Pumpkins
Being the son of two designers and from a long line family artists, my parents tried to teach and nurture any artistic and creative abilities they could at a very early age. At one point we were in a pumpkin patch, discussing color when I was five. According to my mom, we spent some time talking about how the shadows on that particular day were more of a purple color.
Shortly thereafter in my Kindergarten class, we were given an assignment to color in Halloween picture. I guess I remembered the lesson on shadows and colored my pumpkin the standard orange, but then added purple shadows (I'm thinking it probably looked more like purple zebra stripes than shadows). Apparently the teacher didn't like my purple shadows and gave me the KIndergarten equivalent of an "F".
I wish I could remember the scene that followed, as I'm sure the was fun to watch my designer parents berate my teacher for not only squashing my creative exploration, but for not realizing that shadows could, in fact, be purple.
I related that story a few years ago during a lunch seminar with Judy Rich, the Worldwide Creative Director for Ketchum Advertising. Judy responded by telling of a study that had been done recently comparing the creative ability of children to adults. Unfortunately, one of lowest scoring demographics on the creativity scale for adults were elementary school teachers.
Judy gave me a box of Crayolas in remembrance.
Shortly thereafter in my Kindergarten class, we were given an assignment to color in Halloween picture. I guess I remembered the lesson on shadows and colored my pumpkin the standard orange, but then added purple shadows (I'm thinking it probably looked more like purple zebra stripes than shadows). Apparently the teacher didn't like my purple shadows and gave me the KIndergarten equivalent of an "F".
I wish I could remember the scene that followed, as I'm sure the was fun to watch my designer parents berate my teacher for not only squashing my creative exploration, but for not realizing that shadows could, in fact, be purple.
I related that story a few years ago during a lunch seminar with Judy Rich, the Worldwide Creative Director for Ketchum Advertising. Judy responded by telling of a study that had been done recently comparing the creative ability of children to adults. Unfortunately, one of lowest scoring demographics on the creativity scale for adults were elementary school teachers.
Judy gave me a box of Crayolas in remembrance.
2 Comments:
I appreciate your story about the pumpkins. Do you know what study Judy Rich was referring to? I believe it reflects a more general trend of hiring for immediate, secondary objectives (in this case, organizational skills, classroom management, etc.) and inadvertently sacrificing the higher objectives (learning creativity, exploration, etc.).
I can't remember the exact study. Basically it was a test of creative thinking skills done on basis of age. It found (obviously) that children possesed more creative thinking and imagining skill than adults. When they later broke the adult responses into demographics, they found the connection with teachers.
Post a Comment
<< Home