Previously in this space, we had some fun recalling an anecdote involving one of Marilyn vos Savant’s long-ago columns and connecting it to one of her very recent columns. We also explored the educational issues involved and asked some pertinent questions about finding creative solutions to general problems, including when one could ‘break the rules’, in order to do so.
Since then, two things have happened: 1) I received a variety of fun responses to that column (including one from California!). 2) I’ve developed a little more empathy for Marilyn’s situation. I’m anxious to follow up in a future column.
First, however, I’d like to expand our discussions into the broader field of teaching/learning creativity in general, encompassing many disciplines. This detour is illustrated by a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon. (I’ve often thought that studying C & H should be a pre-requisite for future educators.) Imagine the scene: Calvin is sitting at a table, scrunched over a piece of paper, with one of his ‘I am in great pain’ looks. Hobbes is seated innocently next to him, chin in hands, elbows on the table, watching.
Calvin starts one of his all-too-common complaints: “If you ask ME, these assignments don’t teach you how to write. They teach you how to HATE to write.” Continuing, “Deadlines, rules how to do it, grades . . . how can you be creative when someone’s breathing down your neck?” (I suspect we’ve all experienced the creativity-on-demand paradox.)
Hobbes appears to think about this and tries to moderate: “I guess you should try not to think about the end result too much and just have fun with the process of creating.” To which Calvin responds, “Every time I do that, I end up in the school psychologist’s office.”
The humor highlights the dilemma: How do we allow, develop, and nurture creativity in any endeavor, knowing how difficult it is to ‘teach’ such a commodity? How do we walk the fine line between providing the structure (‘rules’) within which to operate, while simultaneously learning how and when to break the rules for the sake of creativity?
In my own field, as our previous discussions suggest, this manifests as developing the ability to solve problems, often in creative ways. These problems start narrowly in a math class, but continue into one’s career, and naturally, life itself.
But the educational dilemma is everywhere, right? Calvin is experiencing it in writing. How do we move from the classic five-paragraph essay to communicating well in writing, or creating the story or poem that moves or excites? How do we move the future musician from the tonette (am I dating myself?) to creating beautiful music on another instrument? How about the artist who moves from stick figures to painting landscapes?
And with the musician, artist, and others, another more-dangerous dilemma arises. As music, art, (even writing?) programs continue to be shortsightedly cut from school curricula, does the task of developing talent/creativity in those fields now fall only to parents and/or non-school programs that happen to exist? Is that fair?
One final note. The very best (and, by far most fun!) book I’ve ever seen on ‘becoming more creative’ in general is A Whack on the Side of the Head, by Roger von Oech. I’ve even used excerpts in classes before. I highly recommend it! Especially the chapters on ‘Breaking the Rules’ – the topic that got us here in the first place!
Will there be a Chapter 3 in this whole Marilyn-related odyssey? Who knows? In the meantime, here’s to the elusive quality of creativity, and the even-more elusive skill of developing/nurturing it.