Hi, friend,

It was a classic case of do as I say, don’t do as I do.

 

The teacher had a vision — a world founded entirely on rational thinking, where there existed Truth, mathematics, and music, but none of the meandering messiness intrinsic to Story.

 

Yet the teacher used Story— the very thing he railed against for being deceitful— to communicate his vision.

 

The contradiction drove one devoted pupil to damage control. He shored up his teacher’s inconsistency by creating an entirely new field of study, one that justified Story as a persuasive tool for communicating.

 

No longer was Story how we hatched a plan to escape a predator, but how we convince others to do the same. 

 

 

Or at least since the ancients.

 

The teacher was Plato, his work the Republic, and the high-achieving student Aristotle, who by preserving Story through the creation of rhetoric cut us off from Story as a mode of thinking.

Aristotle launched us toward our modern era, where Story is used almost exclusively for communication and branding.

 

It’s the usage we’ve accepted without question for centuries now. One which has separated us from our brain’s natural methods of building creativity and resilience.

Next week, we’ll discuss how the common core pushed the split between Story and thinking even further.

In the meantime, Sarah had the opportunity to speak with Annalies Corbin on Learning Unboxed about creativity camp and how Story isn't just a way to connect with others; it's also the way to build creativity, resilience, and self-efficacy beginning in elementary school. 

As always, thank you for reading,

Sarah

 

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