Sculpting Pumpkins
It is mid-November and in this post-Halloween, post-Diwali season here comes a post that reflects back on the rapidly changing times. In his book ‘That Used to be Us’, Thomas L. Friedman has summed up the rapidity of these changing times very well by saying: Back in 2005 cloud was something in the air, twitter was a bird’s sound and Skype was a typo. 
Recently two articles appeared in NYT (about two weeks apart) that shed light on two educational systems, that were poles apart in their approach. The first was titled ‘A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute’. Here are the pertinent facts from the same:
- It subscribes to a teaching philosophy focused on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks.
- The school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles, mud etc.
- The day starts with a recitation or verse about God that reflects a nondenominational emphasis on the divine.
What kind of parents send their children to such a school? Among the parents are the CTO of e-Bay and employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and HP. Quite a revelation! The second article titled ‘Silicon Valley Wows Educators, and Woos Them’ is about how high-tech companies are changing the way students are taught, by wooing a market (schools) where their products will be sold easily. Here are a few highlights from the same:
- There is a geek culture that very much worships Apple, and they are feeding into that to get more contracts.
- The companies say their products engage students and prepare them for a digital future, while some academics say technology is not fulfilling its promise.
- One video showed a 10 year old talking about creating podcasts with a MacBook.
To sum up the essence of these two long articles, it would be fair to say that the first one advocates using the right side of the brain and the second approach mainly uses the left side. And here I am, a blogger who thrives on using both sides . My suggestion to the world is to find your own golden mean. In the past I have written two articles that tell you how I found mine. They are as follows:
In her book ‘If You Want to Write’ Brenda Ueland has said that a God resides in the heart of every artist. When an artist uses his hands, he tries to draw the God out. No wonder the best pieces of art feel divine, then be they be paintings, music, sculpture etc. What an eye opener in this debate! Miracles can be created with technology if children are taught to master the use of their hands first.
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( All photos in this post are by SMD.)
As a grand finale to this debate, I would like to shed light (see above) on a local, seasonal craft that glorifies the use of hands by sculpting pumpkins. The event is called ‘The Blaze’ where 8,000 hand-carved pumpkins are kept on public display and viewed by over 80,000 people! Now isn’t it cool to share digital pictures of a local craft with the world, on a blog ?
Ratna
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Here is a joke that I find very appropriate to share with this post. LOL
A little boy goes for a walk with his dad. He runs ahead of his father and upon reaching a T-junction asks which way to go.
The dad says, ” Go right”.
The boy asks, “Which is right?”
The dad answers, ” The one with which you use the mouse”.
About this entry
You’re currently reading “Sculpting Pumpkins,” an entry on Creative Joys
- Published:
- November 10, 2011 / 6:23 pm
- Tags:
- Pumpkin Craft
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