I stumbled upon an interesting blog post written by my colleague, Ivanna. In her article, “Does School Really Kill Creativity?” she reflected on her own personal experience in theater and how that it has positively impacted her academic career as well as her own life. She describes the confined environment that the math and science classes enforce and the lack of creativity within these subjects, which causes most students to resent school. Ivanna proposes that the arts can “fix” the problems that arise from pressures to succeed and lack of creativity in the science and math courses.
In the PBS article Ivanna shared, it stated that “young people who participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a math and science fair, or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate.”
I think Ivanna and PBS article both make a striking point that arts are important to student development, and I completely agree that there needs to be more emphasis on the importance of art. Our society values the math and sciences over art, which teaches children that art is not as valuable as math and science.
Keeping that thought in mind, take a look at this photo below:
Albert Einstein says, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.” In other words, creativity is what drives innovation and the development of new knowledge. I agree with Einstein and think that our school system should not separate the arts and sciences from each other but rather entwine both subjects within each other. I also believe that learning both art and science together gives students a new perspective on the ways of the world.
Art and science, although seem like polar opposites, go hand in hand with each other. One cannot exist without the other.
For example, a mechanical engineer tries to fix a machine but cannot do so without an appropriate blueprint, or art. Additionally, if a new problem that was not taught in school were to occur, the engineer would need to use his creativity skills in order to solve the problem. Also, as Ivanna mentions in her post, art can solve the problem of boredom faced by students in the school system. Being creative will allow students to have an outlet for creative expression which can ultimately benefit their academic career and lives.
Creative!
Photo Credit