Let us consider for a moment the great inventors and figures in history; for instance Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare to name but a few. All of them had considerably less education than the average student today yet they all left great marks in history with their works. (Edison boasted a whole three months of education)The current population is more than three times larger than it was when these men where alive but we are not progressing at more than three times the level they where. In fact we are not even keeping up with the inventions of their times.
I offer you this as a possibility, being told every thing as a cold hard fact and that there is only the one answer stops people from thinking. Students should be asked to 'imagine' that there is another answer/point of view and to explore that possibility however remote or daft. This is both a more rewarding and expansive way of teaching and gets students into the habit of questioning everything and, horror of horrors, looking at history and facts from a different perspective. This can only be to the good. Only enquiring minds invent.
By limiting the imagination of the growing youth of today we have reduced our speed of invention. Bring back 'day dreaming' and mediation, guided imagery and story telling. These promote free thought. Presenting the world as a place of scientific fact with all knowledge substantiated is a dry and meaningless pursuit. Set free the imagination and let their spirits sore.
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