Hi Keith:
Woudn't it be better if childhood was the invention of children helped
by coaching and demonstration from their elders and peers rather than
being an" invention of adults" who tend to apply their own histories
rather than "see" the world through the mind of the child? In my view,
a body of knowledge that has been granted an objective status often no
longer fits the situations being experienced. Most children learn
language by experiencing its use before refining it to suit the
linguistic norms of their existential culture where parents and
teachers promote their own highly abstracted "objective knowledge".
Words precede rules. But rules do help - as long as they aren't
doctrinaire!
Please check my website http://www.idesignthinking.com > Educational
theory > Educational principles for a more detailed outline of my
point of view.
In my view creativity is precious and special because there is so
little of it. Although "deep satisfaction" can come from doing
anything well it seems to me even better when that thing is a novel
and positive contribution to life of value to others as well as
yourself.
Please cherish your deep satisfactions, you earned them yourself!
Best regards,
Chuck
On Jul 21, 2009, at 9:54 PM, Keith Russell wrote:
> Dear Charles
>
> I don't mind ego - after all, the project, for Freud, was finding
> the ego (I) where the id (it) used to be. The egos that cause me
> irritation are the ones that have not expanded to include others and
> the larger world. De-centering is the ground of creativity as a form
> of consciousness and de-centering requires an ego.
>
> Childhood is something else - it is the invention of adults - we
> might introduce a general therapeutics of creativity in to the
> eduction of children but I would rather that we struggled with a
> hygenics - that is, we need to know quite a lot about any individual
> child before we are able to promote one form of exploration over
> another. The simplest solution is conformity to a body of knowledge
> that is granted an objective status. Thus all kids get instruction
> in this that and the other. Language does this job rather well while
> also allowing for access to the infinite machinery of the
> imagination. And, anyway, creativity isn't all that precious or
> special - it has mostly brought me public ridicule and personal
> penury if also deep satisfaction.
>
> cheers
>
> keith russell
> OZ newcastle
>
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