When creativity was frowned upon

was I wrong?

When my sister was four, she desperately wanted to go to school like her big sister (me) did. I was in a parochial school that had no kindergarten, and the state would not admit a child to kindergarten unless they would turn five by the end of the year, December 31. Katie’s birthday was in February. My parents didn’t want her to have to wait another whole year, so they found a private girls’ school that admitted her to their kindergarten.

Naturally, they wanted both of us to attend the same school, so at some point before the end of my 3rd grade school year, I had to take an admissions test. There were four of us taking the test, and only three spots in the upcoming 4th grade. We sat in a small circle with an intimidating nun overseeing us and reviewing the test questions and answers as we went along. I was having an easy time of it, getting everything right until I was wrong. The nun said it out loud right in front of the other girls. I don’t remember, but let’s say they smirked and giggled. I was mortified.

You see, the question was, "Which number does not belong?” It was such an obvious question for 8-year-olds. We all knew the answer, so I thought I’d be different and choose the first number four. By far a more creative choice, don’t you think.

If only I had the courage to speak up and defend my choice and reasoning. The nun was intimidating, and the other three girls were staring at me. I’d already been identified as being wrong, but secretly, I knew I was right, creatively speaking. It was a foretelling of my future. If I had the courage to speak up I may have impressed the nun with my creative and unique thinking and been the first choice for one of those three spots, right? Who knows. Was creative thinking even valued in the 50s?

Did you know that we only began to talk about creativity in the mid-20th century? The theory was advanced by the psychologist J.P. Guilford in the 1950s, who shed light on the immense variety of the creative thinking process. If Einstein were there in that room with me, he would have chimed in with his now-famous quote, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

The bottom line is that the nun’s admonishment set my creativity back a few decades. I felt like I needed to know every detail of how to create something the right way before I would start. All that research wasn’t wasted knowledge, but it was creativity-stifling. How could I be good at anything if I didn’t master the method? It took me years to shake that off and create what was in my heart. I worked hard at discovering (recovering?) my unique voice.

By 2004, I was teaching women how to access their innate creativity in a workshop I called Navigation: Charting a Course to Your Soul. It was, and still is, important to me to guide women on their creative journeys. I had barely spread my wings at that point - who am I to do this? There was no nun there to tell me I was wrong, no one stopping me, so I trusted my instincts, unfurled my wings, and did what I felt was right.

PS. My sister and I ended up together at a different Catholic girls’ school the following September.

Quotes of the Week

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Einstein

Creativity is about having the courage to invent our lives.
Nina Wise

The principle goal of education is to create (wo)men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – (wo)men who are creative, inventive and discoverers.
Jean Piaget

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
Edwin Land

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Ayn Rand

It takes courage to follow your fascinations, wherever they may lead. Yet, creativity demands that you trust and stay on the path despite obstacles.
Gail McMeeken