The Legend of the Blue Horse

Everyone asks, “Where did you come up with the name, Blue Horse?”

The answer of course lies somewhere in the imagination. And to help us make that point, we commissioned some of the most imaginative people on earth to help us tell “The Legend of the Blue Horse.”

We went to several area schools and offered up a writing and art assignment to their 2nd and 3rd graders. “Tell us,” we asked, “where the Blue Horse came from.” We thought a few of the kids might give us their very special perspective on the issue.

What we got was over a hundred and thirty versions. And every single one is marvelous. We’ve posted a couple of them here for you to enjoy. Many of them are up on the walls of our offices, as you can see from this picture taken during our Open House. We’re working now to preserve all of them and hopefully publish a volume containing as many as possible.

Our thanks go to Freiss Lake Elementary School, Elm Creative Arts School, and the Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School.

By the way, thanks as well go to columnist Lewis Lazare in the Chicago Sun Times who had some kind words to say about our Christmas card this year which featured some of the children’s art, www.suntimes.com/output/lazare/cst-fin-lew23.html

All this brings up a thought. A lot of companies spend their dollars on scholarships and endowments at the college level. This is a fine and noble thing to do. But we were wondering, how many companies might step up and offer their funding to America’s grade schools?

It seems like that money could go a long way toward uplifting the level of our primary education, to better prepare our kids for high school. It’s understandable why any business would want to solicit talent that is ready to join their ranks. But the need seems to be so pressing at the primary and high school levels, particularly the inner city schools or schools which primarily serve our minorities. The kids at these schools are in real danger of not getting the tools to compete. We simply can’t afford to create a society where the gulf between “haves” and “have-nots” is too big to surmount. That problem, it seems to us, starts at the neighborhood grade school level.

Fortunately, the schools we went to seem to be performing in a superlative way. But, if you’re like me, you’ve probably seen those schools that are well, frankly, being left behind. Along with their students.

Imagination begins so early. It’s a shame to see it shatter against reality.