The World Needs More Creators ( and less commenters)

On April 23, 1910, set behind the backdrop of Paris, France the recently departed former President, Theodore Roosevelt, gave a speech that reverberated around the world.

Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris, shares that the speech titled “Citizenship in a Republic” was an immediate success. It ran in the Journal des Debats as a Sunday supplement, got sent to the teachers of France by Le Temps, was printed by Librairie Hachette on Japanese vellum, was turned into a pocketbook that sold 5000 copies in five days, and was translated across Europe.

In front of 2000 people from all walks of life, Roosevelt said these words:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

More than 100 years later, we’ve seen this speech (and specifically this quote) used by coaches, athletes, authors, and so many more to highlight what we all see on a daily basis.

It is so easy to comment. Much more difficult to create.

It is easy to share a quick snarky response to something online, much harder to develop a published critique with your own ideas.

It is not difficult to jump into the mob of comments, yet much more worthwhile to create something that may not be perfect.

This was true in 1910 as it is today.

People want to blame social media, but the majority of folks in 1910 (without social media) were spending their time commenting outside the arena, instead of creating inside the arena—just as they are today.

However, what social media allows is the exponential growth of commenters and trolls piling on. Before, maybe you’d receive one negative comment from someone in your town or school, but now what we create has the potential to impact and inspire millions, while also drawing the ire of millions.

Now, imagine you are growing up in this world.

Every video you see posted on Youtube has trolls commenting.

Every Instagram or TikTok post has hundreds of negative comments.

The majority of adults you see are not creating anything, instead, they have something to say about everything, regardless of whether or not they have the experience to support their viewpoint.

It has impacted your teachers. You’ve seen it with family comments on Facebook. You know some friends that were trolled. Maybe, it has already happened to you…

None of this is surprising. You’ve grown up in this world.

But, when you are interested in creating something, there is always that feeling in the back of your mind (maybe the front of your mind): What if I make something and share it with the world…and the world responds how I’ve seen it so many times, with contempt and anger?

Why We Need More Creators

When John Spencer and I wrote Launch, we opened the book with this creative manifesto:

We believe . . .

We believe that all kids are naturally creative and that every classroom should be filled with creativity and wonder.

We want to see teachers unleash the creative potential in all of their students so that kids can be makers, designers, artists, and engineers.

We know that school can be busy. Materials can be scarce. The creative process can seem confusing, especially when you have a tight curriculum map. So creativity becomes a side project, an enrichment activity you get to when you have time for it. But the thing is, there’s never enough time.
We can do better.

We believe that creative thinking is as vital as math or reading or writing. There’s power in problem-solving and experimenting and taking things from questions to ideas to authentic products that you launch to the world. Something happens in students when they define themselves as makers and inventors and creators.

That’s the power of design thinking. It provides a flexible framework for creative work. It’s used in engineering, publishing, business, the humanities, in non-profit and community work. And yes, it can be used in education! You can use it in every subject with every age group. Although there are many versions of the design thinking model, we have developed the LAUNCH Cycle as a student-friendly way to engage in design thinking.

We believe all students deserve the opportunity to be their best creative selves, both in and out of school. We believe all kids are unique, authentic, and destined to be original.

Most importantly, we believe this is not an all encompassing solution, but a start. We believe our role is to empower kids to make an impact on the world around them and fully believe in themselves.

It is because of these beliefs that we wrote this book. We wrote it for ourselves, for our colleagues, for our friends, for our students, and for you. Because ultimately, we believe that you have the power to inspire kids and create a ripple effect that lasts for years to come.

Today, more than five years since we published this book, the battle for creativity in our schools is more important than ever. Mostly, because we know that in order to engage and empower our students, they need to be making, creating, designing, and building while they are in our schools—so they can lean on those experiences (good and bad) when they begin to create outside our learning spaces.

Right now the online world is stacked against them.

We know the algorithm of many social media companies promotes content that has comments (many times negative) for more and more people to see. We hope this gets fixed, but in the meantime the best way to combat this is to create.

Create more videos.

Create more written pieces.

Create more games.

Create more reflections.

Create more thoughtful reviews.

Create more art.

Create more music.

Create what excites you, inspires you, and intrigues you.

And to anyone who has ever created something, to anyone who has ever stepped into the arena to do the work, instead of watching from the sidelines, it is these words that still reverberate today: The credit belongs to the person inside the arena.

In order to inspire the next generation of folks inside the arena, we must continue to create and be inside ourselves.

Creators > Commenters.