The Creativity Rule

Katharine Butler Hathaway was born in 1890 and developed tuberculosis of the spine as a child. She spent her entire childhood in her bedroom pinned to a board in hopes that her spine would grow straight. (It did not.) Her extraordinary reaction to her affliction was to develop a quick mind, an openness to change and skill at writing. Here is a quote from her:

"I invented this rule for myself to be applied to every decision I might have to make in the future. I would sort out all the arguments and see which belonged to fear and which to creativeness, and other things being equal I would make the decision which had the larger number of creative reasons on its side. I think it must be a rule something like this that makes jonquils and crocuses come pushing through cold mud."

Nick Terrones, author of the popular new book, A Can of Worms: Fearless Conversations with Toddlers, seems to be adopting a similar philosophy to Katharine Butler Hathaway. He writes:

"Education for me, is an institution for hope. Children never fail to offer their thinking in the most beautiful and honest of ways. If I carry a shred of hope for their future, then I must shoulder the responsibility to address their wonderments, insights, and understandings, as uncomfortable as they may make me."

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