what? this guy has serious self esteem issues.."to be creative is part of a club"..what happened malcolm, wouldn't they let you join?

there are plenty of examples of creativity being taught and being very useful actually. and being a boring old fart, while endearing at xmas gatherings, does not always stack up as a philosophy of teaching and learning for the early 21st Century.

An interesting article and while I agree with some of the arguments the assertion that 'corporate Australia doesn’t have much need for “creative personalities"' is simply wrong. Failing to be creative is akin to failing to evolve and if it were not for visionary, creative thinkers we would still be living in pre-industrial times. Sure there is a need for drones to work 9-5 with no commitment to the outcomes of the business, and there is a need for leaders to be able to think, make decisions and steer the organisation but it is the creative thinkers who find new ways of doing old things and ways to do completely new things that drives the human race.
Whay do V8 engines give fuel economy like the 4-cylinder engines of 20 years ago? Because of creative thinkers. Why are cancer survival rates so much higher that they were 50 years ago? Because of creative thinkers. There is no need for creative types to sit on bouncy balls, use segue's to get around the office and dress in colurful but not matching clothes. Creative thinkers are often working in the background quietly and without fanfare, providing the spark that drives innovation. Creativity cannot be legislated, it just happens. Although not mentioned in the article, the Rudd Government's Department of Innovation is an oxymoron of the ocean going variety - if ever there was to be an anchor stifling creative thought and innovation it will be a government department imposing itself in the marketplace.
Actually the more I think about the article, the more I find its underlying premise to be bleak, colourless and devoid of hope.

At last, someone has let the cat out of the bag. The article is a full on attack on the 'creative industries' as taught in Australian unis. There is no critical thinking behind these curriculums. It's just simply mashing multimedia with writing with photography or whatever - for profit.

There is little to no vocational merit behind these programs when they are mashed together. They become a tangle of ill thought out ideas leading to a massive HECS bill plus the wages the students have lost while attending these courses.

How did writers such as Hemingway, Faulkner or any of the others up until the early 80s write their novels without attending a creative writing class?

It's refreshing that there are still people out there who are writing about creativity and who are willing to say the emporer has no clothes on.

"there is no critical thinking behind these curriculums"...paranoid rubbish. there is over 100 years of critical thinking, research and development around the notions that underpin post-disciplinary creative learning.

the culture has shifted since ernie was at the bullfights, that is not to say the old poof isn't worth reading, he is of course...but the world isn't changing, it's changed…and either academic research and teaching keep up, or they don't.

Most people have creative urges, the problem is that we are all categorised from the moment we are born. It is difficult to teach creativity at the best of times because people need to use their imaginations to be creative. However, when we are all coralled into silos and actively told we must conform to the norm, then it is no surprise that creativity is not obvious. In many jobs and industries it does not appear to be encouraged.

*One error is that completing a PhD in creative writing or photography means that the student is more creative or even smarter*

Very true indeed! Creative people are commonly high school dropouts,
who simply don't have the patience associated with formal education,
so go out and leave their mark on the world, their way. They land
up hiring degree people as required.

What it seemingly comes down to, is how they join the dots. Creative
people commonly suffer from ADHD, they join the dots outside the
accepted square, in ways which land up proving highly profitable.

No univerity education is going to teach that, its part of their
instinct.

Some months back, I read about a young, long haired, jeans wearing
Aussie trader in London, who knocked back a 300 million $ offer to
stay with the company. His abilities were to join the dots like
nobody else could and turn that into huge profits for his employers.

Similarly Steve Jobs of Apple, despite being difficult, can clearly
join dots into marketable solutions, as few other people can.

To suggest that Australian industry does not need that kind of
talent, is quite foolish.