Raul Cuero Interview Comments

        I took a lot out of what Raul Cuero had to say after watching his interview on creativity. It was very interesting to see and hear how someone who suffered from extreme poverty and horrible upbringings could become so successful. 

       Throughout the interview, Cuero talks a lot about creativity and how one can use it to beat natural conflicts like the ones he faced as a child. He recalls a time in his life where he would play with roaches in his house because he didn't have money for toys. However, this proved to be more of a pro than a con for Cuero as he learned more on how things like nature worked rather than growing up as a normal kid playing with traditional toys. I can't really apply an experience like this to my every day life, but I can definitely get a lot out of the concept. The whole idea of being creative is thinking differently from others. The same way that Cuero thought differently from other kids with his roaches. When you think the same and use the same "toys" as everyone else, it's really hard for one's creativeness to branch out from everyone else's. 

       Cuero also preaches the idea that in order to be creative,  one must be able to understand how people work. He argues that this can't be done in the present day because there isn't enough interaction between people due to the advancements in technology and I couldn't agree more. Instead of spending time outdoors understanding how people work and passing ideas back and forth, we stay inside on our computers never being able to grow our creative minds properly. We are a very interesting and intricate species and I think the best way to understand something as complex as the human mind is to spend time observing them. There have been many times that I can recall where I lock myself inside my room and just stay on my computer not talking to anyone for hours, sometimes even days. After a while of no interaction, I noticed that talking to my friends and family was weird and didn't feel right. The only thing that I wanted to do was just go back to my computer because that's what felt normal and that's usually what I would resort to doing. After a while, I realized that I never grew from those days where I would spend countless hours on the computer. I never came up with new ideas. I was just trapped on my computer doing the same things every day. Technology is something that has really impacted our lives, but when you don't have something as important as human interaction, it's impossible to grow creatively or at all.

       In adding to his argument on human interaction, Cuero also blames the current U.S. educational system. At one point in the video, the interviewer asks him what he thinks the problems of the educational system here in the U.S. are. Cuero responds saying that the biggest problem is that there is a lack of communication between the teachers, parents, and students. Most of the time, the teacher talks, and the student listens. All of the responsibility is given to the teacher and that shouldn't be the case. When parents believe that the teacher is the prime source of knowledge for their kids, it's hard for parents to ever feed their kids the essential knowledge that they need to be creative and think outside of the box. I know for a fact, that this happened to me growing up. From a very young age, it seems that I always learned more from my teacher than my parents. I only ever heard one point of view and went by it. My teachers never really did a good job on telling my parents on what we were learning and because of that, my parents were almost always lost in my education process. I don't know what life would have been like if the communication between my parents and teachers was stronger, but I am sure I would have grown up thinking very differently from how I do now. 

       From the 26 minutes that I spent with Raul Cuero, I learned a lot on how a simple idea like creativity can be so important to a human being and how now a days, we are raised in a world filled with technological distractions that limits us from being such. I have learned so much from this man and I really hope that I can use his ideas towards my work in the future.