Do Schools Kill Creativity?

In class last week, we watched Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk video "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" In this video, he shares many of his thoughts and opinions on the school system and how they treat creativity in the classroom.

 

 



Robinson makes many very interesting points throughout his talk, many of which cause us to really think about what is going on in the education system in today's society. One point which struck me as being very significant in the video was when he says "if you're not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original." As we progress through the primary and elementary grades and into junior high and high school there is a notable decrease in the appreciation for creativity and originality and a move in favour of correct answers and factual information.

We have all probably heard the before that you learn more from your mistakes than your successes, and this is definitely true in the classroom. We should encourage students of any age to take risks when it comes to learning and give them the opportunity to express their creative thoughts without worrying about being wrong or embarrassed if their answer is incorrect. As a future educator, I feel that we should never look to instill fear in our students of any age. The classroom should always be a safe place for them to be who they are and express their thoughts with creativity and imagination. While there will be many times where we will need them to arrive at a certain answer for a question, we must teach them to do this with a sense of encouragement and an openness for learning.

I most definitely see the significance in showing this video to us, as future teachers, because it raises our attention to some of the issues within the school systems that we will very soon be working in. I realize that the issue Robinson has presented in his video is one that can not be solved quickly nor easily, and I feel that there is a shift beginning to be made, but is something we can continue to work towards as we enter into our profession.

To end this post, I will leave you with another quote from Robinson, which I feel sums up very well my thoughts and feelings on this subject:

"Creativity is as important in education as is literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."