I heard something today which is enough to alarm anyone who values creativity. It was nothing more than a fragment of a real conversation that took place, but the implication of it, is quite unsettling.
Teacher to student: "I would like you to write a dialogue on buying something in a shop."
Student from mainland China: "But I don't want to buy anything."
Teacher: "Imagine, then."
Student: "Imagine?" He sounded as if nothing more impossible could have been asked of him. "I can't imagine."
End of conversation.
The student in question did not believe it was possible for him to imagine buying something, without actually having the desire to buy something. That was one imaginary leap too far.
It worries me that creativity of even the most basic kind is so difficult for so many young people today. They live in "what is"...and cannot change their thinking, in any way, to create "what is not."
I don't know about you, but it is one of my greater concerns, to see this inability at work, all around me. I will write more on this in future. I just found that conversation sobering enough to have to report.
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