We grow up thinking that the best answer is in someone else's brain. Much of our education is an elaborate game of 'guess what's in the teacher's head?' What the world really needs to know right now is what kind of dreams and ideas are in your head.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of individual thoughts and creativity over merely replicating others' ideas.
Roger Von Oech highlights the traditional approach to education, where students often feel they need to conform to their teachers' expectations rather than expressing their own unique ideas and dreams. He urges a shift in focus, advocating for the recognition and development of personal creativity and innovative thinking, which he believes are essential for societal progress.
In practice
A teacher might use this quote to inspire students to think outside the box in their projects.
If you fall in love with an idea, you won't see the merits of alternative approaches-and will probably miss an opportunity or two. One of life's great pleasures is letting go of a previously cherished idea. Then you're free to look for new ones. What part of your idea are you in love with? What would happen if you kissed it goodbye?
Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.
Look for the second right answer.
It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date.
Everyone has a 'risk muscle.' You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don't, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day.
It has been my experience that competency in mathematics, both in numerical manipulations and in understanding its conceptual foundations, enhances a person's ability to handle the more ambiguous and qualitative relationships that dominate our day-to-day financial decision-making
We prize books, and they prize them most who are themselves wise.
I believe the teacher's work is largely negative, that it is largely a matter of saying, "This doesn't work because ..." or "This does work because ..." The because is very important. The teacher can help you understand the nature of your medium, and he can guide you in your reading.
Once you've got a child to the point that they've discovered books, they're safe. There's a world of the imagination that when they're hurt or upset, they can move into, and it is wonderful.
It took me 40 years to write my first book. When I was a child, I was encouraged to go to school. I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death.
What’s strange is how many beginning writers seem to think that grammar is irrelevant, or that they are somehow above or beyond this subject more fit for a schoolchild than the future author of great literature.
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