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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7714791" data-attributes="member: 57112">I rather disagree with this point entirely. The reason for this is what I like to call the &quot;blank page problem&quot;.I teach creative writing (well, dramatic writing, so creative writing that's 95% dialogue) and I do a lot of in-class free-writing assignments. You know what free-writing assignment is consistently the most difficult for my students, every time?Give them a blank page of paper and just tell them to &quot;write.&quot;Half the class will just stare at the page for a few minutes; the other half will start with something but most will hit a brick wall pretty early. Turns out having infinite possibilities with absolutely nothing to build on is pretty paralyzing, creatively speaking. But give them a prompt, any prompt, and the students will just write and write and some will even get upset when I tell them to stop. Parameters grease the wheels of creativity. Every time.So when a feat or some other rule comes along and says &quot;you can do X with Athletics&quot; I don't (and I don't think my students would either) see &quot;you can only X with Athletics&quot;. What we would all, collectively see, is a jumping off point. &quot;Hey, if Athletics lets me do X, does that mean I can do Y also?&quot; &quot;Oh yeah! And what about Z?&quot;It's a pretty awesome thing to witness, really.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7714791, member: 57112"] I rather disagree with this point entirely. The reason for this is what I like to call the "blank page problem". I teach creative writing (well, dramatic writing, so creative writing that's 95% dialogue) and I do a lot of in-class free-writing assignments. You know what free-writing assignment is consistently the most difficult for my students, every time? Give them a blank page of paper and just tell them to "write." Half the class will just stare at the page for a few minutes; the other half will start with something but most will hit a brick wall pretty early. Turns out having infinite possibilities with absolutely nothing to build on is pretty paralyzing, creatively speaking. But give them a prompt, any prompt, and the students will just write and write and some will even get upset when I tell them to stop. Parameters grease the wheels of creativity. Every time. So when a feat or some other rule comes along and says "you can do X with Athletics" I don't (and I don't think my students would either) see "you can only X with Athletics". What we would all, collectively see, is a jumping off point. "Hey, if Athletics lets me do X, does that mean I can do Y also?" "Oh yeah! And what about Z?" It's a pretty awesome thing to witness, really. [/QUOTE]

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