While growing up, I’d never really considered how important it is to be imaginative. \u00a0 It’s a childhood profession, you could say.\u00a0\u00a0 It comes naturally.\u00a0\u00a0 Then we hit an age when we’re presented with a scantron of bubble-in options, a template for a CV that we need to create, and Excel. \u00a0At that point, our learning has to fit into certain parameters: within that little bubble, within the one page limit, and within a tiny digital graph. \u00a0So, what happens to our imagination?<\/p>\n
It seems to fade.<\/p>\n
Being Asian (as I am) doesn’t help. \u00a0The assumption that you’re more apt for engineering or medicine is like a nagging tail. \u00a0 We have a so-called fondness for numbers apparently. \u00a0If you’re Asian, you must be good at math – of course.<\/p>\n
Well, then I turned out to be an oddball. \u00a0I developed an affinity for words and images instead. \u00a0At the age of 12, my dream was to be a professional doodler, which could turn into a career as a cartoonist, if it went well. \u00a0And my parents indulged me in that dream. \u00a0Unlike others, who may have thought that was ridiculous, they got me drawing books. \u00a0When my mother saw me sitting idle, or falling asleep among a pile of school books, she’d suggest, “Why don\u2019t you draw for a bit?” \u00a0 Over a decade later, little has changed. \u00a0She still chuckles at my drawings, tells me to draw more often, and has preserved that notebook.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, I should have continued with that path. \u00a0Last week, a friend sent me an email with a job listing, titled Doodler. \u00a0Ridiculous, I thought. \u00a0But then I saw the employer – Google. \u00a0Not so funny anymore but actually a possibility. \u00a0And truly, Google is hiring a doodler for the images that often appear on their homepage to celebrate holidays and momentous\u00a0occasions.<\/p>\n
As I grew older, as the reading list of books grew longer, the assignments tougher, and jobs took up any spare time as a student in college, that ability to just sit down and pour your imagination onto a blank canvas began to disappear. \u00a0Rather, that creative side had to reinvent itself.<\/p>\n
My high school history teacher once told me that history is not a timeline; it’s a story. \u00a0 She threw out the linearity of history.\u00a0 She made what was dry and ancient, charming, engaging, and at times, even humorous.\u00a0\u00a0 That was her imagination at work.\u00a0 And it helped me develop a love for the social sciences.\u00a0\u00a0 Our imaginations can be quite contagious, I learned.<\/p>\n
But can this love for the imaginative ever find a place in the real world?\u00a0 Certainly.<\/p>\n
More and more young people today want to work for start-ups where business meets creativity, where what may seem impossible today is reality tomorrow.\u00a0 Who knew that you could pay for your Starbucks coffee without cash or credit card?\u00a0 You can.\u00a0 Just scan your Starbucks card from your smart phone.\u00a0 Who knew that you could get a treadle pump for under $40 that can help farmers irrigate in the developing world?\u00a0 Just look at the work of entrepreneur Paul Polak.\u00a0\u00a0 Who knew that we\u2019d be talking in just 140 characters in the 21st<\/sup> century?\u00a0 Perhaps, the folks at Twitter did.<\/p>\n Imagination creates not just fairy tales and children\u2019s books but a new vision for the way we conduct our lives.\u00a0 Imaginations challenge the norm, push boundaries, and help us progress.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, that imagination is getting sidelined in classrooms, where the emphasis has been on grades and testing for too long, in workplaces, where the prominence of excel sheets and powerpoint presentations has become a daily chore.<\/p>\n We need to encourage more creativity.\u00a0 Forget the CV for a bit.\u00a0 Forget the obsession with grades.\u00a0 Yes, even with a B, your kid can do great things in this world.<\/p>\n If we encourage that brilliant math student to be imaginative as well, he could use those algorithms to innovate.\u00a0 If we encourage the biology student to be imaginative as well, she could design a new sustainable fuel source for us.\u00a0 If we encourage that economics buff to be imaginative as well, he could build a new people-friendly business model.\u00a0\u00a0 The tools are there.\u00a0 You just need to reorient them towards the unexpected.\u00a0 That\u2019s where creativity \u2013 at home, in the classroom, and in the workplace- is so essential.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why, last week I found myself, sitting with my mom late at night, rereading Shel Silverstein\u2019s poems for children.\u00a0 Turns out, they\u2019re just as good for adults, maybe even better.<\/p>\n FROZEN DREAM<\/p>\n I\u2019ll take the dream I had last night<\/p>\n And put it in my freezer,<\/p>\n So someday long and far away<\/p>\n When I\u2019m an old grew geezer,<\/p>\n I\u2019ll take it out and thaw it out,<\/p>\n This lovely dream I\u2019ve frozen,<\/p>\n And boil it up and sit me down<\/p>\n And dip my cold toes in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While growing up, I’d never really considered how important it is to be imaginative. \u00a0 It’s a childhood profession, you could say.\u00a0\u00a0 It comes naturally.\u00a0\u00a0 Then we hit an age when we’re presented with a scantron of bubble-in options, a template for a CV that we need to create, and Excel. \u00a0At that point, our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n