In our fast changing society, it comes to a time where we need to change many facets of our lives that we once thought were stable and inflexible; education is on the clock for change. Have the SAT’s distracted schools from the big picture in education? What is the importance of creativity in education? If it is significant, how can it be taught, and what problems or challenges stand in the way of developing more creativity in students. I will explore examples of schools that try to add creativity into the curriculum, and if they were successful in doing so.
In the recent years, education as a whole has been primarily focused on training students for the SAT. According to a report by Starko, schools in China have been, “laser focused” on SAT scores, but that level of concentration and devotement comes with a cost. The students in China lack the ability to think creatively and innovatively (Starko). As a result, they are having trouble implementing creativity into their schools (Starko). Similarly, a majority of US schools put a higher emphasis on the SAT than any other subjects that are non mandatory (Starko). Whenever institutions are so hyper focused to improve in one area, it diminishes time to develop other skills; namely creativity. Preparing students for the SAT’s has its downside, but does the positive outweigh the negative? Moreover, is it worth our time to teach creativity in our schools? According to an article by Stephen H. Davis, creativity is not limited to children who are gifted with artistic skills, rather it is an imperative skill that all children need to possess. If our schools are determined to train leaders, then creativity is a must. In order for students to act innovatively, we need to create an environment...
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...idea (Pappano).” I agree with this new approach, mainly because we often look at new opportunities as burdens and a liabilities. Pappano continued to state that an opportunistic attitude can make all the difference in the world in regards to innovation.
Sir Ken Robinson points to a very interesting study conducted in 1968 regarding the decline of creativity (Florida). The study consisted of 1600 children between the ages 3-5 where their “creativity level” was met in 98% of the children (Florida). Unfortunately as the years go on, those percentages dramatically decreased (Florida). Nearly 300,000 adults were tested with the age of 25, and a mere 2% of them passed (Florida). Who would of thought that we have more creativity at the age of 3 than 25? While this study was conducted 46 years ago, there has been no contradicting evidence that says otherwise (Florida).
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press. Van Hoose, W.H. (1980).
All students, and children especially, have tremendous talents, which are forgotten when their minds walk through the school door. Their forever developing talents and favorite interests are left for an uncreative school environment. I, for one, have always been taught and believed in an education, or following the guidelines of another, was essential in achieving wealth and success later in life. However, after listening to Robinson’s argumentative speech, I realize creativity and a valued education coincide with each other. To justify myself, creativity and thinking outside the box has led to many of the world’s advancements. Therefore, when teaching future leaders, and future generations of employees and employers, teaching creativity in a forever rapidly changing and unpredictable world would have benefits. At last, I believe that the educational system puts too much emphasis on a substantial, everyday American future over one’s happiness in a later life. Every human being is already born a unique artist, never made into one; constantly growing into a more talented
Imagine a world without artists, poets, inventors, authors, or designers… Can’t do it? You don’t have to .All you have to do is look at the students being molded by the American public school system, a group of boring conforming unimaginative robots. The problem with the American school system, as argued by John Taylor Gatto in his article “Against School”, is that it’s designed to create students to conform and adapt, to determine their social roles. Schools don’t pay nearly as much attention in encouraging the students to think more critically or creative as they do in making sure they are labeled by some absurd “standardized test”. The school system needs to focus on creating a group of innovators, creative students who think outside the
The current education system and its goals of focusing on standardized test scores has provoked heavy criticism from individuals who see the system as a failure to students by suppressing creativity rather than allowing them to express their personal genius. This type of “strategic” teaching seems anything but strategic; by adopting this method, teachers harm and limit students in a way beneficial to, literally, no one. Creativity is the basis of our world’s success, and teaching students away from this is detrimental to a progressive society. In his magazine article “Against School,” award winning writer and libertarian John Gatto recognizes the flaws of the school system and works to expose them in hopes of provoking a change. What makes
Creativity isn’t a test to take or a skill to learn. Creativity is expressed in various ways like thinking about something in a different light, or the ability to create something on an empty canvas. The biggest flaw with the SAT is that crucial subjects like social studies, science, art, and music are brushed to the side while topics such as mathematics and English are elevated far above their real world relevance. A test that excludes all of the equally important subjects cannot possibly measure the holistic intelligence of a person.
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.
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
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
This shows how much society has changed since the 1900’s. Modern-day children are worse in almost every aspect of creative thinking when compared to previous generations. Society is hurting children’s imagination by not being supportive of outside time and social connections. With modern electronic devices, kids seldomly need to leave the house in order to be entertained. The lack of play time and social interactions severely hamper the development of children’s creativity. In summary, society is developing into something that lacks encouragement of creativity, and that is a major
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 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.
Using creativity in the classroom will create strong students and help better them for the future. Now, students are just being taught to what is on the test. They do not learn how to be leaders, how to work in groups, people skills, or how to use their mind that is not just for memorizing the information. “The challenge now is to transform education systems into something better suited to the real needs of the 21st century. At the heart of this transformation there has to be a radically different view of human intelligence and of creativity” (Robinson K., 2011, p. 14). Using creativity and technology will allow the students to enjoy learning more. I noticed in my final project, that other students who weren’t education majors, saw this problem too. Many of them did not see creativity in a classroom, they felt that the school system was creating them into robots that taught them all how to think a certain way. Ken Robinson feels that, “we don’t grow into creativity; we grow out of it. Often we are educated out of it.” (2011, p. 49). Teachers should be teaching students how to be creative, and how to think on their own, so students will be able to go far in the future and succeed in any job they
.... Starko also explains that students should study the lives of creative in order to understand what inhibits creativity. Finally the last step is to teach the creativity in each subject. Not all ideas of creativity work for different subjects so it is important to show which are known to work best in each subject.
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.
Since we are born we have imagination and as we grow up this imagination may increase or decrease. Creativity strongly relies in our imagination. Depending on different circumstances people learn to express their creativity openly while other people close themselves and believe they do not have creativity. Creativity is a natural talent that every single human has. Creativity can be used to solve a complex problem in a different manner or just to find innovative ways to have fun. Creativity is thinking out of the box. Even though creativity cannot be taught from scratch there should be a class that is specific for creativity.