[cinggooft]

When I was starting out as a teacher, I was given this poem.

Creativity?
One morning,
When the little boy had been in school awhile,
The teacher said:
Today we are going to make a picture.
Good, thought the little boy.
He liked to make pictures.
He could make all kinds;
Lions and tigers, Chickens and cows,
Trains and boats.
He took out his box of crayons
And began to draw.

But the teacher said, Wait!
It is not time to begin.
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
Now, said the teacher,
We are going to make flowers.
Good! thought the little boy.
He liked to make flowers.
And he began to make beautiful ones
With his pink and orange and blue crayons.
But the teacher said, Wait,
I will show you how.
And it was red with a green stem.
There, said the teacher,
Now you may begin.

The little boy looked at the teacher's flower.
Then he looked at his own flower.
He liked his flower better than the teacher's
But he did not say this.
He just turned his paper over
And made a flower like the teacher's
It was red with a green stem.

The following year,
The little boy went to another school.
This school was even bigger
Than the other one,
And there was no door from the outside
Into his room.
He had to go up some steps,
And walk down the long hall
To get to his room.

And the very first day
He was there,
The teacher said:
Today we are going to make a picture.
Good, thought the little boy,
And he waited for the teacher
To tell him what to do.
But the teacher didn't say anything
She just walked around the room.

When she came to the little boy
She said: Don't you want to make a picture?
Yes, said the little boy,
What are we going to make?
I don't know until you make it, said the teacher.
How shall I make it? asked the little boy.
Why, anyway you like, said the teacher.
And any colour? asked the little boy.
Any colour, said the teacher.
If everyone made the same picture,
And used the same colour,
How would I know who made what,
And which was which?
I don't know, said the little boy.
And he began to make a red flower with a green stem.

- anon