Back in November I watched the newest Ken Burns series about Leonardo da Vinci, an undoubtedly genius and fascinating man. Born out of wedlock, he was not allowed to take the family name of his father, but instead used the place of his birth as his last name. HIs illegitimacy barred him from attending a university, so he relied on observations of nature and the world around him for his education. From his own curiosity he became a lifelong learner who wanted to know how everything works and how he might improve on the efforts of humans to think beyond the obvious.
Perhaps because he was already an outcast of sorts Leonardo was always thinking out of the box, pushing the envelope of inventiveness. He revolutionized art, looked to the future with inventions that would only become commonplace centuries after he lived. He foresaw possibilities everywhere he went and was unconventional in the way he lived. He was a man of good spirits and humor in spite of or maybe because of his early rejection by a society cooped up by traditions and beliefs that attempted to confine him in a box built on prejudices and a twisting of religious ideas. In refusing to conform he left an incredible body of work and thinking that has rarely been rivaled.
Leonardo was most probably gay. When he was only in his twenties he was caught up in a scandal that might have stunted his career save for the fact that one of the other individuals involved in relations with a local homosexual was from a wealthy family that had the means to make the trouble go away. Leonardo would eventually have a long time male partner but never marry. Because he was a giant in the world of art and someone who was actually pleasant and funny people mostly looked away leaving him to live as he chose rather than forcing him to adopt a more traditional way of life.
Leonard da Vinci was a star in the Renaissance era, a time when nearly every aspect of thinking and creating took a quantum leap forward. Perhaps it was because the worldview of the time and place where he lived was open and inviting to new ideas, new ways of living in the world. He was able to try new things because the people around him were not afraid to break the bonds of old traditions and beliefs that tended to be judgmental and threatening. It was an atmosphere of freedom that provided the room for Leonardo to push the envelope of genius.
As I watched the story of Leonardo da Vinci unfold I thought of the time that I used his Vitruvian Man to teach the concept of proportion to my Algebra students. I related mathematics to art and nature. it was a good lesson that really helped my students to understand the importance of proportionality. Everyone was engaged and excited as they came to many of the same conclusions that Leonardo had so many centuries ago.
In today’s atmosphere I am not certain that I would be allowed to plan such a creative and engaging lesson. A trend that is spreading across the educational landscape is to create scripts to which teachers must adhere with exactness of presentation and timing. Teachers are being warned to be careful what books, articles, ideas they choose to teach lest they be accused of being “woke” or too revolutionary. School districts are agreeing to “protect” students by removing anything that seems controversial from library shelves. For that matter even libraries are being closed down as they are deemed to be places where young people might be exposed to ideas that are too far out of the box. At the same time some places are adding prayers and Bible studies to the curriculum leaving less time for exploring topics that might run afoul to norms that seem to discount freedom to think and discuss the world around us.
I wonder if Leonardo would have been able to bloom and develop his genius if he had lived in such a time as ours. Would people first of all questioned the value of his artistry? Would they have condemned his lifestyle? Would they have balked at his discoveries and inventions? Would they have shunned him rather than allowing him to become the incredible person that he was? Are we actually doing more harm to our young people today by limiting what they may see or do or think? Will we end up creating bored automatons rather that geniuses with our scripts and rules and finger wagging?
I do worry about such things. As an educator I have seen students who were once deemed lost, blossom under the guidance of a gifted teacher who introduced them to worlds and ideas that challenged them. It is not in confining people that greatness arises. It is in being willing to let them spread their wings and fly to their own destinations. I don’t want to live in the atmosphere of the Dark Ages. I prefer the incredible era of the Renaissance. We can continue to grow as humans only if we set our creativity and thinking free.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 