Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson is a creativity expert who says that schools steer kids away from their creativity. I have to say that I agree with him. As Robinson states in his entertaining lecture, creativity is as important as literacy, but schools prioritize their subjects differently. Math and language are most important, followed by social studies, government, and other humanities. The arts are seen as less important. This seems fairly accurate to the way that my education has been. In high school, we were only required to take one credit (one years worth) of any art or music classes while we were required to take 3-4 years of the other subjects and to complete specific classes within each subject. My school also displayed what Robinson said about drama. Drama and dance are seen as even less important than art and music. At my school, drama was a club. It offered no academic value. I think that there are two big reasons for the loss of creativity. One is schools, as he stated, schools train kids to be university professors. The other is a statement he made earlier in his presentation.

"If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Ken Robinson)

Robinson described how people don't come up with new things, or things that are their own, because they are afraid to do things wrong. When we are creative, our products really depend on the way that others view them. No one wants to be frowned upon, scolded, embarrassed, or ashamed of themselves or their work. For this reason, people don't take chances. They stick to what they know is right. It is a shame that we aren't more creative. Who knows how many more products and inventions we would be using today if more people were willing to take a risk!



Read Pia's thoughts about schools and creativity!