After projecting the above image on a screen, I asked the students in my college public presentation what they thought the image was. I gave them more than enough time to look at it and do some “pondering.” Before moving on I asked them to write down their response on the back pf a piece of paper. The majority of the students (about 85%) said it was a “crack.” One student said it was an egg. Another student said it was the Liberty Bell.
Without saying I was disappointed…I was disappointed, and not necessarily because most of the students said it was a crack…because it actually is an image that “contains” a crack, but because of the lack of imagination or creative (out of the box) thinking. I sort of applaud the students who said it was an egg or the Liberty Bell because their answer evidenced some outside-the-box thinking. And that’s what I was looking for. Unless the student was an expert in Renaissance Art, there was no way he/she could identify the image for what it was.
The image was a piece of Michelangelo’s creation of Adam scene on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Had they said anything but a “crack,” I would have been able to sigh a sigh of relief. My faith in the creative potential of college students would have been restored. Had some of the answers been: a dried paint spill, a slide of an animal cell, the side of an old ship…then I would have been encouraged.
My “lame” excercise actually had two purposes. One to give the students a chance to think creatively, and the other to make a point about the current aim of higher education.
After showing the “big picture” I said that I believe that because today’s college students are so pragmatic and so focused on learning that leads directly to a job that they are missing the big picture. I went on to add that unless you broaden your horizons and step back from a limited view of the purpose of a college education you risk only seeing a small piece of the picture, and at that you can only hazard a guess as to what it is the big picture.
On her journey to the Emerald City,at first Dorothy did not see the big picture. She was only focused on getting home. However, once she met other people and opened her mind and heart to learning new things, she began to see the big picture. As a result she was able to declare at the end of her journey (in the movie version, at least): If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.
Dorothy saw the big picture. And I’m sure she saw a few cracks on the YBR along the way.
We need to do our best to step back from our parochial way of thinking and see the big picture.
Along The Yellow Brick Road 