Anyone can have an idea. If we are all supposed to be equal before the law, we are even more equal before the idea. The right to see something from a new perspective belongs to us all. And because it is a personal, internal right we choose to exercise, no one can stop us from doing it.

Free thought is what is feared above all else. The raw power of free thought belongs to everyone. More importantly, the quality of it’s output does not depend on age, race, gender, nationality, qualification or profession. Sadly though, we always diminish it’s force by trying to segment it’s potential. We tend to ask the same people in the same space to come up with something new.

It’s not that they’re inappropriate, it’s just that familiarity tends to breed…. well, familiarity. The hamsters in the same cage; at the very least, need to be given a new wheel. 

Most people and schools are a vast reservoir of fresh thinkers all around them. But they refused to utilise them because they refuse to cross pollinate. They choose to believe that we are not all equal before the idea. They don’t understand that new perspectives can come from anywhere.

The reality is, the answers lie around us, beyond the parameters we have given the problem. Most great ideas come from unexpected places, so why don’t we open the door to them? All it takes is a very simple mind shift. 

Send the word out that ideas have no class system. Children can have very senior moments of brilliance it doesn’t matter where fresh thinking comes from, as long as it comes.

Adapted from “the art of the idea and how it can change your life”, by John Hunt.

Imagine if schools were repositories of expertise – and the students were the experts. Often we do not give our children the credit they deserve in solving problems and finding solutions. If you have recently purchased a new cell phone or computer, it is often easier to hand the device to our children in order to learn how to use the various features than to sit reading through the manual.

In order to support critical and creative thinking in our children, we as parents and teachers need to supply our children with opportunities to develop understanding and to solve problems. Understanding can be defined as a verb and a noun. It is made up of six facets namely explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy and self-knowledge. Understanding cannot be taught; it must be fashioned by the child via artful design and effective coaching by the facilitator (parent or teacher). We need to encourage our children that their job is not merely to learn facts and skills but also to question them for meaning.
We need to assist our children to develop these skills, both in the educational setting and at home. Learning can be messy, unpredictable, and full of exhilarating challenges.

We need to help children dispel the myth “What I’m learning in school doesn’t have much to do with my life – but it isn’t supposed to – it’s school.”

Students who think this way have resigned themselves to the fact that school is boring. School is what happens in between more meaningful learning experiences, such as communicating with friends, researching topics of personal interest and learning how to solve authentic problems.