Creativity’s Place in Education Creativity is the use of new, original forms of thinking to solve problems and make improvements. In my opinion, this is one of the most important and beneficial skills a person can have. The difference between a skill and a talent is a skill can be learned, therefore the skill can be taught. School’s devotion to teaching students’ the necessary skills to succeed in life is obvious and appreciated, but they can go one step further by implementing a class to explicitly open students’ minds to be more innovative. The benefits of the inclusion of a creative thinking course by the school board can be seen in P.O. Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s The Creativity Crisis, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping point, and my own …show more content…
No one will argue that original and useful ideas are necessary to advance our world and future. Given this undisputed fact, we can assume that the next generation will need to be more innovative than their predecessors, for the sake of advancement. We are already seeing signs in our current society that showing the importance of these skills, such as in an IBM poll that selected creativity as the most important future aspect to “leadership competency”. Although this is slightly more disputed, one cannot argue that creativity cannot be talk. Originality is unteachable, but developing the skills to create something original is. James C. Kaufman is a professor at California State University in San Bernardino, who stated shortly and simply that “Creativity can be taught,” and he is not alone. Three other major colleges have come to the same conclusion (Bronson & Merryman). Lastly, given that creativity can be taught, many would wonder why now. It’s not as if creativity wasn’t an important part of society in the past, in fact it is what created the world we live in today. However, a recent study using the Torrance Test has shown that people’s “creativity quotient” (much like “intelligence quotient” or IQ) has decreased since the 1990’s (Bronson & Merryman). In order to bring those levels back to an ordinary level, and then on to extraordinary, the school board …show more content…
The entire book is about how little things can make a big difference. However, contagious, creative ideas don't just come from nothing, they come from creative people, and creative people come from creative learning environments. A certain type of person outlined in the book is the Innovator, characterized by his/her creativity, and big picture thinking. We see this personality type when learning about the Airwalk ad campaign, and how the creative thinking of a few individuals was able to spark change (even if it was just in the popularity of a shoe), as is made evident by DeeDee Gordon when she said, “You see more activists in trendsetters [Innovators]. People with more passion.” (Gladwell 208), and that is just what schools are trying to do; educate kids to make a change in the world and be active to make a better future. The creative learning environment set forth for kids to grow in is also a very necessary part of making and spreading an original idea. In The Tipping Point states that when analyzing the activities of Innovators, “Different ideas would pop up in different parts of the country…” (Gladwell 209). This tells us how different environments can affect what Innovators view as new, original, or creative new trends, much like how a different or improved learning environment, like the
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.
“The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it's to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they're valued” (Ken Robinson). From the vast and varying array of “TED Talks,” situated on multiple topics, Kenneth Robinson’s speech explores and questions an argument understandable to students in an everyday educational environment. More in depth, English author, speaker, and advisor on education, Sir Kenneth Robinson confronts and challenges the modern day academic school system killing creativity. Robinson argues that; hence, “We are educating people out of their creativity” (Ken Robinson). Kenneth questions whether students, or in other words, future leaders and world changers are being subject to guidelines and rules put in
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 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
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let students choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force students to study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create. Educators choose a general system of education for all students based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity.
There are a whole lot of programs or curriculums out there that try to talk about the environmental and academic needs of children. In this paper, I will try my best to discuss the five components of the Creative Curriculum framework, as well as the philosophies, theories, and research behind its foundation.
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
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.
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.
After reading the article, I found several points that I did agree with. One problem they talked about was our school systems and how they are cutting out time for kids to be creative while in school. To me it seems our school systems have lost their ways and are more focused on teaching us the core curriculum. We need to have time to allow our kids to express themselves in art class, extracurricular activities, and to just be children. I would agree with them that art needs to be placed in homeroom, so kids can express their ideas every day of the week and not just on days they have art class. We need to limit the amount of technology students can use as well, because I think this is a big factor in why our younger generations have lost how to be creative. We are relying on the internet way too much and should encourage kids to go back to the old way of doing research, by using the library and their
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.