Having said that I can see why people turn to creative writing classes. They provide a social interaction, much like bridge clubs. The fact they charge anywhere from $30-$40K for a degree is another matter. I don't like bridge that much.

I've read a few novels from creative writers in Melbourne. The writing is lovely, exquisite, but they lack narrative. In short, they're boring.

Call me an old duffer but if you can't explain what you teach, and if you don't know how to teach what you claim to do, and you can't place that teaching within a critical framework, doesn't that make the profession of creative writing fraudulent?

Me thinks some courses at unis are cash cows.

Having been fortunate enough to do a small workshop with Edward de Bono, teaching creativity to those involved in design is more about removing the prejudices and fixed thought processes that constrict normal people.

While you won't get Da Vincis, you will get people at the coal face able to make small changes that make substantive improvements that their superiors would not even be aware of.

A thousand small steps often beats one giant one.

It has been my opinion that "formal" education is the antidote to creativity. Telling a child to paint a sky blue when they want to paint it orange is how we start to stifle creativity. "Bending" the rules is the one of the surest roads to creativity, leaving assumptions at the door and opening your mind to possibilities. Creativity is alive and well in all sectors of society but as always in this money driven world someone, somewhere, wants to make a quick buck.