Schools Kill Creativity

My first impression I got from Ken Robinson's talk was that the guy should be doing stand up comedy. I almost felt like he was putting on a show, and it was very good. The audience also seemed to enjoy it very much as well. I also agreed with some of the things he said, but I almost feel like it was more funny than it was informational. I don't know how much I truly got out of it. I certainly understood his feelings on the topic, but he did not really offer any solutions to the problems.

His main issue was that young students are very talented, and at a young age they are less worried about being incorrect in responses and are more creative with their answers. He thinks that through time, schools teach students to grow out of creativity. He said people don't tend to grow into creativity but they grow out of it. He also believes that schools focus all their time on math, science and the major subjects and spend too little time on the arts, such as dance. He also discussed the idea of academic inflation and how earning your MA is the equivalent to what earning your BA was in the past. He also told a story about how a student was thought to be mentally ill in some form because they could not sit still, and most likely had what we call today as ADHD. One of the doctors came to the conclusion that it was because the student was being couped up all day, and came to realize she was really a dancer and needed to have the freedom to move around. This particular student went on to be a very successful dancer in her life.

I can see Ken Robinson's point that we need to encourage creativity more in our students, but at the same time I do not think creativity is limited to dance and art. When he discussed creativity that seemed to be all he talked about. I think those subjects are very important, but at the same time they are probably not emphasized because a majority of students will not be moving on to careers in art or theatre. I think the issue may be that we do not emphasize creativity enough in all subjects. Robinson described creativity as original ideas that have value. I agree with this definition, and if that is the case then their is definitely opportunities to be creative in all subject matters. If we teach creativity in all subjects then students will be able to come up with new and fresh ideas, which will lead to a very positive future for our country.

Schools Kill Creativity