Do schools kill our kids creativity ?
I am a believer that our creativity has been mutilated over the years and our educational institutions can no longer keep up with the speed of changes in our society nor keep up the quality of information available in the internet.
Take few minutes to watch this extremely awesome video from Sir. Ken Robinson who talks about this particualr topic. (posted by www.QuestQualitySolutions.com)
Please let me know what your thoughts are.
Enjoy !
http://questqualitysolutions.com/you-tube-videos.asp
Edison Reis
Tags: "Edison Reis", "quest quality solutions", creativity "change in the educational system" "system thinking"
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 am
What an amazing video!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 am
No, I don’t believe our schools kill student’s creativity. However, I don’t believe our schools have curriculum’s that place an emphasis on the creativity process nor do I believe we have many teachers with the training or skills to nurture the creative processes of our students. That is not to say some schools do an excellent job in this arena. But, these schools are few and far between. This is where I believe industry needs to support our schools.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
School systems in the United States are highly focused on passing tests rather than educating students - the conflict between real education and passing tests has removed much of the creative learning opportunities in schools. There are a few people who can naturally pass tests without much strain, but there are many who have to be ‘desensitized’ by frequent testing to get them over the hump of standardized tests most school systems are required to meet federal or state educational requirements. Couple that with the large numbers of non-English speaking students (at least in the Southwest) have as well, and there isn’t much time for anything but ‘pass the test’ instruction. Consequently, true education suffers and what little occurs is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Did you know that fall recruitment is currently underway in many universities and if the students are not in the top 10-15% they are not even being interviewed? As a parent, if this is how my child will get a job, it’s my duty to ensure that he/she studies for tests and gets the best grade possible. Even if he/she is a dancer, etc., it’s time to take a break and study Math, Science and English.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 am
It´s a perfect question! I don´t know how is school systems in the United States, I’m Brazilian citizen! However our school systems has a lot of the influence from USA. In fact I observe this phenomenon a long time! I can say that for myself! cause I had a tremendous difficulty with this kind of the school systems! I lost hours and hours study to pass in each test that I had done in my life! And now! My two children’s has the same problem! It is visible! I believe that we are in face of the big paradigm!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:19 am
Creativity can take a beating at school. But the school system can also present hundreds of opportunities for parents to inspire creative thinking in their own children. (”So you think the science teacher hates you? Why do you think that might be? How might he be misinterpreting your behavior? What can you think of to try to do about it?”) Shame on us if the school system is a bigger influence on our kids than we are!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
During my career, I have worked with a number of professionals who didn’t have college degrees. These people were excellent practioners of their chosen professional. What made these people standout was education. They were students of their profession. They used books, seminars and active memberships in professional organization as access to that education. College is not for everyone but education must be.
Getting closer to home…. every parent should be an active participant in their child’s education. We live in a fast pace society that is getting faster by the minute. But the activity of our daily lives doesn’t excuse a parent from the commitment of parenthood.
I attended college by working the third-shift (6 to 7 days a week) in a factory and took classes part-time during the day. I raised two children during this period of time and was active in their lives. I knew the books they read, the music they enjoyed, their friends and what/how they were doing in school. My children were active in school and the whole family was active in church. While I didn’t attend every school function nor was I in church every time the doors were open, I was involved. School systems should be held accountable for the influence they have on a child’s education. But, the parent has the ultimate responsibility. Be involved!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
Many schools don’t offer an environment which fosters creativity. Both my sons were homeschooled and are well adjusted, talented and creative young men. One has attended an American highschool and dropped out early because he couldn’t move up - the teachers are paid on the grade point average, so it’s not in their interests to move good students on! Earlier in their lives, both boys attended a state school in the UK, only to be pulled out because they were not challenged or had difficulties - the younger one had a greater vocabulary than his peers - learned from his huge appetite for books - and didn’t ‘fit in’ and was shunned by them for it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:22 am
I never had faith in formal education of anytype right from my childhood
I completely agree that schools kill creativity. Schools try to take away the rebellion, put too much structure to limit the boundaries of mind, engrain fear through competition, define right and wrong, correct and incorrect, enforce views to restrict thinking and all these things kill that genius, that creator in every child. In addition they waste a lot of time on things that are not necessary to learn for all, but do take away the precious childhood time that could be spent creatively outside the school
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:24 am
Hello all,
I just read an article that states ……… the information provided by universities becomes outdated by the second year. Wow, that’s shocking but truly a reality of newer technologies and the fast pace of our era.
