Image from http://www.speedofcreativity.org
Back when I started university, or the olden times as my kids refer to my youth, I remember receiving a few perplexed looks after telling people I was majoring in English. I’d hear things like, “So are you going to teach?” Or people would say, “Can you get a job with an English degree?” The rise of the MBA had begun, and many of my peers were looking into graduate programs years before graduation. I guess I was what you’d consider a rare breed now-a-days. I pursued an English degree without giving much thought to how that would impact my ability to find a job. I pursued an English degree simply because I loved to read and write.
I was lucky because I was able to parlay that degree into a career in marketing and communications. I transitioned from critiquing the works of William Shakespeare and William Faulkner, to writing communications strategies and overseeing advertising campaigns. These may seem like very disparate worlds, but my English degree gave me the ability to think critically, communicate clearly, and draw unique parallels that are the stuff of great advertising. If Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is stressing the importance of clear written communication among his management team, then maybe old timey skills like writing are still important in today’s technology and social media obsessed world.
So how do we maintain and foster the “soft” creative skills, (skills that may not be so “soft” when you consider that more and more businesses are recognizing the financial benefits of clear communication and content creation), with the ever-changing technological landscape? This world moves fast. What does that mean for our children and the future of education? As parents, how do we set them up for success when today’s education system doesn’t look much different from the one that existed generations ago? This question keeps my husband up at night; that and my snoring apparently.
Image from http://www.officialfalco.com
Both of my kids have grown up surrounded by technology. Yes we impose limits in terms of time spent on devices, and yes they’re both required to spend time reading actual paper books. However, I want my kids to be able to do more than just stare at a screen or play a video game. I want them to be creators and innovators as opposed to merely the end-users of a product. How do we teach them to look at the world and see the opportunities as opposed to the obstacles? How do we encourage creative thinking and problem solving? We know that these are the skills that fuel some of the world’s greatest discoveries. I know Mark Zuckerberg didn’t create Facebook by being a rule-follower.
I think it starts small. I think it starts with teaching our kids to say, “Why not?” “Why can’t it be done that way?” “Wouldn’t it be cool if I did it this way? This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, the rule-follower extraordinaire. I want my kids to do well in school, but I don’t want to crush their creative spirits. This is where my artistic and technologically savvy husband comes in. I wasn’t kidding when I said this issue keeps him up at night. He’s always saying that he thinks the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) is going to replace the MBA (Master of Business Administration) as the educational gold-standard for future business leaders. This is coming from the guy with a Computer Science degree. Creativity, and looking at the world and its problems through a unique lens, these are the skills that will be required of future generations. He may be right, but right now I’m just trying to get them through elementary school.
About a year ago, as part of what I like to call “project nurture creativity”, my husband challenged our kindergarten-aged daughter to create a short movie based on one of her stories. She could write and draw whatever she wanted, and he would help by adding movement and rudimentary animation. He wanted to show her that they could create something new using power point and “internet magic” (his words). In a matter of hours she had her “movie”.
The end result isn’t fancy, but I think it’s pretty cute. That’s her little voice you hear narrating the story. The initial phase of “project nurture creativity” was so successful that the kids are now working on creating their own apps with their dad. My house is littered with app project outlines and storyboards. Who knows, maybe we are helping to create the next Mark Zuckerberg. Probably not, but at the very least we are teaching our kids that most obstacles can be overcome with some creativity, clear communication, and maybe a little “internet magic”.
Every now and Jen 