Education, creativity and health
This morning I listened to news reports about declining enrollment in many colleges, the increased effort to recruit students and some Ted talks about creativity and fixing broken schools. There seems to be more and more concern about what is wrong with the education system and why fewer people are going to college.
Past declines in birth rate, the increasing debt many would have to incur if they attended college, and the increased realization that college education may have little to do with learning may affect the declining college attendance. One only has to follow and listen to the words of our duly elected representatives or other appointed officials at all levels of government to question the value of formal education. Most Senators and Congress men and women have graduate or professional degrees and yet, seemed to have avoided igniting any neurons in their brains other than those which memorize facts or the party line. It seems as if one would be hard pressed to find a creative thought entering their brains much less being applied to practical issues. Yet they have been educated in our best institutions.
Sir Ken Robinson in his Ted talk entitled “Do schools kill creativity” tells the story of a woman who is now a well-known choreographer. She did not function well in the traditional classroom and could easily have been diagnosed and treated for ADD. Yet a very wise physician suggested that she was a dancer and should focus on pursuing a career in dance. Fortunately, her parents listened and today she is a very prolific and successful choreographer. One shudders to think what might have happened if she had been diagnosed with and treated for ADD.
When I think of people who I consider successful I think in terms of:
Two restaurants have opened in Wheeling the past couple of years. One is Sarah’s which is owned and operated by my friends Sarah and Rod. Sarah began college and quickly told her mother she really wanted to be a chef and attend culinary arts school in Paris. Her mother listened and together they found a way to make this happen. She trained at one of the most prestigious restaurants in the United States and then first worked as a chef for a family before taking over the operation of a church related retreat center. She left there to open the restaurant. She and her husband have created a delightful French bistro which is a quiet resting and visiting place with yummy food.
Newer acquaintances who I hope are on the way to becoming friends opened another restaurant in another part of the Wheeling community. It is not Sarah’s and does not attract many of the same people. It attracts a wide diversity of people who form another essential segment of the community of
Wheeling. There is obviously some overlap in customers but, on the whole, these two restaurants complement each other. One is very “cosmopolitan” and one is very “down home”.
Jeramie the co-owner of Rachels’s is college educated and a former school teacher. I do not know Rachel’s formal education background Sarah is not although Rod, her husband is. Interesting it is not their college educations or lack of same which will ensure the success of their restaurants. Obviously, they all need some basic business skills - restaurant works demands a lot of them – but these are relatively easy to learn in a variety of settings if one is determined to do so. One also needs to have a clear mission, a strong back, lots of energy, culinary skills, copious faith, much passion for nurturing people and the willingness to attend to what customers or potential customer want.
If one is thinking of an education system to train people such as Sarah, Rod, Jeramie and Rachel one is going to look at three major factors:
I suspect that if we allowed people such as Sarah, Rod, Jeramie and Rachel to help design our educational system we would have students who are excited about learning and becoming important members of the community.
I can think of a number of business people – artists, and owners of supply places, grocery stores and others – who would also make outstanding designers of our educational systems. David, Lisa, Barry, James, Gary, Cheryl, Rod, Sarah, Rachel, Jeramie, Meta, and Rich just to name a few. Some have formal college educations and some do not and yet, they all have a passion for learning and creating a loving, safe, and thriving community.
Written December 16, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
This morning I listened to news reports about declining enrollment in many colleges, the increased effort to recruit students and some Ted talks about creativity and fixing broken schools. There seems to be more and more concern about what is wrong with the education system and why fewer people are going to college.
Past declines in birth rate, the increasing debt many would have to incur if they attended college, and the increased realization that college education may have little to do with learning may affect the declining college attendance. One only has to follow and listen to the words of our duly elected representatives or other appointed officials at all levels of government to question the value of formal education. Most Senators and Congress men and women have graduate or professional degrees and yet, seemed to have avoided igniting any neurons in their brains other than those which memorize facts or the party line. It seems as if one would be hard pressed to find a creative thought entering their brains much less being applied to practical issues. Yet they have been educated in our best institutions.
Sir Ken Robinson in his Ted talk entitled “Do schools kill creativity” tells the story of a woman who is now a well-known choreographer. She did not function well in the traditional classroom and could easily have been diagnosed and treated for ADD. Yet a very wise physician suggested that she was a dancer and should focus on pursuing a career in dance. Fortunately, her parents listened and today she is a very prolific and successful choreographer. One shudders to think what might have happened if she had been diagnosed with and treated for ADD.
When I think of people who I consider successful I think in terms of:
- Do they have a purpose or direction in their life for which they have a passion and a plan?
- Are they able to learn the skills necessary to manifest that purpose or direction?
- Is what they considered success adding or subtracting to the overall health of the community?
Two restaurants have opened in Wheeling the past couple of years. One is Sarah’s which is owned and operated by my friends Sarah and Rod. Sarah began college and quickly told her mother she really wanted to be a chef and attend culinary arts school in Paris. Her mother listened and together they found a way to make this happen. She trained at one of the most prestigious restaurants in the United States and then first worked as a chef for a family before taking over the operation of a church related retreat center. She left there to open the restaurant. She and her husband have created a delightful French bistro which is a quiet resting and visiting place with yummy food.
Newer acquaintances who I hope are on the way to becoming friends opened another restaurant in another part of the Wheeling community. It is not Sarah’s and does not attract many of the same people. It attracts a wide diversity of people who form another essential segment of the community of
Wheeling. There is obviously some overlap in customers but, on the whole, these two restaurants complement each other. One is very “cosmopolitan” and one is very “down home”.
Jeramie the co-owner of Rachels’s is college educated and a former school teacher. I do not know Rachel’s formal education background Sarah is not although Rod, her husband is. Interesting it is not their college educations or lack of same which will ensure the success of their restaurants. Obviously, they all need some basic business skills - restaurant works demands a lot of them – but these are relatively easy to learn in a variety of settings if one is determined to do so. One also needs to have a clear mission, a strong back, lots of energy, culinary skills, copious faith, much passion for nurturing people and the willingness to attend to what customers or potential customer want.
If one is thinking of an education system to train people such as Sarah, Rod, Jeramie and Rachel one is going to look at three major factors:
- The definition of success.
- The practical skills needed to operate a business on a day to day basis.
- The emotional and spiritual intelligence to give customers a safe, nurturing place to feed their bodies and their souls.
I suspect that if we allowed people such as Sarah, Rod, Jeramie and Rachel to help design our educational system we would have students who are excited about learning and becoming important members of the community.
I can think of a number of business people – artists, and owners of supply places, grocery stores and others – who would also make outstanding designers of our educational systems. David, Lisa, Barry, James, Gary, Cheryl, Rod, Sarah, Rachel, Jeramie, Meta, and Rich just to name a few. Some have formal college educations and some do not and yet, they all have a passion for learning and creating a loving, safe, and thriving community.
Written December 16, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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