Impact

Today I saw a student from last semester's CRS 205 class.  He came up to me to say how much he enjoyed the class and how it changed the way he thinks.  He said the learning was like hitting a wall, but now he can't turn off his creative thinking.  It has been cropping up in his other classes. 

Also today, we said goodbye to our dear friend, known as Peter, who will return to Beijing early tomorrow.  He was a visiting scholar in finance at Buffalo State for more than a year.  He visited my CRS 205 classes many times and loved them.  He said they don't allow that kind of creativity in Chinese schools.  He's hoping that I can some day go to Beijing to teach some classes.  Wouldn't that be wonderful?

These are not new or unusual reactions to creativity classes.  I've met adults in their fifties who say that creativity classes changed their lives.  It's interesting to speculate what might happen if creativity classes - even one - were mandatory.  Would more people find excitement in coming up with new and relevant ideas easily?  Or would the fact of a mandate cause them to rebel and fight the learning?  I think the former possibillity because it is hard not to get drawn in when you can't get wrong answers and having fun is part of the program.  Our schools seem to basically tell kids, "There is only one right answer and you probably don't know it."  They come into my class feeling insecure and anxious - afraid to answer questions, afraid to share ideas, low self-esteem.  When I ask how many think they are creative, few raise their hands.  When asked to write as many ideas as they can on paper in three minutes, many have less than five written at the end of the time.  At the end of the semester, most have more than thirty ideas in three minutes and virtually all now see that they are creative.

Somehow, creativity is often thought of as "fluffy,"  unnecessary, or only for the arts.  In fact, creativity is necessary for innovation, change, good personal relationships, business dealings, almost anything you can name.  The skills of creativity are used any time we need or want a new and useful solution to a problem, challenge or opportunity.  It is positive, upbeat, productive, useful and FUN.  Creativity rulz!