Does Education Kill Creativity?

From the minute an individual is born, they show creativity in their daily life. Whether this is through their personality or through their interests, children will create their own sense of identity. Often, creativity is thought of as simply ‘being good at art’ or ‘writing stories’ however if an individual is passionate enough about a topic, they will be creative.

 Ken Robinson explores this topic in great detail. He believes that education does kill creativity due to the fact that it doesn't build on our skills and talents and you could leave school not knowing what you are good at. He believes that there are many people in the world who are very intelligent and creative and could change the world however they think they can’t because schools don’t value it as highly as it seems like they should. “Creativity in school is as important as literacy.” (Ken Robinson 2006) This is a bold statement and differs greatly from other opinions. Children born with the nature to try even if they do not know if they are right. Robinson believes that education is so rigid that children are made to feel embarrassed if they are wrong, however according to Robinson, if an individual is not prepared to be wrong, then they will never be creative and never create anything original. It seems that school takes the motivation to be creative out of a person rather than promoting creativity with children.

 Picasso believed that “All children are born artists” and this statement suggests that what Ken Robinson is saying is correct, that instead of building upon creativity, children are being educated out of their own creativity. If you were to look at the outcomes of education, it would conclude that the aim of education is to make individuals university professors or that alike. No school in the world would teach the arts such as dance as vigorously and as in depth as the core subjects.

Maths, English and Science are known as the core subject which are compulsory and they are the main subject that people look at when they get results from exams and also the main results jobs and universities will look at. Art and Drama are the more creative subjects and are looked at as not as important even though there are many jobs in the world where having good creativity will pay off greatly.

I believe that schools are doing more at the moment to try and involve creativity in the curriculum. For example, forest schools are letting children go out in the environment and explore which includes building dens, working with tools and lighting fires. Another example is that schools are now looking at methods such as film education and mantle of the expert which I talk about in the other blogs which are both creative ways of learning. Most schools however including the one I went to don’t take creativity into account as much as they should with the emphasis still being on Maths, English and Science. A study was carried out and over half the people asked in America, UK, Japan, France and Germany thought that education did kill people’s creativity.

Creativity

“Creativity means connecting the previously unconnected in ways that are new and meaningful to the individual concerned”. (Duffy 2006) Being creative is having a view point that is original, valued by others and that is built upon.

Being creative will open up different types of job opportunities. Dr. Lynn Levesque, a Business creativity consultant, has identified the following styles of creativity that develop top performance in an organisation;

·         ‘The Adventurer’ – this is an individual whose creativity is enhanced by photographers and talented sports figures

·         ‘The Navigator ’ – this is an individual whose creativity is influenced by inventors and painters

·         ‘The Explorer’ – this is an individual whose creativity is similar to Walt Disney and many individuals that have thought of an original idea and made a business out of it

·         ‘The Visionary’ – this is an individual whose creativity is before their time and they are related to internet gurus such as Bill Gates

·         ‘The Pilot’-, whose creativity is a form of strategy and are closely related to having skills similar to a project manager.

·         ‘The Inventor’-, whose creativity is found in philosophers and architects and is related to being deep thinkers.

·         ‘The Diplomat’-, whose  creativity is similar to the work done by civil rights activists and caring leaders

·     'The Poet', whose creativity is very well thought out.

It doesn't matter what creativity you have but it is important that you know which one you are and you are confident with it.

Education is supposed to enhance creativity. It should notice that pupils all have the ability to become creative and more imaginative. Education should recognise the talents that their pupils have and should be able to work on these and make them into a skill that they will have for life and can use in later life. Education should also realise that pupils need time to experiment and find out how things work in order to be able to understand them better. Pupils should also be given the amount of time they need to get used to certain concepts, subjects and topics.

Some disadvantages could be that if everyone became too creatively focused it could take away from some of the subjects that are just as and seen as more important such as Maths, English and Science. People who haven’t found out how creative they are or don’t feel like they are creative might feel left out if they make creativity more important in education. Lack of focus is seen as a big problem when talking about creativity because pupils do seem to go off topic. More time will be needed to become creative in education and this could take away time from the core subjects which could cause parents to be opposed to it.

In my own opinion creativity is a necessity to life. I don’t think it’s for everyone including me because I don’t class myself as creative. I agree with Dr. Levesque and what she says about there being different types of creativity and you need to find out which one suits you. I believe that having creativity could offer better opportunities in life and having an idea that is original could get you a very good job and earn lots of money and also could even end up helping others as well.