UNIVERSAL CREATIVITY IN THE BUCKET

"genius is a bird that can alight on any branch" Maxim Gorki

Once again Sonya  from UNCLE VANYA
laments a life of work and weariness and sad routines.  She can only offer to her  disappointed Uncle and her weary self  the consolation of  a life after death that is happy.

SONYA: What can we do? We must live out our lives. [A pause] Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live all through the endless procession of days ahead of us, and through the long evenings. We shall bear patiently the burdens that fate imposes on us. We shall work without rest for others, both now and when we are old. And when our final hour comes, we shall meet it humbly, and there beyond the grave, we shall say that we have known suffering and tears, that our life was bitter. And God will pity us. Ah, then, dear, dear Uncle, we shall enter on a bright and beautiful life. We shall rejoice and look back upon our grief here. A tender smile -- and -- we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent, passionate faith. We shall rest. We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see evil and all our pain disappear in the great pity that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as peaceful and gentle and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have faith. [Wiping away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you are crying! [Weeping] You have never known what it is to be happy, but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. We shall rest. We shall rest.
Read more at http://www.monologuearchive.com/c/chekhov_010.html#MFJTACdy4zR6RKT1.99

This  Chekhov monologue is  for me  one of the most touching moments on stage. Surely there is more to life than this! What about the talents that our DNA or Nature or God (pick one or all) give to each of us. Our talents that are the unique abilities or interests that each of us brings to the Table of Life?

Just as a great Russian dramatic poet sums  up the endless sacrifice of a life devoted to others in drudgery another Russian formulated a theory of Childhood education to  help make the most of the human assets that  each human being has as a birthright and that are given into the care of schools and school teachers to grow and cultivate.
   I  did not discover for years that Russian Psychology --especially  the ideas of Vygotsky about children and education provided insights and  advice  that seemed to me so right and so obvious and yet so ignored in our school system. And I think of the loss to our culture of the creative genius that might come forth if all children were only given a  little encouragement and stimulation and acceptance. 

Read this brief excerpt from Vygotsky and see if you do not agree.

Our everyday understanding of creativity does not fully conform to the scientific understanding of this word. In our everyday understanding, creativity is the realm of a few select individuals, geniuses, talented people. This view is incorrect. Creativity is present whenever a person imagines and creates something new, no matter how small a drop in the bucket this new thing appears. Collective creativity combines all these drops of individual creativity that are insignificant in themselves. This is why an enormous percentage of what has been created by humanity is a product of the anonymous collective creative work of unknown inventors. (pp. 10-11)

Everything the imagination creates is always based on elements taken from reality, from a person’s previous experience. The most fantastic creations are nothing other than a new combination of elements that have ultimately been extracted from reality. (p. 13)

The first law of creativity: The act of imagination depends directly on the richness and variety of a person’s previous experience because this experience provides the material from which the products of creativity are constructed. The richer a person’s experience, the richer is the material his imagination has access to. Great works and discoveries are always the result of an enormous amount of previously accumulated experience. 
The implication of this for education is that, if we want to build a relatively strong foundation for a child’s creativity, what we must do is broaden the experiences we provide him with. (pp. 14-15)

Every inventor, even a genius, is a product of his time and his environment. His creations arise from needs that were created before him. No invention can occur before the material and psychological conditions necessary for it to occur have appeared. Creation is a historical, cumulative process where every succeeding manifestation was determined by the preceding one. (p. 30)

The right kind of education involves awakening in the child what already exists within him, helping him to develop it and directing this development in a particular direction. (p. 51)

In conclusion, I emphasize the importance of cultivating creativity in school. The entire future of humanity will be attained through creativity. Because the main objective of school is to prepare them for the future, the development and practice of creativity should be one of the main goals of education.

Vygotsky
His counsels are so clear and so direct and yet they  have not been implemented in our society.  Educational experts write about them and urge  more creativity but instead we have more tests, more workbooks and more rote learning.
The  product of such education is bored students, and the dulling of intellectual  curiosity, and the discouragement of all and any original  ideas or  methods.
Again recalling the parable  of the Talents in which we  learn that the only bad thing that we can do with our talents is to bury them,

THIS  CRIME IS AT THE HEART NOW OF AMERICAN EDUCATION . WE ARE BURYING  OUR YOUNG ALIVE . THEY WHO CARRY ALL  THE POSSIBILITY OF THE NEW  TALENTS THAT HAVE COME INTO OUR WORLD.