If it takes takes about 1 -2 years to develop a new (or revised) curriculum and then it becomes outdated after 2 years……… what are we investing our money on ? Is this current education system in sync with our high speed society ?
Just another twist on this discussion.
Thank you all for participating and sharing your thoughts.
Cheers
Edison Reis
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
With the pace so high, it is more important to learn ‘how to learn’ (i.e. education) rather than ‘what to learn’ (i.e. passing the next standardized test). Unfortunately we are doing the latter with our focus on testing metrics as the way to raise education system performance.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
Hi Edison, I agree as well! I would have certainly been ADHD if it was invented when I was in school (of course, they had to invent the drug first).
Improving creativity is one of the key reasons I feel there is an accelerating movement to home schooling (which I support).
As well, many companies ask for their employees to be open, creative / innovative and risk takers, while saying out the other side of their mouth “but don’t go too far” (which in reality is not far at all). This is one key reason they dig themselves into their own graves.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
Fantastic talk, Edison. Thanks for sharing. I do indeed agree with Sir Robinson. From my own experiences I can only now say, some 40 years from when I first started school, that I have overcome those lessons in risk aversion that limited my creativity. The unlearning process is lengthy.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:30 am
Edison,
I want to thank you for the link; Sir Ken Robinson was wonderful!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Great book called Dumbing Us Down - Gatto. Not just about creativity but an interesting read. Really fun and interesting you-tube.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
I think that one of the greatest challenges that universities face is that they try to teach the basics from books. What I learned in undergraduate school was useful in a way, but in the business world things were so much different.
A prime example is that deadlines in school are deadlines… they never change. In business things change constantly and even if you are a person, like me who always gets things done correctly and on-time there is more and more evidence that it doesn’t matter which is very discouraging.
I found that in my MBA classes I got a lot more out of my education and learned some extremely valuable practical experience by taking a semester and dedicating myself to creating a mobile workforce management course in which I studied the effects of using Pocket PC’s and Smart Devices that allowed not only real time information, but also reduction in data transcription errors, initial alerts top management, and finally immediate response when a stop production must occur. I would welcome any thoughts on my ideas.
Take care and have fun!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 am
Hi Edison,
Many thanks for Sir Ken’s video ….
Never realised that the trouble with formal education is so wide spread ….
Thanks again ….
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 am
Edison - re: superannuation of information. I have heard similar. The underlying challenge being that syllabus content becomes (just?) a vehicle to develop (or impose, if done badly) skills in how to think. To answer your question, I would say this is what some institutions are investing our money on.
I agree that schools play a role in killing kids’ creativity, but consider that rather than one fell blow, it is death by a thousand cuts. Socialisation in general, developing a persona that ‘fits’ with others is what kills creativity - schools are just one weapon.
For further interesting links, please see http://justcreativedesign.com/2009/03/30/the-secret-to-creativity/
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Thanks for the video link Edison, really interesting content.
I work in partnership with UK schools and there is a huge challenge which is confused by the need to achieve UK Government targets – we have league tables based on academic performance (exam passes) and a number of emotional intelligence initiatives which many schools view as a tick box exercise - ’soft, fluffy stuff’. I work on the latter; personal, social, emotional and employability skill development, it is the former that is killing creativity in schools and young people gaining a valuable education.
The biggest question most young people have is “how is school relevant to my life?” Unfortunately this is rarely answered or investigated by teachers. They are focused on getting students through exams – a reflection on their teaching ability. I have coached several graduates who say ‘I got my grades, now what?!’
I am an advocate for facilitation complementing the need to teach. One is about encouraging personal discovery the other learning facts. Many teachers tell me that they have been taught to teach and are sure where to start if they go ‘off-script’. They have deadlines to meet.
An education needs to be nurtured, a curiosity developed about subjects, the relevance to the rest of their lives, and hence people become creative where they have been allowed to question and investigate. Making mistakes is a must for people to learn, even if we know something is going to fail, we must allow the individual(s) to find out for themselves.
Edison mentions parental goals, many do live vicariously through the success of their children. Are teachers doing the same by pushing for young people to succeed in their subject rather than focus on the big picture? I never tell a student they can’t achieve any goal, I ask them where they are starting from and where they want to go. Ideas, motivation and the enthusiasm to find out more really kick in.
