Why Ray Bradbury Didn't Think Writers Should Go to College
The famous novelist believed universities posed a kind of danger to creators and free-thinking individuals.
The renowned American author Ray Bradbury was famously known for his dislike of colleges. He felt that the traditional education system was too rigid and stifling for creative minds. He believed that university students were not encouraged to think independently and explore their own ideas.
He also felt that college professors did not provide enough guidance or feedback to help students develop their creativity. As a result, he saw college as a place where creativity was stifled and discouraged rather than nurtured and inspired.
In a recent clip on Twitter that went viral, the Fahrenheit 451 author explained that writers in particular should avoid universities, saying at one point “the intellect is a great danger to creativity.”
The response seems to shock the interviewer, prompting Bradbury to elaborate.
“A terrible danger, because you begin to rationalize and make up reasons for things instead of staying with your own basic truth: who you are, what you are, what you want to be,” Bradbury says. “I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for 25 years now which reads: don’t think. You must never think at the typewriter, you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.”
Unlike Bradbury, I went to college. I enjoyed my time there and wouldn’t change my experience.
Nevertheless, I think Bradbury is correct about the dangers universities pose to creators and free-thinking individuals. For far too long college, has been treated as something people must do to be successful or accomplished or complete.
I think this vision is a mistake. What do you think?
I used University to widen, broaden, deepen interests and understanding yet managed to keep my iconoclastic nature fully intact. I also did it very fast, 180 credits, many graduate level, to earn my B.A. from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2 yrs and 9 months.
While I felt like public education had stolen five years of my life I felt like my time at University had great value.
I’m a 39 YO successful working professional who did not go to college. I work in a technical financial field where most of my peers are JD’s, MBA’s, etc.
I have always “felt” like skipping traditional higher education may have been one of the the best things for my career trajectory. I have had to work really hard to prove myself, but at the same time, I have maintained independent thought and an unusual effective creativity in my agency.
Very good short essay. I have really enjoyed your work since stumbling upon your Substack.