“Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource – the minds of our children.” -Walt Disney

When I was in preschool, I would play for hours in my own imaginary world. I would create this alternate universe and be all of the characters in it. My mother asked my teacher if that was normal and my teacher grinned, “She should never stop. She has an imagination.”

I found that I thought the best when I was making up stories or playing in my room. The process of creating situations would only help me figure things out. My best inspirations happen when I am creating. I think better that way. So, I when I first saw Sir Ken Robinson’s TedTalk “Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity” (http://www.hulu.com/watch/219269/tedtalks-ken-robinson-says-schools-kill-creativity), I felt like someone finally got it.

Math and science were never passions of mine, and I never understood the importance. I just wanted to create and write and perform, but those were the programs that did not carry much weight in school. Those were the programs that were the first to get cut. They were the first programs to be misunderstood. They were the places though where I felt free. I was surrounded by people that felt and lived the same. To be around like minded people allowed me to think, dream, and take bigger risks than ever before. It is not within the boxes that the world thinks are fitting that ideas and dreams are born. It is in movement and freedom that imagination and creativity are truly set free. I think that as we grow older that we lose that feeling. We lose ourselves in routine and responsibilities.

I think that Paula Poundstone said it best, “Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas.” Because honestly, who doesn’t want to be a superhero when they grow up?