CREATIVITY IS LEARNED BEHAVIOUR

During my last two articles, I’ve hammered away on the need for creativity to deal with the ethical issues facing modernity. I suspect the frustrations voiced at some moralists are really a reflection on their inability to see the ambiguities of life. Hypocrisy is a stinky fish that the public quickly smells. Too many times personal agenda is substituted for principle. The black cloud of self-interest poisons the discussion. Judgment is made without self-reflection. Action is taken without thought of future consequences. Those who argue for uncompromising principles are themselves compromised.

Yet, in the ordinary moments of life I find a policeman whose creative ethics leave me both thankful and astounded. I grow frustrated with university students who call plagiarism research. However, there’s always that gem of a student who raises a question that probes to the weakness of my own understanding.

In order for our ethics to be sound we must become creative people willing to see the inconsistencies of life as an opportunity to reflect, hope, and propose a new solution. Without creativity we are stuck in an endless rut of boredom, division, and destruction. No wonder the critics abound. Boring our audience is as much a sin as hypocrisy, and both cause the masses to discard reflection for self-interest.

Jesus of Nazareth may have been the ultimate Creative Ethicist. Early in his teaching career, he chose to take on the endless Codes of Conducts of his contemporaries with a blend of humor, stories, and call to simple reflection and pragmatic action (Matthew 5-7). His early choice made the crowds love to listen, but enraged the moralists of the day. When a trap was laid for him to condemn a woman for adultery, he instead wrote an eternal mystery in the sand, and simply asked for the sinless one to throw the first stone (John 8:1-11). What ever was written was masterful. The Creative Ethicist removed harsh punishment and replaced it with the possibility of a new life.

But we are not Jesus of Nazareth. A few of us may be his followers. A few may be his admirers, but all who listen to his words realize we will never recreate his wisdom. Can creativity be taught? Is it a simple gift from on high? Or is it genetically endowed?

My African son, Timothy has a genetic ability to dance. Whenever he hears a rhythm his response is unstoppable. However, it just does not work for me. Timothy’s dancing ability is simply genetic. Yet those who observe Timothy and me together remark on his mastery of my mannerisms, personality, and humor. A portion of his personality is learned.

Creativity is a portion of our personality. Some of it is genetic. There are some skills in life that can not be taught, but only nurtured by a trusted guide. However, creativity is also learned behavior. Watching the simple villager survive with meager resources is a display in learned creativity. Urban garbage becomes the tools of life. Also, child’s toys are formed from discarded debris. In our urban world the creative fundi keeps everything from our vehicles to plumbing functioning long after the manufacturer’s warrantee tells us to discard and buy again.

The creativity of the village child and the urban fundi raises a big question. Why is there such a lack of creativity among the urban elite? It’s seen everywhere from the stunted development of ethical thought to copy cat industry. Evidence of creative deficiency being a genetic misfortune is lacking. It appears to be a learned behavior. I think our education system is the root problem.

My kizungu culture has a proverb, “The A students will work for the B students.” Academic egg heads hate the proverb, but 20 years after my high school graduation it looks true to me. Success in life requires balance and pace. From a position of health one creates to solve problems. The A student with great marks but little social, athletic, or artistic skill is a bore both to other students and the future professional world. No one desires to follow him. Also, because his creativity is stifled in academic revision he does not learn the skills of the urban fundi to create from almost nothing. His only answers are ones he borrows from another. Remove him from the comforts of Western style academia and he is almost worthless. When education excludes balance in life preparation it dooms its students to failure. We do a great disservice to our students if we do not stir their complete passions for humanity from literature to athletics, dance to reflection, history to vision, and art to technology. An educational system which does not stir humanity will create lifeless bores.

Another educational failure that stifles creativity is the academic idiot who loves to bury students so that he can make them look foolish. Great teachers are ones that are thrilled to see their students master the material and probe for more. Chalk and talk education is an admission by the teacher that he does not have the academic skill to move from mastery of material to probes for new insight. Great teaching is done more by great questions than great lectures.

Lastly, our education system fails when it produces only revision for an exam. One of my favorite professors in university used to say, “My goal is teach you how to learn.” What we learned in his class was almost irrelevant. Life would throw much more at us than he could. His only hope was that he could teach us the skills to make us life long learners and creators. Creativity is learned behavior.

Let’s run to a place we have never been before.