In a previous post entitled “Carnatic”, my coworker Kevin pointed us to a link at the TED website. Thanks Kevin, Master of Reference- you are THE MAN! (And thanks to TED too, this website has some wonderful content- you gotta check it out.)
It was a talk by Sir Ken Robinson on the topic of creativity in education. It appears that creativity has been given short shrift by the architects of our current schooling systems. Well yeah. Schooling in the USA is primarily a 12-year long training exercise to create employees that can properly fit into the work-a-day world. Sir Ken was knighted in 2003 for his efforts in looking into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy.
This post’s title comes from his talk. He shared a cute story from a kindergarten teacher of a young girl in a drawing lesson. Normally the youngster was fairly inattentive in class but seemed to be very engaged by this art lesson. The teacher was intrigued and went over to ask the girl what she was drawing. The girl said “I’m drawing a picture of God”. The teacher said “But nobody knows what God looks like”.
“Well”, the girl said, “they will in a minute”.
Thoughts-0-Dave 
Thanks for the props TnihilD. Perhaps not as intellectually gratifying but still fun…I just saw on boingboing.net that THE IT CROWD has full episodes here http://chime.tv/#u/chirag/it_crowd
I’ll be off when you get back so have a good holiday
By: Kevin on November 11, 2007
at 6:24 pm
Wow, TnihilD, that is some kinda clever-ass shit Captain F! No really.
I mean that.
Really.
And thanks for THE IT CROWD, I am now 5 minutes into Season 1 Episode 1 and have already LOL’d twice.
Have a great time off.
Thanks again King of Reference!
By: David on November 11, 2007
at 7:09 pm
The little girl’s confidence is awesome. We ‘forget’ so much as we grow up…
By: CuriousC on November 16, 2007
at 5:26 pm
Yeah, I think that was Sir Ken’s main point in telling this story CuriousC. I was telling my best friend about this (he has studied and performed lots of comedy) and he’d heard this same “joke” many times. Having spent many years working in the education field myself, I’ve witnessed many times the murder of the muse.
By: David on November 16, 2007
at 10:47 pm
When children draw there is that same confidence. NASA has a collection.The other day I saw a painting of a man landing on Saturn. Saturn looked like a bad potato, shrivelled and shapeless, but there was that ring around it, and so it was Saturn.
I don’t know much about art, can’t see for instance that Miró is better than a kid and don’t like classical either. Now these children that draw such a great Saturn when they are 6 years old, once they reach the age of reason…?
Yes cantueso, that childish confidence in one’s own imaginings is a precious thing too, and is so very fragile. I remember once seeing a middle school art teacher destroy this confidence with one thoughtless comment.
By: cantueso on April 5, 2008
at 2:11 pm
I have not seen enough children’s drawings, and there are not many on the net, which is a pity. However, I remember that I was never able to paint, but I copied my drawings from the girl who sat next to me. She knew how to draw fish and angels seen from the side.
I think not all children feel free to invent the shape of things. I think I started to think rather early.
That’s a pretty charming recollection. You are still quite the thinker cantueso. Thank you for visiting my little blog. ♥ 🙂
By: cantueso on October 17, 2008
at 12:33 pm
Очень хорошее и полезное сообщение. Сам недавно искал в интернете данную тему и все обсуждения связанные с ней. Но только тут нашел хороший и качественный и что немаловажно полезный материал. Спасибо автору блога за предоставленную информацию.
Here’s how babelfish translated this comment:
Following the link that this thoughtful commenter left leads to something I’m just not sure I understand. It looks like a website for horny circus performers. No offense. And you’re welcome for the useful information I’ve tried to provide.
By: Дом 2 on October 21, 2008
at 8:34 pm