Creativity in Schools: A Dead Valley or Dormant Desert?

Schools as of late are riddled with criticism in that they are not meeting expectations for the money that states pour into them and by the international ruler. The U.S. is falling behind.  But is it? Do we have the tools within the nation to be great once again but fail to discover them? 

In the video below Malcolm London (2013) delivers a poem he wrote in which he describes the "training ground" that his public school has become. 

Malcolm presents some good points in that he sees the value in having a degree versus not and that school does instill a sense of seeking the American Dream, yet public education fails young people. It promotes a dream that no longer favors the young; an unattainable dream. Public education, then, becomes a "training ground" for capitalism and teaches the lessons of stepping on or over others to get ahead (London, 2013).  

This is a very powerful message that is lost in the noise of education critics. Education is failing our youth because it does not allow them to develop the skills to create their own future. The U.S. has a valley full of vibrant thinkers and doers waiting to emerge, yet it cannot as the conditions of this valley promote only dry death.  

How then can the U.S. bring life to the valley of education?  Sir Ken Robinson brings an interesting perspective on creativity, and how it is killed in the schools.  He is no longer a professor, though he lectures to groups in a manner aimed at persuading them to no longer churn out the one-sided thinkers of the public education system, but rather grow and nurture the youthful minds of tomorrow.  

Sir Robinson (2006) made a very interesting couple of statements about children and

learning. First he said, "if [kids] don't know, they'll have a go."  In other words, children are not afraid of being wrong, but rather our system creates for them an environment of shame and embarrassment for being wrong.  To this notion he makes a second point, "if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."  This is the message today's youth really needs drilled-and-killed into their minds.  Without failure there is not growth or innovation. Thomas Edison failed nearly 10,000 times before he got the light bulb correct. Yet, he did not see this as failure, but only as ab opportunity to try again. This lack of failure is causing children to grow up not knowing how to face it and move past it, to learn from it rather than dwell on it. As children, parents tell their children not to touch the stove, few listen, most others touch the stove. A painful failure, yet none of those who touched the stove ever did it again. 

Below is a TEDTalk of Sir Robinson's (2006) in which he describes how schools are killing creativity.  

He brings up a valuable point in that teachers and parents need to embrace differences rather than medicate them (Robinson, 2006).  If students continue to be medicated as they are, then the world may lose out on some the best creators of the time.  The cookie cutter method of the current school system is killing   any sense of creativity or innovation that students may have within them. Keeping the valley floor dry and bare.

Sir Robinson (2010) encourages education to move from an industrial model with its assembly line and compartmentalized system to one that is more organic.  A system that lives and adapts to eh surroundings, the needs of the learner.  Despite being a former professor, he insists that the system cannot continue to do as it has in the past and gain new results for an ever changing future.  degrees, as even Malcolm Lincoln (2013) pointed out, are nice to have but are no guarantee of success.  All too often the system persuades people to think that they are not smart because they are not academically gifted (Robinson, 2010).  The system needs to change.

In a speech given at an RSA conference in 2010, Sir Robinson describes what is illustrated

above - the changing paradigm of education.  It is built on the foundations of what has already been discussed, a need to change the way in which we educate children.  In an animated fashion, RSA aids Robinson in explaining that the US needs to brake away from a dated model, built on dated ideals,and created by people who could not fathom who is educated today. Instead the country must redefine an allow for creativity. In this speech he discusses "divergent thinking" as an "essential capacity for creativity" (Robinson, 2010).  The curious thing about divergent thinking is that in the U.S. it occurs most frequently with kindergartners and diminishes as children age and become more educated (Robinson, 2010). The school system as it stands churns out standardized thinkers rather than divergent thinkers. 

The time has come that education cease to be the butt of jokes and the point of contempt in American society. When the school houses on the prairie no longer suited the needs of tycoons and industrialists  the nation transformed how it educated its youth. The U.S. has moved beyond such a developmental point and moved into the digital age. Time has come, yet again, to transform how the youth are educated.  Let creativity thrive and be nourished so that the dry desert valley may thrive once again.

"Death Valley, not dead, but asleep; waiting for the right conditions for growth" (Robinson, 2010).
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Resources

Cognitive Media. (2010). RSA animate: Sir Ken Robinson - changing education paradigms [poster]. 

[Death Valley flowers] Retrieved June 20, 1013 from http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=327424&page=3

[Edison's light bulb] Retrieved June 20, 2013 from www.strongbrains.com 

[Kindergartner with books] Retrieved June 20, 2013 from http://www.tlnt.com/2012/04/25/when-it-comes-to-interviewing-are-you-as-smart-as-a-kindergartner/

London, Malcolm. (2010). High school training ground [Online video]. TEDTalks. Retrieved June 20, 2013. 

Robinson, Ken. (2006). Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity [Online video]. TEDTalks. Retrieved June 20, 2013.

Robinson, Ken. (2010). Chaning Paradigms [Online video]. Retrieved June 20, 2013.