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Do we do enough problem-finding before problem-solving?
Paying attention vs. Getting attention.
In children’s books, the sun is always colored yellow. Then, lines are uniformly drawn coming out of the sun to show that it is shining. Children who grow up reading these kinds of picture books all tend to draw the sun in the same way. Would this be any different for art students? The answer is “no.” They may be able to use better techniques, but we can observe a similar trend among them.
Our education system instills in us the conventional wisdom of “thinking inside the box.” One thing might also be another thing, but we approach it through the lens of “this is the only optimal way to solve this.” However, there are thousands of possible answers to the questions that exist in the real world.
“Problem-finding is a creative process whereby individuals develop original ideas.” Frank LaBanca
We live in a world of problem-solving. Problems are often intermingled in complicated ways, making it impossible for only one single answer to exist. We have lots of objectives focused on problem-solving, but we do not spend an equal amount of time carrying out proper “problem finding.”
