Nowadays, there is a wide spread concern about what true education should be. Should we fill information into students’ mind, or should we give them freedom to think to study? In this modern developing society, students are more enthusiastic to learn freely and creatively. Kie Ho (2007) in his essay entitled, “We Should Cherish Our Children Freedom to Think,” delivers an extraordinary message- as expressed by the title. His message is that the schools and parents should teach students how to develop their creativities rather than trying to seal their heads with knowledge. I agree with Kie Ho because the true education for students is to be creative and to think freely at school with the progress of the society.
To get better education, thinking and learning power comes from our hearts and minds. As Ho says in the article “We Should Cherish Our Children Freedom to Think,” American schools provide opportunities to students and a path to achieve their creativity, which “people tend to dismiss or take for granted” (2007, p.113). Moreover, he also raised a question if American education system is so wretchedly lower in merit, “why is it that this is still the country of innovation” (Ho, P.113)? Kie Ho believes that creativity and freedom to think is the essential part in American education system. If students use critical thinking skill to develop creativity, they can better understand the material and evaluate their own behavior and characteristics. In many other countries, education inhibited the children’s freedom to think and that repressed the development of students’ activities.
It is true that freedom to think is essential during the students’ development. When I started to study computer science in the United States, I have ...
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...ctuals. The goal of a teacher should be to give the necessary information to the students and then encourage and inspire them to be lively learners by questioning or discussing the issues. True education should give the detailed information to the students which they need in order to become experts in their field of study. The actual duty of teachers is to show the road to success with their knowledge and experience for their students and to direct them to succeed their goals. Therefore, I do think that the education system of freedom to think is better. New idea comes from creativity and creativity comes from freedom of thinking, which are significant to both society and students themselves. Therefore, we should cherish not only children but also all the people’s freedom to think. We can use our own creativity and brain to build our own kingdom in the future.
The article, “Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge” by Diane Ravitch, discusses how in the past people have been deprived from the thinking process and abstract thinking skills. Students need to be given more retainable knowledge by their teachers to improve their critical thinking skills. (Ravitch).
Freedom’s Children is a historical fiction book that tells the story of the major events of the Civil Rights Movements in chronological order from young Civil Rights activists point of view. The book is written from a journalist point of view interviewing the young activists about their experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. The book Freedom’s Children is a compilation of 30 different people’s experiences during the time period of the 50’s and 60’s. Freedom’s Children reveals the everyday struggles of young and old African American people alike; the constant disrespect and segregation they endured on a day to day basis. As i did research on this book, all of the people mentioned/ interviewed in this book existed and had some kind of
Amongst the many arguments that Gatto makes in his article, one of the ones that stands out the most is the one that schooling is created to deteriorate any type of originality in an individual. Gatto argues that not only does school train kids to think they should “consume nonstop” but “even better” it “encouraged them not to think at all” (Gatto154). Gatto believes that schools are creating absent minded individuals that can only think about consuming so that the businesses are the only one benefitting. Critical thinking once again gives the solution to such accusation. Critical thinking can create more open minded individual or students rather than absent minded ones .When students truly reflect and analyze information they are doing more than memorizing it, they are understanding it and finding where they can apply it in their everyday lives. The students are expanding their horizons and developing various ways of thinking and seeing situation rather than just the same fixed positions all the time. A school with open minded individuals can create a better atmosphere too because the students will feel more comfortable expressing original new ideas without the fear of being mocked or ridiculed. Open minded individuals can propose new ideas that can benefit the class as a whole such as a new insightful way of seeing a poem or an idea for a
An educational system should not control its students’ minds; instead, it should be arranged in a way that builds the students’ success with a goal to lead a person to conquer his/her purposes.
The American system of education is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world. One of the surveys on attitudes toward teaching around the world found that the United States is unique in its strong emphasis on "good teaching." My experience at State College has helped me to understand better how this system works, and what methods and techniques American teachers use to motivate their students for creative and active learning. However, I can also see that this system doesn’t work perfectly in every classroom. Reading Ernest Boyer’s article “Creativity in the Classroom” helped me with my understanding of the main problem that nowadays exists with the American college education system. According to the author, the problem is that teachers and students don’t see each other as one team doing the same business; therefore, in most classrooms the process of learning becomes a boring procedure instead of being mind-blowing. Moreover, reading this article, I could analyze the reasons of this problem that the author identifies through my own experiences at State College.
Creativity in was defined by National Advisory Committee for Creativity and Culture in Education (NACCC 1999) by 4 main characteristics. The first is the use of imagination thinking or behaviour concerned with original or unusual ideas or actions. Second is using imagination to pursue a purpose relating to using imagination for purpose and having resilience to keep reinventing this. Third is originality; this is not only in reference to historic originality of anything gone before, but It can be personal originality or peer originality. Forth is judging value; explained as evaluating an imaginative activities worth in relation to a task. Wilson (2009) notes the increase of creativities stature in education and pedagogy from beyond the foundation subjects and arts during the last century. Robinson (2013) argues that modern education is still based around conformity and does not foster children’s natural inquisitiveness or creativity. My view is that education has progressed from the Victorian didactic ways of teaching, heavily influenced by the behaviourist theorist Skinner (Moore & Quintrel 2000). We are now concerned with developing the whole child as appose to simply imparting knowledge, repeating and demanding a correct response. This notion of developing the whole child, concerned with social and emotional qualities as well as academia, was central to the highly influential Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda (DfES 2004). ECM’s outcomes and aims, with respect to children’s enjoyment and achievement, highlight the importance of personal and social development.
