There’s been an amazing surge in recent months in the number of influential voices proclaiming the importance of teaching creativity in our curriculums in order to develop the kind of leaders that the coming century so desperately needs. One of the most fascinating was an explanation as to why design should be included as a “third pillar” of our education system, and you can read it in full by clicking on the link below. And today I came across this terrific piece from the phenomenal team at GOOD which profiled a brilliant article written by Michael Michalko for Psychology Today. Michalko elaborates on several terrific insights, but among the highlights are: “If students are told they’re creative, they become creative, and start working to acquire the skills needed to express that creative identity. Conversely, students who accept that they’re not creative develop mental blocks that keep them ‘from trying or attempting anything new.'” Michalko also writes that “all creative geniuses work passionately hard and produce incredible numbers of ideas, most of which are bad.” For example, Thomas Edison came up with 3,000 ideas for lighting systems that didn’t work, and of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, some “were no better than his contemporaries could have written, and some were simply bad.” But as GOOD points out, perhaps the most important entry on Michalko’s list is his last point, that “creativity is paradoxical.” Schools are places where students are supposed to acquire knowledge—but to create, a person must “forget the knowledge.” If you’re not able to leave what you think you know behind, you can’t approach problems with a fresh perspective. Students must also be taught to “desire success but embrace failure,” and to “listen to experts but know how to disregard them.” You can read the entire piece by visiting Psychology Today. And if you have not yet discovered the amazingness that is GOOD then you absolutely must pay a visit to GOOD.is.
SEE ALSO: Beyond Sciences & Humanities: Why Design Must Become The 3rd Pillar Of Education
SEE ALSO: Dov Seidman Is Blowing My Mind: “HOW” One Man Is Redirecting The Moral Compass Of The Modern World
