Creativity and education

Here's an interesting link to a post I've had on my desktop and have been meaning to read properly for a while, stimulated by a flyer for an 'Art Boot camp' !!.
Discussions on European vs Singapore/Asian education systems and Steiner schools (sorry EF) as well thrown in in the comments.
Overall I think it can be hard to hold back on all the structure/curriculums and general targets that the society around us has for kids. I found I had tried too early to start teaching S. to read It was like that with potty training, sometimes if you follow the child's lead a lot of time is saved as well as a lot of frustration on both sides. I still have to consciously hold back with M on pushing the academia, but sometimes he's asking for some worksheets etc so I give him what I can. Maybe my lack of time due to other commitments (e.g the 2 littlies) means he is getting his time to 'play'. However me having a mum who's tutoring 'slower' children back in the UK does remind me of the higher expectations there are in the UK at a younger age than here in Sweden. Well it all comes back to the debate of the purpose of education..........