Thinking Trends: Ingenuity VS Standardization

America’s greatness was derived from our capacity to think imaginatively. We have drawn on our capacity for ingenuity and innovation. Standardization does not produce ingenuity or innovation. If you think about it, in fact, it can only result in the disintegration of imagination. I am remembering Lego’s, the small red and white plastic blocks that David used to play with for hours on end, creating creatures and crafts, large and small. There were no diagrams or instruction for Lego’s back then. All that was needed was an endless supply of those blocks and a child’s imagination. A friend told me recently that Lego’s hadn’t been selling too well, because children were used to kits that told them what to create and gave them specific direction on how to create it. The company decided that to keep up with the competition, they’d have to follow the trend. Now, you child can buy a different kit for each craft he or she decides to build, complete with instructions for where to put each block. Same little red and white plastic Lego’s. All that’s left out is the imagination.