Messiness is good. It seems that creativity and innovation both thrive on experimentation, trial-and-error, and on the wanderings, mental and physical, of those who create.
I have just finished skimming through Peter Hall’s massive book Cities in Civilization. He comes from a very different point of view than the traditional city planner. He points out how the “planned’ cities of Sweden and elsewhere were all basically failures. Planned streets and freeways are safe, functional and efficient; but take away the joy and excitement of discovering what’s around the next corner.
The great cities of the world have grown up in haphazard ways, following cow paths, meandering rivers, and the creative spirits of hundreds of people. Great cities are experiments and always works-in-progress. Buildings and streets are built-up and then torn down, remodeled, reused, and generally accidentally create their identities. Great cities attract and keep creative people who, in turn, give them life and an evolving sense of excitement and attractiveness.
Organic, rather than planned growth, seems to also be the way nature works. There does not seem to be a master plan for what a person/plant/organism should look like or do. Each species is a constantly evolving experiment in adaptation and learning.
This is true as well for learning. Formal learning may be efficient, although there are some who would argue about that. But,it is not fun. It does not inspire or nurture excitement or a desire for discovery. Ask any child who’s school year is about to end and they will universally cheer the end of school. Why no joy? Why no excitement?
The idea of “school” may be obsolete. Ivan Illich believed that and spent much of his lifetime trying to get us to see the follies of forcing people to learn what “we” want them to learn, when “we” want them to learn it, and in the way that “we” want them to. His book, Deschooling Society, is available online for free. 
John Gato, a former award-winning public school teacher in New York City, who became disillusioned in the traditional school system and decided to do something about it. He has written and spoken widely on the problems with schools and with the focus on rigid curricula and formulistic learning. His book on the American school system and his website/blog are must reads for anyone interested in this topic.
Jay Cross, a colleague and friend, has a blog on Informal Learning and together with a few others of us has formed a group called the Learning Irregulars where we are beginning to discuss and follow the creative leaders in learning to see where they are headed.
I don’t believe that the traditional institutions of learning will survive even the next 25 years as we know them today. In the United States almost 3% of school-age children are being home schooled for a variety of reasons including the growing focus on individualism. Fewer are seeking a college degree in traditional institutions. Corporations are focusing on developing their employees in different ways than they have in the past. Change is afoot.
So what is the solution? How will children learn to read, write, think? Where will inspiration to learn come from? Where will learning content reside? Is it the role of television? Social media? Travel? the Internet? Or is it some combination of all of all of these? If parents have to work, who will take care of the children?
These are the big questions facing parents, educators, and all thoughtful people in this century.
