Dilemmas of Creative Children Khalid Sohail While reading the biographies of creative personalities, I became aware that many of them had great difficulties coping with the traditional families and school systems in their childhood.
Creative children, because of their unconventional thinking and nontraditional attitude, felt quite frustrated with the institutional setting of the schools. They wanted an environment where they could be spontaneous, express their creativity and explore their potential. They felt suffocated in the traditional systems. The more the schools were controlling and regimented, the more they felt their wings being clipped. Some of those creative children endured and tolerated those restrictive environments while others challenged their authorities and rebelled, and in many cases were subsequently rejected and expelled from those institutions, or withdrew in their own private worlds to keep peace. Many traditional parents and teachers also experienced great difficulties coping with their creative children. Some of them felt so disappointed that they finally gave up and felt guilty as parents. It was only years or decades later when those children became successful adults and were well respected in their fields whether as scientists or artists, poets or philosophers, musicians or mystics, reformers or revolutionaries, that their teachers, parents and families appreciated their talent and worth. I strongly believe that parents and teachers need to be sensitive to the creative needs of all children and especially of those who have creative personalities. These children prefer to follow the trails of their hearts rather than the highways of tradition. If their creative efforts are supported, encouraged and appreciated, then those trails become the highways for the next generation. In my clinical practice as a psychotherapist, I encourage parents and families to feel proud, rather than embarrassed, of their creative children who challenge the traditional norms, and water the creative plants of their struggles so that one day they can enjoy their creative fruits. During my studies I came across a number of creative personalities who found themselves in conflict with their traditional educational institutions and were misunderstood by their traditional parents and teachers. I will quote three examples here to highlight my point: one of a well-respected mystic poet Walt Whitman and the other two of world famous scientists, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. In my book From Islam to Secular Humanism…A Philosophical Journey, I discussed the creative and mystic personalities of poets and mystics and discussed the life story of Walt Whitman in these words, “ When we study the life stories of mystic poets we become aware that many of them led simple lives. Because of their aptitude and personalities they did not fit into the formal educational systems and traditional institutions of their times. They were the students of the university of life and learnt from their own experiences. One such example is Walt Whitman, a mystic poet of nineteenth century, who has influenced twentieth century American literature more than any other poet. Although his poems from his collection Leaves of Grass are taught in colleges and universities all over the world, he himself did not do well in school. His teacher, Mr. Benjamin Halleck, was so disappointed in him that he told his father, “This boy is so idle. I am sure he will never amount to anything.” ‘ Whitman’s father, agreeing with the teacher, took him out of school at age thirteen and asked him to work in a printer’s shop. Even at work he was so preoccupied with his soul-searching that his employer thought he was devoting himself to ‘the art of doing nothing.’ ‘Teacher, employer and father as well as many other people, failed to realize that Walt Whitman was trying to contemplate and meditate upon the mysteries of life from a very early age.” (Ref 1 p 136) They could not appreciate the invisible labor that all creative personalities have to do before they deliver masterpieces. Victor Hugo once stated, “A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.” It is sometimes hard for artists and writers to explain their creative homework to traditional personalities and families who are not sensitive to the dynamics and workings of creative imagination. For artists play is more meaningful than wasting or killing time. That is when they develop extra-ordinary qualities and create. The second example is of Charles Darwin. Darwin’s biographers Michael White and John Gibbon highlight how Darwin’s relationship with traditional educational institutions was troubled from the very beginning. Darwin did not like his Shrewsbury School. When Charles’ father realized that his son was not benefiting from the classes, he took him out of that school. He was angry with his son, who he thought did not work hard and study and wasted his time in sports. “In a rare moment of anger Dr. Robert told Charles that he ‘cared for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching’ and that he would ‘be a disgrace to himself and all his family.” (Ref 2 p 13) Charles was sent to medical school to become a doctor and follow his father’s footsteps but Charles did not like