Are we killing creativity in schools?

This week we watched Sir Ken Robinson express his thoughts on creativity in schools. Throughout the video, Robinson had many interesting points about the flaws in our system, but the thing that stood out most was when he said was that we are educating children out of their creative capacity.  He talks about how children are not afraid to make mistakes, they believe in taking risks. When people make mistakes, they are learning. In the education system, students are encouraged to not make mistakes. Isn’t that a problem? Shouldn’t we be encouraging students to become creative? Encouraging them to learn? As educators, we are too focused on completing lessons and ensuring that our students come out on top in the main subjects (math, language, science) to focus on the arts, this is happening worldwide. Essentially doing exactly what Robinson is saying, educating children out of creativity.

Honestly, I found everything that he said to be interesting. The video was one of the most interesting things I’ve had to watch so far this semester. There were a couple of things that he said that were also somewhat troubling. The first thing he said was that the purpose of public education is to produce university professors because all schooling focuses on educating the head. People were once told “don’t do art, you’ll never be an artist” or “don’t do music, you’ll never be a musician”, and I think that is sad. You should never tell anyone that they cannot do something, especially a young student. Who are you to say what they can accomplish? Because of situations like that and the current education system today, students think they’re not intelligent enough. They feel like failures because they’re good at music and/or art and not the subjects focused on by schools. Another troubling thing was the story of Gillian Lynne. Her story itself wasn’t troubling, as she ended up being a successful dancer and choreographer. The thing that was troubling is how different her life may have been, had she went to a different doctor, or ever had been born into this generation. Her doctor was smart enough to see that she was in fact very intelligent and did not have a learning disorder, because of him she was sent to a school of dance and became very successful. Had she went to a different doctor, or had been born into this generation where everything seems to have a diagnosis, she would have been told that she had a learning disorder (ADHD), put on medication and would have stayed in regular school for the remainder, maybe never becoming a dancer/choreographer. The thing that troubles me most is this question: how many people could benefit from a different type of learning but never get the chance?

Why would this video be showed in a class for teaching children mathematics? The better question is why isn’t this video being shown in every education course that has to be taken? Robinson has many valid points throughout the entire 20-minute clip. We are educating more people than ever before and everyone is interested in education. Education is meant to take us into the future and unless we want to wipe out creativity and originality all together, we have to rethink the principles that we are teaching. All children have tremendous talents; we have to showcase these talents instead of trying hide them so we can teach the main subjects. Integrate a math rap or a science art project to allow students to show what they are capable of, to make school fun again. Educating a child’s brain is very important, but we have to begin to educate their whole being.

As Robinson said, “Intelligence is diverse, intelligence is dynamic, intelligence is distinct”.

In case you haven't watched the video, here it is: