You Are An Artist

If you work with children, I have seven words for you to remember: I Am An Artist, Not A Cog.

Hang them on your bathroom mirror, keep a copy in your purse, mount them in a fancy frame above your changing table or kitchen sink, add them to your Facebook profile, or tattoo them on your forearms--I Am An Artist on the left arm, Not A Cog on the right arm.

These words and the mindsets that accompany them--have a direct and vital impact on the life you live and the care you provide.

Artists think and act differently than Cogs.

Cogs go through the motions. They wiz and they whir, spinning frantically or clicking along methodically, but never going anywhere. Cogs are interchangeable and replicable. Cogs break down and wear out.

Want an example of Cogs at work? According to CNBC business anchor Maria Bartiromo, 400 agencies had oversight of AIG before it melted down and took the rest of the economy with it. The Cogs in those agencies were so busy spinning, whirring, and clicking along that they failed to see--or prevent--economic collapse. Need another example? Cogs at BP and Cogs in the United States Government responsible for overseeing deep water off shore drilling are responsible for the environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf Coast. Can you stand one more example of the mess Cogs can create? They are also responsible for creating uninspired, unengaged, unmotivated, and unhappy children.

Cogs are created, not born. The Industrial Revolution necessitated a huge supply of Cogs for factory work. As the economy grew and changed, Cogs also became necessary for repetitive and menial white-collar work. Because of this, schools became very good at turning out Cogs. In fact, our school system has been based on a Factory-Model for the last 100 plus years. We separate students by age and ability just like Henry Ford separated interchangeable parts and the steps of production on his assembly lines. We try to make each step of learning as methodical as possible--some curriculums even require teachers to read from scripts while teaching.

The problem here is that the digital world does not need so many Cogs. Much of the Cog work has been shipped offshore or is now done by computers and robots because it is cheaper and more efficient. Read Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner, A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink, Creativity and Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and Linchpin by Seth Godin for insight into how we should be preparing and inspiring our children to meet the future. All these authors believe that we need to move beyond our current factory model of education and inspire people to share their own unique and special art with the world. They think we need more artists (although they do not all use that word).

Artists work to master technique, have passion for their work, feel called to their art, bring emotion to the endeavor, and frequently exhaust themselves physically and spiritually in pursuit of their craft.

In his book, Linchpin, author Seth Godin defines artists as, "people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done." In the same book, Godin writes that the problem with our educational system "doesn't lie with great teachers….The problem lies with the system that punishes artists and rewards bureaucrats instead."

Bureaucrats--those red-tape dispensers, paperwork junkies, file jockeys, and regulation wranglers--oversee the rulebooks that govern the working lives of direct care providers and educators. To one degree or another, they regulate the flow of construction paper, the length of recess, the number of children in a group, diapering procedures, the appropriateness of hugs, and the entirety of the curriculum. While some bureaucrats are struggling artists, striving to find new answers, new connections, and new ways of getting things done, others reign over their little corner of the world with the tyranny of a storybook villain--most just do their Cog-like best to make it through another day.

Current bureaucrat-created policies and regulations governing teachers and other professional caregivers is intended to make better Cogs, not to inspire and support artists. The problem with this is that the best Cog in the world is still a Cog. Caregivers and teachers exhausted by regulations have little energy left for the important emotional labor that is the core of the job and where much of the art happens.

If you think for a moment that consistently meeting the physical, social, and emotional needs of children is not the work of an artist, you need to think for another moment or two. Children are not interchangeable products rolling along a high-speed factory assembly line; they are as unique as the genes they inherited and the moments they have lived. Nurturing these precious individuals takes heart, passion, emotional labor, patience, skills, drive, and dedication.

We all prefer interacting with people who bring these things to their work. Think about it:

• Do you prefer a meal prepared by fast food assembly line, or someone who loves to cook?

• Do you prefer having your hair done by a technically proficient stylist, or a creative stylist who has mastered technique?

• Do you prefer a cashier at the grocery store who simple pushes the right buttons or one who offers a genuine smile, connects to you as a fellow human being, and doesn't put the five-pound bag of flour on top of the loaf of bread?

• Do you more fondly remember the teacher who scolded you for daydreaming, or the one who inspired you to make something of those dreams?

• If you were a child, would you prefer a caregiver who was a Cog or an Artist?

Teachers and child care providers choke on red tape and strangle on arbitrary rules and regulations that, although good intentioned, force them into the role of Cog and squeeze off their Artist instincts. Rules and regulations are written with the intent of making the worst of the Cogs less bad instead of helping Artists shine. What we desperately need is policies and practices that help caregivers and teachers shine as they nurture and educate our children.

Let me repeat those seven words: I Am An Artist, Not A Cog.

If you feel Cog-like…if you are just clicking along…you need to find your art and share it with the world. The forearm tattoos are optional.