Today I wanted to respond to my friend Alex’s post entitled School’s Kill Creativity. In this, he describes his experience watching the TedTalk Do school’s kill creativity? by Ken Robinson. First of all, props to him for watching a TedTalk a day, that is extremely admirable and I am sure that he has learned an uncanny amount from it. Second, in the talk, Robinson shows our education systems are virtually taking away students creativity.
http://the-skore.com/the-magic-of-hierarchy/
As Robinson points out there is a hierarchy within education. As silly as this may sound, it is true and can be witnessed in most any school around the country and perhaps the world. As he points out, schools require more math courses than art classes. While math is extremely valuable, Robinson points out that while we should replace math classes with art classes, we should treat classes that embrace creativity as important as those that are more analytical.
In the talk, he shares several short examples of children unafraid of being wrong. One features a six year old girl who said she was drawing a picture of herself with God. At this point, her teacher tells her that no one knows what God looks like and she promptly responds, “They will in a minute.” Her blissful ignorance and open creativity allow her to imagine and create God for herself.
Children are free to take a chance and have little to no regard for the outcome. As Robinson eloquently says, children are “not frightened of being wrong…What we do know is, if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original — if you’re not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong.” The quote points out that as people grow up they are less and less likely to take a leap or try something new. There is an outside pressure to always predict the outcome of your actions.
http://www.walkersgymnasticsdance.com
In another story, Robinson describes the story of a young girl prior to having access to learning disability medication. The student could not focus in class which caused the teachers to send a letter to her parents expressing their concern. This resulted in the girl’s first experience in dance class where she found her passion. As an adult, the girl was lauded in her field — she was known for her performance as well as her choreography. This occurred because she was able to find and embrace her creativity instead of being forced to “calm down” and “focus more” while in school.
As Alex points out in his post, writing is a form of art just like any other. There are many ways for students to embrace their creativity. One of those being through writing. Rather than following the formulaic guidelines offered in classrooms, one can and should find a platform to express their feelings in words. Write about your passions. Write about your dreams. Write about current issues faced in society. Just write. Express yourself in what ever way helps you embrace your creativity.