In areas of knowledge such as arts and science do we learn more from work that follows or work that breaks accepted conventions?

“Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently” is a quote often heard by us. In the rat race of life we are often asked to be different, to be noticed, to stand out!  But, is winning this race really that important? Can’t we have a nice relaxed life with our family or is it necessary to beat everybody to get to the top? Had Nicolaus Copernicus kept quiet about his theory that the Earth was not the centre of the universe would he have hit our history and science book and added a little more to the vast subjects? In India, most of the time, once a child is born the option provided is engineer or doctor.  Parents want you to have a safe career with regular employment, get married at the age which society thinks is appropriate and follow the social norms of life. What about those who wish to do something different? Often talent is suppressed, because, being different is not always appreciated. Wanting to grow up and become a farmer or an actor is unheard of! In the older times those whose thoughts differed from common cultural or traditional beliefs were branded heretics. But, now it has been proved what had seemed ridiculous in those times may actually be true!

Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form or work produced using skill or imagination. While we can learn different skills and techniques while following others it is necessary to use our imagination to create something unique. Artwork can tell stories or depict ideas. It can be realistic or abstract. However, for some people, the most important issue in art is that it expresses or stirs emotions.  Art can be a record of what the artist is feeling and, at the same time, it can bring about emotional reactions in the viewer. Though making copies of artwork is a talent by itself, it is important to bring out our individual ideas to create something which displays our emotions, feeling or even part of our character!

Science is defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Every human is a scientist. This also includes those who don’t study science as a part of their education or work. We are curious about many subjects. This curiosity leads us to research and experiment about our chosen topic. There is science everywhere is our lives. It is having the interest to find out more than what we are told that makes us scientists.  Being scientists we should never take what we are told for granted. We should have the thirst for knowledge. The thirst to know whether what we have been told is indeed true or whether the knowledge we have gained is incomplete. Though most us of us take what is told to us for granted, it is our research that makes gaining this knowledge more enjoyable!

Albert Einstein once said that art and science are the branches of the same tree. This is indeed true. Art educates people to be creative. A lack of creativity is a handicap for science. Science creates new patterns of thought. Resistance to new patterns is a handicap for art. It is only recently that these two have been separated, leading us to believe them as separate entities.

It is observed that great artists such as Da Vinci were great scientist as well. Da Vinci famous for the Mona Lisa also conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time, conceptually inventing a helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, a calculator and a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Major scientific revolutions have usually coincided with major artistic periods. Today science is evolution, not revolution, perhaps because it has been decoupled from the arts.

Changes in both subjects demand changes in our vision. It demands that we look beyond the known what we are aware of. It demands that we break convention. It demands that we explore not only the information around us but also the information we already know to find the connection which leads to discovery of new ideas.

Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock but for what? Encouraging young minds to ask questions and not accept what they are told.  The picture of Campbell’s soup can topped the list of top ten pieces of art while Mona Lisa didn’t make it to the top ten! Shocking? Well that just depends on your perception of art! Would you be able to relate more to the can of soup countless people eat from everyday or a mysterious lady smiling at you?

Had we not broken away from convention we would all be rather ordinary.  We are all taught the same thing in school. This information alters itself as we process it. By the time this information is presented during out examinations, everybody has added their own personal meaning to the piece of knowledge. Breaking away from convention allows us to make discoveries and interpret knowledge in our own way. In poetry, most of us interpret the colour blue as signs of depression or sadness. A student who sees things differently may not understand why he is taught that blue indicates a negative feeling when he relates blue to maybe bright blue skies! Thinking differently allows us to come up with new ideas and executing them. We don’t remember those who make our textbooks but we remember our favourite authors. Lines written by Roald Dahl or Charles Dickens speak to you. You are able to relate Miss Honey to the teachers who encourage you and there is a Scrooge in everybody’s Christmas! Our textbooks are not as appealing to us. We rather explore and find out things than just merely accept what is told to us by its pages.

What is being said is not that our textbooks are boring. It is an essential part of our life and provides us with a lot of knowledge we require. But, as we all follow convention and go to school do we really learn more than those who are homeschooled? Would you rather try to understand what our textbook says or go to a lab and find out yourself? When a teacher decides to take us out for a field trip to teach us a lesson, we remember much more! So next time you’re solving a problem, try and find a different method to solve it! You might just find a shortcut and teach your friends something new!

Hence, in conclusion we can say that while we cannot forgo the knowledge we have gained by following the accustomed conventions, it is necessary to question these convention and explore ideas which strike our interest to discover new things. We cannot disregard conventional directions to achieve a goal, but, it isn’t wrong to take a journey to find our own unique path to reach the destination. Sharing this journey with companions only makes our experience more enjoyable and in the process we test our skills, express our emotions and relieve our frustrations while discovering something new!