When I work with students they love the session because they get to talk about what’s important to them, develop their personal understanding of themselves and the challenges in the world. I use whatever comes up under the heading and objective I provide. My motivational talks to people of all ages also have the effect that people can’t wait to share and discuss the thoughts and ideas that have been generated.
Kind Regards,
Dale Rockell MA, MCMI, LCH Dip
http://www.bestressfree.co.uk
http://www.dalecrockell-lifecoach.co.uk
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
It is a great video. I first saw this video when it came out on TED. I have shred it on my PLN Technology Integration in Education at http://tech-in-ed.ning.com . Thanks for sharing it here too.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:43 am
Edison, I couldn’t agree more, they absolutely do. I highly recommend the video you linked to above to anyone.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 am
Could very well be. I do understand that people, especially kids are like snowflakes; no two are alike. So, schools would have a tough time having a streamlined educated children manufacturing process. I am sure there is a way to customize education to bring out the creativity. Perhaps there is an engineering solution, not to sound like children are robots but quite the opposite. Using customization to accommodate the uniqueness in every child. Something to ponder upon. Not sure I added much but thanks for the question.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
What a great video - thanks for sharing!
Hi Edison!
This video reminds me to the times when I was a kid…….. I haven’t understood for years why it was so hard for me to concentrate when I had to listen to the lectures of my teachers.
Now I know…… - I learn by moving, I learn by doing, I learn by sharing and discussing, and not by sitting still for hours.
I struggeled with math and thought I was stupid because I did not “quite get it” ……… Today I value my communications skills and my strong ability to work and relate to people. Would I have known this years ago, I could have chosen my career path earlier and more effectively.
I sincerely believe that the education system has to change……. There has to be more emphasis on creativity, thinking outside the box and emotional intelligence.
Teachers have to have ability to understand different personality styles and teach the advantage of valuing diversity.
The kids of today are our future - it truly is our responsibility to inspire environments of creativity and endless opportunities.
It would be great if times of hierachy and feeling in a position of power would become history! This is true for schools, universities and business………
Have a great weekend,
Karin
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hi Edison,
An inspiring talk, but Sir Ken omits to point out that there IS a form of education around at the moment that conforms exactly to the spirit of this talk and that is the Steiner Education.
I’m from Austria and we have many different education systems but I like to give you a quick outlook of my favorite system, the Steiner Education. (now worldwide)
Steiner thought that schools should cater to the needs of the child rather than the demands of the government or economic forces, so he developed schools that encourage creativity and free-thinking. The need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility – these are the three forces which are the very nerve of education.” “Our highest endeavor must be to develop individuals who are able out of their own initiative to impart purpose and direction to their lives”.
Steiner defined ‘three golden rules’ for teachers: to receive the child in gratitude from the world they come from; to educate the child with love; and to lead the child into the true freedom which belongs to man.”
ER these are few notes, although Steiner education has already stood the test of time, many believe it will show its full promise in the 21st century.
Note: In Steiner schools dance is an integral part of the curriculum.
Cheers Albert
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:47 am
A nice witty video.
We have gotten away from imagination. When my son was young I had to explane how to use a bb gun and toy soldiers . It was not in a video game .
To my suprise he got his Ba in art education and loves pasing on his passion to children. Some how he got his imagination back . The pitty is due to cut backs he is an unemployed art teacher.
Our education system has gotten away from promoting the arts .
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 am
We cannot blame the schools alone. The school of hard knocks gets most of us. We let it happen to us.
Formal education gets rid of creativity and risk taking. The probability of Phd’s starting up business is lower than that of Masters degree holders, which is lower than that of bachelor’s degree holders. School leavers are the most daring.
Schools do make us conform and make us dull.
A couple of decades ago, at O level exams, I was told, there was a question in physics:
With a barometer, How would you measure the height of a very tall tower?. The expected answer had to do with the concept of drop in pressure with elevation.
A bored student wrote; I know of four ways:
Take the barometer up to the tower. Take a stop watch. Drop the tower. Note the time taken for the barometer to shatter on the ground. You can estimate the height using newton’s laws.
Second: place the barometer on the ground. measure the length of the barometer and the length of the shadow of barometer. Measure the length of the shadow of the tower.Using the principle of similar triangles, compute the height of the tower.
Third, climb up the tower and step off the length of the barometer along the way. Measure the length of the barometer with a ruler and then compute the height of the tower.
By the way, pressure also decreases with height. Perhaps this is the method you are looking for: measure the barometric pressure at the top of the tower and that at the base. From the difference, you can compute the height of the tower…….
