In the San Diego Reader, Thomas Larson wrote a cover article on August 14, 2013,
"College? no thanks"
I congratulate Mr. Larson because as far as "Reader" articles go, this was one I really appreciated. Not all "Reader" writers are created equal. Mr. Larson is one of those who attracted my attention and kept it for all 5,000 words. Good English, good syntax, good style, good job.
Here's why I read, and, I must admit, reread this article.
For most of my upbringing, a good 15 to 18 years of it anyway, I would hear my father, otherwise known to you all as EFR Dion, say: "Yeah, my brothers have a lot of education, but they don't know anything."
My uncles were on the G.I. Bill after serving in the armed forces during WWII. They had not graduated yet, so while they were in school, they had very limited resources. EFR's auto was their preferred mode of transportation when the friendly confines of Fenway Park, 100 miles to the east, would beckon. Their predilection for the American League Red Sox was always a mystery for us. We were smarter than that, we had adopted the National League Braves as our team.
But that was not the limit of their lack of "smarts." They somehow usually returned the vehicle with nothing left in the tank but the smell of the fuel. Every time that they did this, I was sure that the day of Sodom and Gomorrah had arrived. But no, the storm would pass and all would be well again.
EFR had left high school at age 15 because his father had died and left the family with 8 children behind. It was 1928 or so. Yes, indeed, great depression time. Read more about him here. I have to get to the point.
The brothers who went to college turned out to be excellent teachers and later in life, successful entrepreneurs. They were creative. Music and poetry was their forte. There was another brother who eschewed the G.I. Bill and went right back to work as a tool and die designer, and as any tool and die designer who ever lived, I'm the best damn designer out there. You will never meet the second best tool and die maker.
So, I grew up in a polyglot, cultural teapot that was steaming with both, creativity and education. There is no way that anyone, in my opinion, can make an absolute statement that school at any level, college and university included, crushes creativity. I say that fearlessly. Mr. Larson in his article, positive as it may appear on the surface about skipping college, carried a definite undertone of feeling that no matter what his interlocutors told him, the possibility of a college education remained a presence inside of them.
Personally, I've got a masters degree in a "soft science." [Theology] I've had a string of jobs. I've failed at some and I've excelled at some. I can honestly say that my long stay in school has had its positive influence on my life and even some negative influence. But never has it crushed my creativity.
One of the jobs that I held for many years was the recruitment of engineers and other professionals and managers. I have seen up close and in living color, the difference between the "self-made" professional, technical or administrative, and the fully degreed, =/>2.50 graduate. Give me the one with the solid educational achievement 90 percent of the time. Yes, I leave a ten percent gap there to accommodate the exception. (See EFR Dion, above and linked)
The difference is in mental discipline. Not emotional nor physical discipline. Mental discipline. Mental discipline allows for creative solutions at the end of a logical development that follows the intellectual parameters of the science within which the task is planned and followed by the path taken in its execution. The person who has a foundation in those laws and practices is more successful at planning the outcome of the project, is more successful at solving the unexpected deviations from the plan caused by the pressure of certain variable realities that are not always possible to foresee. The scientifically trained, disciplined mind can identify these deviations more quickly and institute corrective action more quickly and effectively that the one with practical experience only. Creativity is a child of mental discipline acquired through education. Creativity is not a corollary of experience.
Many years ago I read a poem that made a point of saying that the creative little person who was witty, musically inclined and lovable was crushed when he entered school because the discipline forced him into line with the herd and the nerd. That is a reality that exists. I know. I have a son who is perhaps a product of that reality. I know that there are people who would very much like their pursuit of art (or of financial gain) to be their only discipline. They point to the great rules breakers of all times, Picasso, Shakespeare, Moliere and a hundred more that I can't name here. I just want to say that before Shakespeare could bend grammar to his art, he had to prove that he knew that he was breaking the rules and he also could prove why he wanted it that way. Maybe Shakespeare graduated from an institution of higher learning. I don't know, but I'd bet that he did.
I beg of you not to bring up Bill Gates and his leaving of Harvard. It is well documented as coming from Bill Gates personally that he and his friend dropped out of Harvard because they were afraid that if they did not bring their ideas to closure that they would be overtaken by others. Gates and Paul Allen are an example that education, science and creativity go hand in hand.
I could go on, but I won't. I'll leave you with my point. This discussion has no end because there is too much truth on both ends of the rope. I have avoided the political aspect of the discussion. My math is not up to par to allow me to hold my own there. What can you expect from a Theology major?
My point is that creativity is the child of solid education. It is the child of strict mental discipline, a skill usually acquired through education.
Let me paraphrase a traditional dictum that comes from the old Greek philosophers: The highest truths can be learned through personal investigation, but at the cost of great effort over a great amount of time.
This holds true for pure science as well as for art and athletics.
Look around. It's true.
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