Really?

So I guess no creativity at all was involved when Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity. Any other scientist at the time could have figured out that time was subservient to light. And, if that is true, then I guess there can be no logic except in science, which pretty much kills music.

The fallacy is that creativity works separately from logic, or that the arts and sciences don’t mix. I’m sorry, but the innovations of the future will be discovered by creative people, in both the sciences and the arts. All creativity involves is looking at something differently than other people have before. It’s a way of thinking, not a way of doing things. You seem to be equating creativity with laziness, which is nonsense. Creativity is not a substitute for hard work, because it takes a lot of work to be creative. Otherwise, anyone could just sit down and write Ulysses. The fact that only James Joyce did, and that it took him many years to do so, proves how difficult creativity really is.

As for praising the Japanese education system, it’s based on rote memorization. Tests take questions directly from textbooks. No thinking is required. So, Japanese students can solve problems with known solutions better than their American counterparts at the same grade level, but I guarantee that their American counterparts can solve problems with unknown solutions better than their Japanese counterparts can. Not that Japanese people can’t think, but you’d be surprised how many of them don’t bother trying.

I mean, if you see it like that, Yoshii in baka to testo is in Class F because he refuses to work hard, which is often stressed. In fact, Himeji’s position is very interesting. She’s in Class F because she did poorly in an exam due to a fever. But I don’t think it’s really the fault of the system itself. In baka to testo, after all, she’s all the time ranked as high as those in Class A. The problem wouldn’t be the system, but the way her position was asessed. As long as students are assessed properly, the system works. In fact, you can see the pokemon battles, which are actually just a graphic way of comparing grades, as competition to be the best, which is the only way a society can progress.

The problem in both the US and Europe is modern education. For example, they say creativity should be emphasized. But how? I mean, by coincidence I was commenting that on twitter this morning. “Definition of Hydrogen Peroxide”. Creative way, that is, you haven’t worked hard and don’t know the details well: “It’s a very beautiful, compact molecule with hydrogen and oxygen”. That’s creativity I guess. You could also write a haiku, being very creative although still failing at chemistry: “A lone molecule / bound by chemistry / oxygen and hydrogen”. But you know what? It’s all wrong. The one who studied hard would just reply: “H2O2″, comment that it has this or that atom, end of the story. There can be no creativity except in arts.

It reminds me of a friend of mine when I was in high school. The day before a history exam, he would just look through the book saying “well, this is logical” (eg. about the great depression, what he meant was that he didn’t know anything about it because he didn’t work hard but that he would make it on the spot. I mean, if it’s an economic crisis, then people suffered and there was unemployement, etc. That’s creativity I guess. After all, he managed to graduate in the end)

In many European counries, again, kids are often not given report cards so that underachievers don’t feel bad, poor things. This is a cult of mediocrity. In Japan, competition is fostered, and that is precisely why they are one of the most overachieving countries when it comes to technology, for example. Europe is sinking and according to some researchers by 2040 Europe, by discriminating the best, will account for only 5% of the World’s GDP.

I mean, that’s life. If I do poorly at a job and I get fired, nobody’s gonna take care of me. That’s a lesson kids should be taught. If there are kids with special needs, then there are resources devoted to them. But the rest, like Yoshii for example, should be taught what life actually is like, and that life is competition.

And I sort of agree with Landon in a sense too; it does still seem rather relevant as a social commentary on the U.S. as well, even if you take race out of the equation entirely. While some of social standing is still driven by race, it’s an issue all to itself.