Killing Creativity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

An interesting, and amusing discussion on the problem of the lack of creativity in schools. KRob, as I call him, always has something worth reading/listening to.

One of the more salient points that he makes throughout his lecture is that as educators, we're killing creativity in schools and in classrooms. The "system" is set up to reduce the importance of creativity in evaluating our children. An interesting tidbit that supports this claim is the fact that Howard County schools (Maryland) removed originality and initiative in 1999 from their grading system claiming that there was no way to measure how creative a student had been in the process of actually completing the work that had been assigned. How can we encourage creativity if we're not willing to find ways to reward it? Try to teach a dog to be obedient without any praise, rewards, or acknowledgement-- it's almost impossible... and that's just the half of it. From there, you hope that the dog can apply the principle of obedience to things like responding to various commands, resisting the temptation to urinate on the carpet (something Skippy is failing to do in his old age), and sitting/staying when the situation requires it. The same goes for creativity. We don't encourage creativity enough to expect it in our classrooms. And hear me out, I'm not just talking about telling your kids to be creative on a project or to give creative responses to a question asked. In that sense, we've simplified creativity to an adjective-- something that you produce is/was creative.... failing to acknowledge the fact that the approach, the process, and yes, ultimately, the end result was creative.

Creativity has to be an ongoing process--especially in schools. Too often, I hear, "You can't teach creativity--either you have it or you don't". I tend to disagree with this premise holding the belief that our minds have to be sustained and nurtured in creativity. Children, and especially young children are some of the most creative individuals out. The artwork that children produce is expressive and somehow always seems to come with an explanation of sorts. I agree with KRob's belief that school's indirectly discourage creativity. One of the more unfortunate realities of the education system is that we've stopped seeking the truth and have started to look for the right answer. Truth be told, if we took the time to ask the whys and hows of everything we study, we'd spawn an intellectual thirst that could not be quenched. Debates on the logistics of the "right answer" would lead us to understand that sometimes the "right answer" isn't synonymous with truth. Too often, we give the, "That's just the way it is"-- and unfortunately... the response is discouraging our kids from finding out more... from wanting to know more.

What better place to encourage creativity than in a place that's supposed to support intellectual curiousity and individual student acheivement?