How School Shootings and Boring Meetings are Part of the Same Problem
by Creative Partner, Chris Clarke
In 2006 Sir Ken Robinson recorded what was to become one of the most viewed Ted talks of all time — Do schools kill creativity? Resonating with 56m people only tends to happen when you’re on to something, and sir Ken certainly was, highlighting as he did the shocking disservice education does to children.
As Ken says, a narrow focus on pure academic attainment at the expense of creativity, a physicality, stunts our kids and retards our society.
School is an exercise in conformity and rewards those who find it easier to fit in, to toe the line and to put their passions on hold. And their reward? A corporate job where a tolerance for tedium, a drabness of spirit and a narrow focus on the spreadsheet awaits them. And if they’re prepared to torture their own children with absence, the compensation can be considerable if you grind out the long game and kiss the right arses.
Little wonder then, that these corporations are so short lived. As Clay Christensen write in The Innovators Dilemma following the correct management principals is what stops big companies from innovating. They are scared of creativity and have confused self sacrifice and sacrifice of family for virtue. Salary in America is called “compensation’.
With an education system so dire, and a corporate culture so destructive, little wonder the American family is under such pressure. Add to that, an over reliance on prescription drugs and being able to buy guns in the shops, and you have this:
The situation in Britain is similar, you just can’t kill as many school mates with a knife. Meanwhile in Sweden, and Holland, where the education system is more rounded with shorter days and the work culture is built to nourish families not vice versa, teenagers are happier and society is still a thing.
In Sweden mothers and fathers enjoy the same amount of paid leave per child (often around 18 months) and as a result dads are heavily involved in childcare. At 4pm in a Swedish company all parents go to get their kids.
The working environment is also more collaborative and less hierarchical.
Everything you see is connected. A broader view of education, valuing dance, music and art as highly as maths and science produces happier adults with a greater emotional range and an ability to think critically about their work. This in turn makes companies more fun to work at, and enriches family life creating a virtuous circle.
Gender equality at work has been proved to produce more profitable companies across geographies.
With a better view of intelligence and attainment, we will improve the mental health of children and the longevity of businesses through a ready supply of diverse creative thinkers. The toxic masculinity of corporate culture benefits nobody, but those who were dull enough and cruel enough to weather it. They’ve had their compensation, we must all work towards an education system and a work culture that cultivates the best of what our children can be, not one that grinds the magic out of them.
The good news is we as a society are getting the message. Imaginative educationalists like Sir Ken Robinson and legions of caring enlightened teachers are fighting the considerable design flaws they’ve inherited. Incredible initiatives like replacing detention with meditation, can diffuse pent up frustration at source.
We have arrived at a place where we no longer need corporate androids. We’ll have robots for that. The problems of the future can be solved by harnessing the talents of those who might otherwise find school depressing. After all
Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid.
Often attributed to Einstein it’s likely from Aesop, either way, as far as Group of Humans is concerned it’s wise. Celebrate and nurture our differences and we can achieve anything.
Oh and by the way, there is a fish that climbs trees:
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