Question 2. Coming out of CoVID, and beginning BREXIT, our economy and society need ingenuity, imagination and fresh thinking. After WW2 it was noticeable that the experiences of children in wartime Britain, who endured so much disruption and change (being evacuated from their families for years, in many cases), had engendered a postwar generation of inventors, musicians, designers, and politicians who’d look beyond the obvious to create the extraordinary. So many of Britain’s post war advances came from the curiosity and ingenuity of that generation. Now we have the COVID generation, who’ve absorbed lockdowns, school closures & tragedy, yet have in many (but sadly not all) cases, made astonishing gains during lockdown. They’ve been full of clever ideas, unexpected depth and surprising (often playful) solutions, as social media reminds us daily. Yet those “learning at home” gains are not acknowledged or celebrated. Instead there is much talk of “getting them back to school at any cost”. So how to encourage these non-standard gains that we will need so much, going forwards? We have a robust and stable curriculum and don’t want to rock that boat, so this needs to happen beyond that curriculum, in the community and elsewhere. The suggestion here is to have a national celebration of ingenuity and creativity – a weeklong focus covered by media, with a badging that includes giants from creative industries, science, engineering, sport… Not a competition as such, just a week to display and exhibit unexpected ingenuity and creativity – perhaps in shop windows, in libraries, in the street, as outdoor exhibits, whatever. It would be a wonderful national focus and a reaffirmation that smart ieas are valued and needed. It would help the COVID generation to see their value and create a buzz around clever ideas. The challenge would be made to familes, individuals, communities, street of neighbours, companies… any group who wanted to show the ingenuity of their idea. And it could happen almost right away.
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