We arenʼt here to learn anything 

Education is about learning. Absorbing a formula. Learning the rules. Running  over a process till it becomes habit.  

At school, you learn to count in tables. To join your letters and check your  spelling. You learn that breaking the rules and playing clown for your  classmates is bad. So is straying from the science class experiment to create  unidentifiable chemical compounds.  

At Uni, you learn to code switch. Adopt a cleaner accent among a sea of private  school kids. You learn that dressing a certain way means being part of a certain  set, as does your ability to identity with students who take taxis and drink wine  with nice labels.  

In the workplace, the learning continues. Stifle your opinion. Dress  appropriately. Never, ever bring your personal shit to the office. 

So itʼs no surprise SCA is hard. Not because thereʼs tons to learn, but because  thereʼs so much to unlearn. 

The first term started with a familiar timetable, a syllabus. Mentors discussed  process and technique, hinting at a structure for creative thinking that we could  all acknowledge and absorb. Now, itʼs our turn. Time to take the tricks and  transplant the creative process onto a fresh problem. But itʼs like being given a  toolbox without detailed instructions. It feels unsafe – am I doing this right? Do I  use this first, or that? 

Itʼs taken eight weeks of testing out techniques – and returning to mentors to  demand detailed instructions – to learn to let go of learning. To stop trying to  find a right way, or wrong way. To let go of trying to find a process or formula. It  doesnʼt exist. Tools are just a way to throw a spanner into your thinking, create  some chaos and break old patterns.  

We arenʼt at SCA to learn. Having been educated out of creativity by the UKʼs  education system, letting go of set systems is our main lesson. And weʼre  taking it everyday.