“I’ve started to write short stories,” a friend told me today.
I asked him to tell me more.
“I wrote the first one three weeks ago. It’s about a man who believes inanimate objects have souls. So he goes around giving proper burials to chairs and tables. He finds an old wardrobe left out next to the trash and that’s when the story begins.”
I listened to him summarize the adventures of the man as he drags the wardrobe to his back yard. I leaned in and I laughed and I was pleased with the ending. Which reminds me of something I read recently,
“Genius is as common as dirt.”
That comes from an essay titled, “Against school.” John Taylor Gatto, the guy who wrote the essay, was the New York State Teacher of the Year way back when. But he turned against the school system once he realized the real problem.
It’s not apathetic kids… or underpaid teachers… or an outdated curriculum.
The problem is that the purpose of school is, first and foremost, to break kids, so they become fit to serve.
Maybe you don’t agree with this. So let it just sit there as an idea to be aware of. But here’s a personal admission:
I feel I have zero creativity or ability to solve problems. Of course, that’s not really how I am. I’ve solved problems before and I’ve created stuff, too.
But I sure feel uncreative and incompetent. I think the reason why is that, through long and arduous training in the school system, I’ve learned there is always a right answer, and you either have it at your fingertips or you don’t. And I almost never do.
Of course, having the right answer at your fingertips is not really how creativity works. And if you ever doubt your own creative abilities, maybe it will be worth turning a critical eye towards your school years, and looking for a bit of that “common as dirt” genius that’s probably sleeping somewhere inside you.
But let’s get to business:
Remember how I mentioned I create stuff on occasion? One thing I create every day is an email about copywriting, marketing, and, now and again, Marxist ideas about the education system. If you’d like to test out this newsletter in your inbox, click here.