Point aside: Creative people are also very expensive to maintain in an organisation. They refuse to conform and unless their creativity is used, they become liabilities.
The trick is not to lose the child in ourselves. The ability to wonder at nature and and the ability to dream and execute our creative ideas to improve things…
Do not let anyone take it away from you.
Here are four tips to maintain your creativity (despite schooling effects)
Spend time with children.
Use your left hand every day for it controls the creative side of your brain.
Listen to music every day to exercise the same side of the brain.
Be with creative people and dreamers and avoid cynics.
Here is my parting shot: A child was aked to define love.
The kid said ” Even though she looks like a bus, you tell her she is beautiful,
that is love”
At the end of it all:Do practice love for humanity and all creatures and nature that sustains us even if you have lost your creativity.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:53 am
School penalizes kids for having different learning styles. In the first few grades, the kid who can’t sit still and be quiet is inconvenient for the teacher. Parents get notes home about poor behavior, and recommendations that the child be treated for ADHD. This can’t be good for creativity. Overwhelming homework and overscheduled organized activities are even worse. Unnecessary, and keep kids from unstructured play–the activity that teaches them more about creativity than any other activity.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
Yes, schooling mutes creativity because it socializes children into thinking in accepted structures.
All children are born innately creative, but lose it as they grow up. Interesting experiment on this: Nasa once tested all its scientists and found 2 per cent could be judged as highly creative. Then it tested 1500 5-year-olds and found 98 per cent were highly creative. followups on 10 yearolds showed the highly creative number had dropped by 30 per cent. same for each five years until they grew up and were barely creative.
But school isn’t the only culprit. So is society, which demands logical thinking for success. As we grow older and become more socialized, we form mental frameworks through which we process information. This has the unfortunate result of bending all information to something we already know. So, we have to work at creativity when we’re older. Right brain thinkers tend to do it almost naturally, because they have trained themselves to do it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
Absolutely, our school system destroys the full creative potential of our kids. Look at a first grader to a h.s. senior, the 1st grader has the creativity capacity to think to do whatever they can imagine while the senior is programed to get good grades in h.s. keep your nose clean to get into a good college to get a good ___(job, not be your boss and own a company).
Our education system teaches people to fit in a box/cube (college testing/asvab etc…) instead of dream and to go after your dreams which are often only available if they are an entrepenuer. I strongly believe that most people are unhappy because they are not pursuing anything worthwhile with their lives, they know it, and are stuck in a rut. I think that creativity is more available when you are free to dream.
Jobs don’t require creative thought in the vast majority of cases; while if you are on your own in your own business you will think dream and spend creative energy to build your company. With most corporations there is a few people that know how to think which is often higher up in the organization chart everyone else at the lower levels follow rank and do as they are told, to stay where they are to cover their living expenses.
Our system teaches socialism where everyone is the same if you are lazy or ambitious; not capitalism where you have a chance to better your life if you are willing to work dream and create; expanded further its socialism taught in a capitalist society.
It is absolutely amazing the flip that the industrial revolution and the prussian education system has had on America’s concepts of dreams, creation, and business. My stance is dreams produce more creative ideas and often the fuel for those dreams is found in the ability to make mistakes and think for yourself; which is a luxary awarded to the entreprenuer, that is not encouraged or talked about by our schools.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am
This is one of my favorite TedTalks. I love this line of his: “Kids will take a chance, and if they don’t know, they’ll have a go.” Says it all.
And, Picasso saying that we all start by being creative. The trick is hanging on to it
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
This string has made me think a bit and I agree that our school aren’t geared toward nurturing creativity and innovation. But this raises the question…does our society value creativity? Does it understand the value of it? Back on the school topic, part of the problem is that today’s schools are so pressured to “follow the plan” due to perfornace incentives that the plot has gotten lost along the way. This is why may people turn to alternative private schools to give their students a creative incubator.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
I don’t believe schools stifle creativity in most cases it’s society and our parents who do the stifling. And from a recent Harris Interactive study and a couple other study make this quite clear. The Harris study found that parents encourage their kids (8-17) to become a doctor (33 percent), lawyer (25 percent), teacher (31 percent), veterinarian (23 percent), nurse (20 percent), actress/actor (21 percent) and businessperson (17 percent).
Just like math and science acumen, creativity incubation within schools is a function of the amount of money the school has. Wealthier schools produce schools with a greater level of proficiency in math and science and wealthier schools have more extra curricular activities: band, art, music, theater, etc.
