Education vs Creativity
“My education was interrupted only by my schooling”- Winston Churchill
Following up on my last post about a phenomenon called the Indigo Children, I would like to elaborate on the most important idea: that, whether or not you believe in the indigos, it is undeniable that today’s world is moving very quickly, and we must keep up with it. We cannot afford to have one of the most important systems –education- become outdated.
Children nowadays are different, whether we explain it by evolution of genetics or by simple adaptations to the new technologies and challenges of today. My four year old niece has her own laptop, and calls me on skype on her own. I didn’t have an e-mail address until I was about 13 or so.
The world is changing, but the education system is still the same. Mathematics and the sciences at the top, physical education and arts at the bottom. And it is aimed at making everybody the same. Standardized. And anything different is wrong. If you’re not good at math, its practically the same as saying you’re going to fail at life. And before it was like that: you had to learn facts, graduate, get a college degree, get a good job.
But now everything is different. A college degree isn’t a guarantee of a good job. You need something extra. You need to be innovative, creative. You need to stand out, to be different.But isn’t it ironic that your entire life you had to learn to fit in, learn to follow rules and be inside the box, and suddenly, its’ like, none of that really matters.
Creativity is what drives progress. It’s what, in a way “makes the world go round”
So why is it that the education system seems to be aimed at stripping children of the gift of creativity?
This article was inspired by a video that was sent to me from one of you, my dear readers, of a speaker at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, Sir Ken Robinson, called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” (Please youtube it when you have a free minute.)
He talks about the fact that education has its priorities wrong: not to teach really, and not to inspire and light a spark in the children, but to fill them with the standard program and create a fear of making mistakes. He makes an incredibly good point during his presentation: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.”
It’s the idea that children and young adults have this burning potential, that, if not recognized, or if it’s suffocated by standardization, can go to waste. He gives an example:
“I’m doing a new book at the moment called, Epiphany, which is based on a series of interviews with people about how they discovered their talent. I’m fascinated about how people got to be there. It’s really prompted by a conversation I had with a wonderful woman who most people have never heard of, she’s called, Julian Lynn.
Have you heard of her? Some have. She’s a choreographer and everybody knows her work. She did Cats and Phantom of the Opera. She’s wonderful. I used to be on the board of the Royal Ballet in England, as you can see. And eh, anyway Julian and I had lunch together one day and I said, ‘Julian how did you get to be a dancer?’ And she said it was interesting; when she was at school she was really hopeless.
And the school in the thirties wrote to her parents and said, ‘we think Julian has a learning disorder.’ She couldn’t concentrate, she was fidgeting. I think now they’d say she had ADHD, wouldn’t you? But this was the 1930’s and ADHD hadn’t been invented, you know, at this point, so it wasn’t an available condition, you know. People weren’t aware they could have that.
Anyway, she went to see this specialist in this oak panelled room and she was there with her mother and she was led and sat on this chair at the end. And she sat on her hands for twenty minutes while this man talked to her mother about all the problems she was having at school. And at the end of it (because she was disturbing people and her homework was always late and so on, a little kid of eight) In the end, the doctor went and sat next to Julian and said I’ve listened to all these things your mother has told me I need to speak to her privately so he said, ‘wait here we’ll be back. we won’t be very long’ And they went and left her. But as they went out of the room, he turned on the radio that was sitting on his desk, and when they got out of the room, he said to her mother, ‘just stand and watch her.’
The minute they left the room she said she was on her feet moving to the music and they watched for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said, ‘You know, Mrs Lynn, Julian isn’t sick she’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.’ I said, ‘what happened? She said, ‘She did. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was. We walked into this room and it was full of people like me; people who couldn’t sit still. People who had to move to think.’
They did ballet, they did tap, they did jazz, they did modern, they did contemporary. She was eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School. She became a soloist. She had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet. She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and founded her own company; the Julian Lynn Dance Company, met Andrew Lloyd Weber.
She has been responsible for some of the most successful musical theatre productions in history. She has given pleasure to millions and she’s a multi- millionaire.
Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.”
The Indigo
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” - Lao Tzu
Have you ever felt different? Like you serve a bigger purpose in life? Then perhaps I have an explanation for you.
Have you ever heard of Indigo children?
The Indigo Child is
a boy or girl who displays a new and unusual
set of psychological attributes, revealing a
pattern of behavior generally undocumented
before (Psychologists and doctors started noticing them in the 1980s).
The Indigo Child is recognizable by his or her aura
and by certain other traits, according to The
Indigo Children website:
They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it)
They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that.
Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents "who they are."
They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice).
They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.
They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and don't require creative thought.
They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).
They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.
They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").
They are not shy in letting you know what they need.
Sounds like you or someone you know?
Furthermore, this also coincides with the recent spike in kids diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Most children who are recognized as indigo, are also diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. The idea is that, simply, they are the next step of evolution. They do not work well with the old system. That is why it is very important to recognize them. Because with their abilities, they can either become geniuses, or criminals.
Descriptions of indigo children include the belief that they are empathetic, curious, strong-willed, independent, and often perceived by friends and family as being strange; possess a clear sense of self-definition and purpose; and also exhibit a strong inclination towards spiritual matters from early childhood. Indigo children have also been described as having a strong feeling of entitlement, or "deserving to be here." Other alleged traits include a high intelligence quotient, an inherent intuitive ability, and resistance to authority. According to Tober and Carroll, indigo children function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of authority, being smarter than their teachers, and a lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline
Four Types of Indigo Personalities
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- Interdimensional:
- The Indigo Interdimensional will display the attitude that they already know it all. At an early age they will answer with comments like, "I already know that. I can do it. Leave me alone". Their superior- like attitude will sometimes be seen as bullying but in fact they are the thinkers and idea people. They will help bring in new ways of thinking, spiritual practices and often lead the way in non-conformist thinking or "system busting". Because of their non-conformist like ideas they may also not readily fit in with mainstream society.The main criticism that people have of this is "well, yes, everybody wants to feel special." But this is not the point of this. Yes, everybody is special. But there are different categories of people, and this is a very evident one that is becoming more and more obvious. We cannot and should not deny the fact that evolution is continuing. So why deny the fact that some children are just different? It doesn't mean they are more special than others, it just means that evolution is continuing and our society must keep evolving.The danger in this is vanity. Indigos are already quite proud by their nature. But I feel like this is also a different aspect: its about understanding yourself and how things work for you and why. It's understanding that being different is a good things actually, and should be embraced. Be brave enough to be yourself.Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children, http://www.teachingindigos.com/profile.html, http://www.skepdic.com/indigo.html, http://www.indigochild.com/
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