Stigmatizing mistakes

A friend of mine is preparing his first exhibition for next Friday. We are all thrilled and excited about what promises to be a success. So far he had done some paintings and created a few objects which he sold and now that he has decided to get to the fast lane I think he deserves to be encouraged for taking the big leap.An exhibition is an open door to part of our intimacy.There is always an element of risk trying to get people to enter our universe but once we are sure about how to do it, there can be nothing more fulfilling.

What I admire about that person is the fact that he has been able to remain an artist as he grew up. Our system of education here seldom gives us the opportunity to do so.We are usually taught to grow out of creativity, we are educated out of it. Why? because the aim of our academic system is to enable us to get a certificate or die trying to snatch a scholarship and that even if we have to give up on the potential talent which resides within us. School leavers are expected to be academically excellent so as to ensure their future.

With the academic inflation we are facing today- almost everybody holding a degree - I wonder if this is the best solution? I think we should allow more space for mistakes since childhood. If a child is not prepared to be wrong, (s)he'll never come up with something original.We should stop stigmatizing mistakes and stop educating people out of their creative capacities.

If we don't even know what the future holds in prospect for us, the future of our children will seem even more abstract to us. Teaching them values and encouraging their thinking process should be enough to kill the fear in us.