creating our own clones and as you rightly mentioned academic culture of recent times are probably producing clones rather than characters and personalities. The outer influences are so strong from the childhood that it has increasingly become difficult for individuals to have their own choice. That’s why the term ‘freedom of choice’ is a very overrated one for me. You might think that it’s your own choice. But almost every time that choice comes out of an influence. We are defined by people around us, some important people and some not so important for us. But they play their part all right. And it happens with best of us, only few can develop something of their own as they learn and adapt, and obviously later become idols to follow.
And why not! Creativity can also be used how we generally go about things in our lives. How we meet people and how we communicate. How we set our goals and how we achieve them. It’s all about building your own unique perception, your own unique opinion, your own unique style of doing things. And that’s what we are, aren’t we! Unique species of this mother earth.
I am sorry for the late reply. I did read your comment when you posted it but did not respond. I totally agree with you --on your definition of creativity and also about the constricted way it has come to be defined.
But amongst all the mentions about uniqueness, why did u chose to remain anonymous? umm..beats me! :)
Anyway thanks for taking the pains to comment on it at length.
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