Even with that creativity has to be nurtured by the parents from birth. But with 10.6 million single mothers living with kids under 18 and 80% of families needing the wife’s and husband’s income to support their families, early child development is typically left to grandparents, nannies, baby sitters and nursery schools or the TV, and how many of them are encouraging creativity.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
I agree with Sir Ken too. The only saving grace is it probably get worse when you get into business, as Sir Ken acknowledges in his book ‘Out of our Minds - Learning to be Creative’ when he says
“‘We ask where we can find talented people but we ignore the talents of people that surround us. We look but we do not see, because our common-sense assessment of their abilities distracts us from what is actually there. We ask how to promote creativity and innovation but stifle the process and conditions that are most likely to bring it about’”
More info on how business destroys creativity can be found in ‘Creativity in Context’ by Theresa Amabile.
So you could cynically argue, if business can’t cope with creativity - why should schools nurture it?
And yet, despite all of this - there are still creative people. So does it make any difference?
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
Mostly - an absolute yes! Padraig Pearse (one of the early 20th century Irish revolutionaries and a school-teacher) called it the”murder machine”.
This is a huge topic for discussion but I think we mostly remember those teachers who treated us as creative beings rather than cannon-fodder to be conventionalised.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
hi, i know everybody is disgusted about their teaching method of schools, but when you have experience learning then you always learn more if you remember the way we learn in our times experimenting everything.
We are more curious to know and learn by making and exploring. I know everybody is missing those days of learning.
But i got chance to send my kids in same way of teaching school called OPG world school in INDIA. Covering one topic a day in subject and telling and making student to explore and study about different aspect of it, to know almost everything about it. For example if they give them a topic like a screw now child has to explore how it is make, what quality, where this metal come from, what is this metal and so on. By the end of the year you covers almost 40 article\object or topics in one subject. Besides book learning method. This make sense to me. Its makes them more creative and independent.
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Yes. The school systems in America have been invaded by politics and the teachers labor union to such an extent that kids are not taught principles consistent with the realities of life. There are many talented and dedicated people within the system, to be sure, but political correctness has become so pervasive that it, not a child’s education, has become the goal. So deep is this mindset that those who have accepted that distorted view don’t see what is truly happening to the curriculum and the damage it is causing to the kids.
Schools, any more, are a means to an end for those that run them, the politicians that control the budgets and the unions that control the teachers and curriculum. to produce adults that think and act in a manner consistent with their belief structure and not adults that think for themselves.
So, children can not be creative, (think for themselves), IF if that thinking falls outside the bounds the prescribed political view points of the administration/politician/teacher’s union. And, that is an unbearable shame!
September 4th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Thank you all for participating !
This discussing is looking great and mainly is awesome to learn from each other!
All the best
Edison Reis
September 6th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Hello all. Pretty much as a society we have a tendency to stifle kids creativity. We do not let kids try to do things because they (the kids) might mess something up. Whether it is allowing them to try things (installing software and hardware on a comnputer) to fixing something, it is more about empowering the kids to try different things, to solve problems there way, to make things (projects or food) the way they want. You need to be involved, but not as to keep them from failing, but to keep them from burning down the house or killing themselves.
Computers can be fixed, physical belongings can be replaced, but creativity needs to be nurtured and encouraged (four kids has taught me some patience).
My wife is a very progressive educator, and parents are one of the roadblocks. If it wasn’t the way they learned, then the method is not correct. It starts at home……
Thanks
September 6th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
But of course the schools and text books do exactly that.
JL Mealer
Mealer Companies LLC
September 7th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Isn’t this a great discussion for a labor day long weekend ?
Edison Reis
September 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Kills creativity? Not only that! It sets kids to develop procrastination thanks to the reward of perfectionism (as Edison mentioned in the second post), it also paves the road to frustration/depression/self-isolation and others, thanks to the focus on subject-matter which is so rarely rewarded by social environment. Schools are more slaves producing factories, so much need for the wealth of society, then a place for OUR kids.
There are some inspiring alternatives of youth guidance: the teaching methods for nazi pupils or schools of Tibet, to name a controversial few. I’m particularly interested in the later which I know merely from stories heard at source. Should you encounter any trustworthy write up on the teaching methods in the Tibet/Mongolia region - please drop me a note.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Well, we do live in a society that prizes credentials over brains, passion or sheer hard work. Conversion to a real meritocracy is an uphill struggle.