EVERYONE CREATES

Everyone is born with the urge to create. It is part of our programme of life. Whether we are parents trying to calm down a crying baby, or teachers trying to encourage learning by raising a student, curiosity, we create. Our conversations, telephone calls, letters, speeches etc. Are all testimony to how we are naturally creative. There are some who would argue that a child requires training before he can begin to create. Others however, hold that school education tends to stifle creativity. Dr. Stanley Czuyrles, Director of Art Education at New York State College for Teachers says” a child is highly creative until he starts at school. Then under traditional procedures, almost all our teaching tends to cramp his imagination.” Oftentimes, our creativity is unleashed when we need to solve ordinary problems in life: “A monkey threw a coconut from a treetop at a hungry Sufi, and it hit him on his leg. He picked it up, drank the milk, ate the flesh, and made a bowl from the shell.” What kind of teacher is likely to instill Creativity in students? One who can enjoy surprise: Such a teacher will not be put out by the unpredictability of creative students who can come up with the most unexpected things. One who has the generosity to laugh at one’s own mistakes: When students surprise us, we may not always deal with it the ideal way. There may be mistakes on our part. But if we take it sportingly, the mistake cannot defeat us. Accepting one’s limitation in no way makes it worse than it already is. One who enjoys Imaging: Fantasy is a favorite activity of students. Perhaps in our classes we do not leave enough room for fantasizing. All fantasy is not waste of time. A good part of our life,-some would say all of it-is only trying to realize in real life what we fantasize in our minds. Our students should be allowed to fantasize. When they do so the teacher can help to chip and shape that fantasy in ways that will truly benefit him and his surroundings.