Creativity and schools

In the video of a TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson talks about how schools are killing creativity, or rather how schools are not nurturing creativity in the students. I think it is true. In schools, students are driven into scoring good grades. That is what mattered, that is the only way they will ever get praised or even recognized, a piece of letter between A to F. Even with the impending change of grading system to Band 1 (lowest) - Band 6 (Highest), I doubt that will be any difference.

Now I will assume the student I'm talking about actually puts effort into studying. The problem with that piece of letter is that it is an end result, the finale of all that student's hard work. If that student did not do so well, say he/she gets a C, well all that hard work goes to waste. The thing is people always say "at least you tried" or "its the process that counts" and so on, but for this poor kid his/her process goes unnoticed and unrewarded. If this goes on, he/she might just give up all together.

Next is the student that does not bother because he/she is not interested. I like to think that there is no such thing as a useless person. Everybody has a skill they are good at, some are lucky enough to find it early while others are not. But the worse thing is to have found that skill but to have it thought of as useless. Some skills are very obvious such as being good at mathematics and logic or being great at drawing. Some skills are more subtle, such as being a great leader or crafty with wood. The point is, if it is not in the curriculum, it is not worth the time and effort.

Everybody has heard of that spark of inspiration when least expected and that's how I think creativity works. Of course for a person to have those sparks of creativity, he/she needs experience in whatever they are doing from exploring and learning as much as possible about the subject. For that to happen, he/she must be interested in the subject and be self-sufficient to go deeper into the subject.

So to wrap up, for the student that tries hard enough that alone should be at least recognized as something positive. That will teach the student that the process counts just as much as the outcome; it builds an attitude to be willing to learn. For the student that found his/her skill that may not fit with what the school is looking for, it should still be supported as every skill has it's place somewhere. Creativity is found somewhere between the two; from the idea that the journey is not just a means to an end and an outlook towards that certain passion that yes, it is useful and certainly worth devoting time and effort into it.