What they neglect to realize is that most problems are unpredictable. So when a student faces a challenge not taught in the classroom, they will be incapable of solving or getting out of the situation. Once the formula does not work, creativity becomes a necessity. Some even fear the mere thought of imagination, since new possibilities open up the risk of failure or not being accepted. Students hold back their curiosity once they realize that teachers are unwilling to answer their question if it differs even slightly from the curriculum. These are the exact reasons our youth’s power to create fades. The value of creativity is beyond words; our society thrives on innovation. Take the stereotypical example of Bill Gates—he became a billionaire with the help of his creative thinking. So why would creativity not be the heart of our education system? Simply because there is not enough time or enough people willing to put in the
“The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one “- Malcolm Forbes (Brainy Quotes Inc, 2015). I believe each child has the ability to learn and achieve in any circumstance. Every child has something unique to offer in the world. As an educator it is critical to have a desire for teaching students, because educators makes a difference. Following my philosophy, I will help my students to rise to their potential by giving them a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which they can grow emotionally, socially, and intellectually.
In Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk video, he had many major points that relate to the definition and importance of creativity. A major point how creativity is as important in education as literacy. According to Sir Ken Robinson, “we should treat it with the same status. He explains is that education is used to prepare use for the future, but the future is unpredictable.”.
In the article “What Does It Mean to Educate the Whole Child?” Nel Noddings attempts to provide a deeper insight on what it means to educate the whole child. According to the article, public schools in the United States are currently facing a huge pressure to provide students with thorough and efficient education. In this connection, a program known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has endeavored to ensure that efficient education is provided to all minority children, especially the many who are in the inner-cities. Notwithstanding this endeavor, individuals from some quarters have criticized NCLB by claiming that it is an unfunded mandate since it comes up with costly demands without providing necessary resources to meet them. In effect, among
The authors statement regarding how creative and critical thinking can affect our lives is a very powerful one and it should be. Creative and critical thinking can have a very powerful impact on our lives. People that use these two aspects of thinking are more likely to achieve long and short term goals and make better life decisions, such as the type of career to pursue. They live by a moral code that is well thought out and created to fit the person that they are. They are also more likely to think for themselves and have beliefs that have been closely examined. These are just a few of the examples of what thinking creatively and critically can help a person achieve, but it is clear that they can help a person live a more enriched life and
In this notable Ted Talk video "Do schools kill creativity?", Sir Ken Robinson discusses how public education systems demolish creativity because they believe it is essential to the academic growth and success of students. Robinson created a broad arrange of arguments to persuade the viewers to take action on this highly ignored issue, and he primarily focuses on how important creativity is. There are classes within schools that help utilize creativity, but they are not taken seriously by adults in society. Therefore, the value of creative knowledge decreases. Robinson uses an unusual combination of pathos and ethos to make an enjoyable dispute for implementing an education system that nurtures rather than eats away at creativity.
In conclusion to some up this essay the term ‘creativity’ will always cause a debate in the educational system as. There will always be difficulty defining it as many use the term too loosely to have a definitive meaning. It requires risk taking, it is difficult to portray creativity when schools are so obsessed with right or wrong answers for ways of doing things. Society teaches us the risks are bad because the government and its policies interfere with our own choices and decisions.
Education needs to become an inquiry process between teachers and students. Doing so will decrease all the teacher-student contradiction. Students will then discover that they have the power to educate teachers. Rather than fitting into the world as it is, students will become knowledgeable about their society and shape it to what it could be. Students who are well informed about their world will develop into participatory citizens who are eager take action of responsibility and work toward improving their society and the world since they are aware it. Freire supports this system as the only concept
For an effective education creativity needs to be present within all aspects of a primary classroom. So what does it mean to be ‘creative’? According to Sir Ken Robinson “creativity is the process of having original ideas which have value”. Creativity can be demonstrated through the use of technology, problem solving experiments and allowing children the freedom to explore and express new ideas. It is very important to ensure a child can get the best creative education; this is because creativity will give the necessary skills needed for our future. Children must become creative problem solvers if they are in leadership positions as this will help them within society, even though all children may not be in a leadership position it is beneficial for them to have a creative mind-set. Because the world we live in is constantly developing new ideas, concepts and technology, creativity is definitely the most important quality a child can have. Sir Ken Robinson’s, (an international advisor on education) views on creativity in education will be discussed along with New Labour views which includes the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE). The 1977 white paper, the open plan for schools, and the 2003 excellence and enjoyment strategy concepts will also be drawn on.