medical school, as he hated dissection. Charles’ father was disappointed one more time. This time he took him out of medical school and sent him to a religious school to become a Priest. Charles developed a friendship with a rebel Robert Grant and his discussions with free thinkers sowed seeds of doubt about God and Bible that later on bore fruits when Darwin wrote his books The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man in which he discussed how he did not agree with the traditional teachings of Bible and Christianity. Little did his Christian teachers know that he would try to prove to the world that Man was created in the image of an ape rather than God. Darwin proved that human beings were evolved from lower animals. He described and proved human evolution through scientific evidence rather than ‘by a series of divine interpretations.” (Ref 2 p 17) Darwin, like other creative students, found the traditional environments of colleges and universities quite restrictive and suffocating. The third example is of Albert Einstein, who was born in Europe in a Jewish family but was sent to a local Catholic school. Like Walt Whitman and Charles Darwin, he also did not do well in school and was considered to be a slow learner. His biographer Roanld Clark wrote, “The one feature of his childhood about which there appears no doubt is the lateness with which he learned to speak. Even at the age of nine he was not fluent…when Hermann Einstein asked his son’s headmaster what profession his son should adopt, the answer was simply, “It doesn’t matter; he’ll never make a success of anything.” (Ref 3 p 10) After finishing his primary education with difficulty Albert Einstein joined Luitpold Gymnasium, where he spent six years of training and education. That school was quite traditional and did not encourage Einstein’s creative personality and exploration. Gradually Einstein developed resentment for the school system. His biographer wrote, “ The Gymnasium was to leave a critical effect on Einstein in separate ways. The first was that its discipline created in him deep suspicion of authority in general and educational authority in particular. This feeling lasted all his life, without qualification. “The teachers in the elementary school appeared to me like sergeants and in the Gymnasium the teachers were like lieutenants.” He remembered. More than forty years later, speaking to the seventy-second Convocation of the State University of New York, he noted that to him, “ the worst thing seems to be for school principally to work with methods of fear, force, and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the healthy feelings, the integrity, and self-confidence of the pupils.” (Ref 3 p 13) But then luckily, in most traditional schools there are a few exceptions. There are teachers who encourage the spontaneity of children and nurture their creativity. They support students to think outside the box and explore their independent thinking and non-traditional lifestyle. Creative students are attracted to such teachers and relatives who support their unconventional passions. Einstein was also lucky to have one such teacher in his school. Ronald Clark wrote, “ His name was Reuss. He tried to make his pupils think for themselves while most of his colleagues did little more…in Einstein’s later opinion---than encourage an academic ka-davergehorsamkeit “the obedience of the corpse” that was required among troops of the Imperial Prussian army.” (Ref 3 p 14) Einstein was also lucky to have an uncle Casar Koch who encouraged his independent thinking and nurtured his creative personality. Einstein looked forward to his visits and shared his creative and artistic thoughts with him. In his forties he affectionately wrote to his uncle, “ You have always been my best-loved uncle…You have always been one of the few who have warmed my heart whenever I thought of you, and when I was young your visit was always a great occasion.” Ronald Clark talks about the sharing that took place between Einstein and his favourite uncle in these words, “ But some confidence was sparked up between uncle and nephew and it was to Casar that Einstein was to send, as a boy of sixteen, an outline of the imaginative ideas later developed into the Special Theory of Relativity.” (Ref 3 p 12) It is my opinion that all families, schools and communities need more teachers like Reuss who encourage independent and nonconformist thinking in their students and uncles like Casar who nurture the creative personalities of their nephews and nieces so that we have scientists and artists amongst us. We do not need those principals who discourage the parents by stating that their children will ‘never make success of anything” and teachers who tell the parents with great confidence that their child will ‘never amount to anything’ not knowing that these children and students might be future Einsteins, Darwins and Whitmans of the world and their comments might become part of their future biographies. REFERENCES 1. Sohail Khalid Dr….From Islam to Secular Humanism…A Philosophical Journey…Abbeyfield Publishers Toronto Canada 2001 2. White Michael and Gribbin John…Darwin…A Life in Science…Simon and Schuster Toronto Canada 1995 3. 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