Regaining Our Lost Curiosity . . .

Welcome back from the PLAY-LEARNING break.

What insights did you gain while enjoying the two playlists?

Did you learn anything from the Helen E. Buckley classic "The Little Boy"?

I appreciate poetry for brevity and depth — did you see how the verses brought into sharp focus the point about encouraging creativity in children?

In summary, Helen E. Buckley classic "The Little Boy" is about a little boy genuinely excited to go to school. However what he finds there is conformity and that he is to sit and wait until the teacher tells him what to do. Depressingly, in the end he can no longer think or create for himself, but he is very good at sitting and waiting to be told what to do. See if you can find this allegory. It is a potent lesson about the power of teachers.

 (Just in case, you are just coming on board see the following link: http://home.bresnan.net/~cabreras/theboyo.htm)

Then, did you learn anything from Harry Foster Chapin’s "Flowers are red"?

(Just in case, you are just coming on board see the following link: http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIPsOYtSznYAfrb7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTB2cHU0djlxBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVjE1MARncG9zAzM-?p=Harry+Chapin%E2%80%99s+poignant+song+Flowers+are+red&vid=c26c1dfc6ff2a2250c5e71cddbdf60e7&l=5%3A26&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DV.4668136757527673%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZI4zom_fjMI&tit=harry+chapin+flowers+are+red.&c=2&sigr=11a023cvi&sigt=10tbraoaj&age=0&&tt=b)

Both of the works we have reviewed in the two playlists speak of similar tales about how teachers, concerned more with obedience and conformity, steal children’s creative spirits.

I am excited you got the point.

There is book titled The creative spirit written by Daniel Goleman and two of his colleagues, Paul Kaufman and Michael L Ray.  Daniel Goleman, the famous of the three scholars, as a science journalist, wrote for The New York Times for many years, specializing in psychology and brain sciences though he is also a widely published author and psychologist. In this work, Goleman, Kaufman and Ray quote the work of Hennessy and Amabile who in their own study identified what they termed "creativity killers."

Here Hennessy and Amabile (1992) identify common "creativity killers." It is important to note that all of these "killers" are commonplace in both our homes and schools.

• Surveillance – Hovering over kids, making them feel that they’re constantly being watched while they are working, . . . under constant observation, the risk-taking, creative urge goes underground and hides . . .

• Evaluation – When we constantly make kids worry about how they are doing, they ignore satisfaction with their accomplishments. . . .

• Rewards – The excessive use of prizes . . . deprives a child of the intrinsic pleasure of creative activity.

• Competition – Putting kids in a win-lose situation, where only one person can come out on top, . . . negates the process children progress at their own rates.

• Over-control – Constantly telling kid how to do things, . . . often leaves children feeling like their originality is a mistake and any exploration a waste of time.

• Restricting choice – Telling children which activities they should engage in instead of letting them follow where their curiosity and passion lead . . . Again restricts active exploration and experimentation that might lead to creative discovery and production.

• Pressure – Establishing grandiose expectations for a child’s performance . . . often ends up instilling aversion for a subject or activity. . . .Unreasonably high expectations often pressure children to perform and conform within strictly prescribed guidelines, and, again, deter experimentation, exploration, and innovation. Grandiose expectations are often beyond children’s developmental capabilities.

(Summarized from: Goleman, Kaufman and Ray (1992) The creative spirit, 61-62)

Of the seven "creativity killers" listed, can you help any child around you overcome them?

Are there changes you can initiate? Now can you let the children discover and learn?

Let us make the necessary change – to regain the lost curiosity of our children.

How about you, as a full grown adult, is there hope for you? The simple answer is YES.

At this point, if I were a self-help guru, I would have said to you that you need to rediscover the curious child inside you. I going to do better than that; I am going to challenge you just to go ahead and become curious where you are right now!

YES, you read correctly. Go ahead and become curious.

Pick up that object on your desk, that book, that report and of course – this machine on which you are reading this blog – look at whatever object you have picked again, with fresh perspective, look at it more closely this time, then ask yourself, what do I know about this product? How did it come about? What is it made of? Who made it? Why?

And from today do not stop asking questions, thinking and imagining. Asking questions, thinking and imagining – the steps to re-igniting your curiosity.

Curiosity builds initiative and leads to discovery. And because we are not sufficiently curious we live out our lives and never take initiative for us to truly discover.

Do you want change, or are you content with how your life is unfolding?

Change is within your reach.