What are we teaching our kids?

I'm going to my first school parent's evening tonight. Nothing unusual in that except my kids don't start school till next year. So why bother? Well, the school invited mrs pigs & bees and myself along to meet the teachers and ask any questions we might have. This is a lot different to how it was in my day when you presented yourself before the headmaster to receive your school tie and a pep talk on what was expected of you. You're 4 years old, you have responsibilities now. But have things really changed that much? Getting 15 GCSEs at A * grade is easier than getting to £32,000 on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?', everyone has a degree in 'Media Studies' or 'Women's Studies' or 'The Study of Studying' yet once they start work people behave the same way they behaved 50 years ago. So what are we teaching them? Or more importantly, what are people learning?

Edward de Bono has spent his life promoting the need to teach people how to think. No, not people who have had an axe stuck in their head and need to relearn the basics. You. Me. Everyone. His argument is that schools don't teach kids how to think yet with a few hours tuition people can really unleash their potential creativity. Ah, but I'm not creative, I hear you say. Well, actually you are. You may not be a Van Gogh or Da Vinci but creativity isn't something bestowed upon the chosen few, like a hump on the back, it's a skill that can be learned just like mathematics and reading and writing. Check out Dr Ed's website for more info: http://www.edwdebono.com

This got me thinking to what else we might never have been taught at school. Now, if there's one thing that anyone in this crazy business needs it's a firm belief that they've got a set of stones on them like a pair of granite space hoppers. (Yes, especially the women.) Yessiree, when it comes to courage creatives are kicking the Army Rangers out of the way. We know no fear. We laugh in the face of failure, sat here in our world of comfy chairs and marker pens that smell like Bakewell Tart. Unlike the people we work for. Clients, we sometimes feel, are bereft of even the smallest plums. A distant cousin to the jelly fish, as my art teacher at school used to say. But can we really be that different? We are all trying to do well. All worried about paying the mortgage.

Is courage something that you can learn? I don't have the answer but welcome comments.