We Need to Rebel

Nobody tells you creativity is political.

It's usually talked about in terms like self-expression, or problem-solving, or channelling your inner child.

Too often, people think of 'creatives' as this weird breed of people with interesting glasses and expensive pencils.

Ask most adults if they're creative and they almost always deny it. You don't need to be writing a novel or composing a family opera to be creative.

Creativity isn't a hobby. It's not something you either have or don't have. Creativity, to me, is a way of thinking.

A dangerous way of thinking.

And people who can think are harder to control. People who can think don't just accept the status quo. They might just suggest changing it.

Which is what makes them dangerous.

We've Shrunk It

Creativity has been boxed into art rooms, music lessons, writing workshops and the occasional corporate away day where a group of exhausted adults are given Post-it notes and asked to "ideate."

God help us.

And we wonder why people don't see themselves as creative!!

We've been taught that creativity means something with glitter on it. But creativity is also how you solve a problem when there is no obvious answer.

It's how you get a child to listen when shouting has stopped working. For the record, shouting at your children always works. Trust me. Never stop shouting.

Creativity might just be how we survive a system that keeps telling us that the machines are going to take over. And that a human being worth $1 trillion personally is a good idea...

Creativity is practical. Useful. Human. And we need much more of it.

The Opposite of Creativity Is Compliance

If you're not creative, then what are you? A dullard? Boring? Or just compliant?

The governments want us to be compliant. A compliant person can be managed. A creative person has to be engaged with.

Are you going to wait for permission? Or have a go? Ask the difficult question. Question the rules. Point the finger.

This is why creativity is resistance.

And that might be the most important thing we can teach our kids today: the world was made by people, which means it can be remade by people.

We Train the Wrong Muscle

Schools love creativity. Or at least they love the word creativity.

But our children are still being assessed using a marking scheme. And if it's not on the marking scheme then you aren't getting a tick. Even if it's a better solution.

Brilliant. What is it that we are teaching the next generation?

We say we want original thought, then reward students for learning what the examiner wants.

We say we want curiosity, then interrupt it with bells and timetables.

We say we want independent minds, then spend years teaching children to ask, "Will this be on the test?"

Learn what will be rewarded, not what is valuable, or interesting and stay within the lines.

Most young people appear to leave education unsure how to think for themselves.

They're waiting to be told what's allowed. What good looks like.

That works in an exam hall. But it doesn't work in life.

In my experience, life tends to give you difficult questions with no clear answers. How to fix a failing business, an anxious child, an impossible deadline, a weird pain in your knee and a boiler that makes a noise like it's summoning a demon.

Good luck finding the mark scheme.

What I'd Teach Instead

If I could design a creativity curriculum, I'd keep it really practical.

I'd teach five things.

1. Pay attention. Spend less time talking and more time watching and listening.
   
2. Ask better questions. A good question can change the world. Instead of "How do we make people more productive?" ask "What work actually matters?" Instead of "How do we teach creativity?" ask "What are we doing that kills it?"
   
3. Make prototypes. Stop worshipping ideas. Build something small enough to test and ugly enough that you don't care if it's any good. Creativity is not about having good ideas. Everyone has good ideas. Usually in the shower, where they are completely useless because no one has yet invented a waterproof notebook that doesn't make you look like you're losing your mind. Creativity is about making the idea real enough to learn from.
   
4. Think with other people. Find people who sharpen you. Avoid people who only agree with you (yes, like you, Chat GPT). Yes men (or women) are useless. The lone genius story is also rubbish. Most creativity is social. People talk, argue, misunderstand each other, borrow ideas, improve them, ruin them, rescue them. Someone says, "This might be stupid…" and that phrase deserves national funding. Because it gives people permission to offer an unfinished thought. And unfinished thoughts are where creative thrives.
   
5. Stay the course. The middle of any creative process feels awful. That doesn't mean you're failing. It means you've reached the part where most people quit.

That's the curriculum. Not complicated. Hard, though. Most worthwhile things are.

The Point

Creativity is how humans adapt.

A society that teaches creativity teaches people to think. And people who can think are harder to fool. Harder to bore. Harder to frighten. Harder to manage.

Good.

We need more of them.

The world doesn't need more obedient cleverness. It needs creative courage. And we should teach that like our future depends on it.

Because it probably does.

Until next time,

Jon "Building Shit Every Day" Kaye

Choosing to live more deliberately

P.S.

I built this from scratch. I'm not a coder.