Creativity (A very opinionated post)

     In ROGATE last week, the class discussed creativity in schools, and watched a TED talk with Ken Robinson, a creativity expert. His argument is that American schools are exercising kids out of their creativity. What this basically means is that schools are focusing on the more 'academic' aspects of school, which are the ones that are the most important to education school boards, math and language. While these are undoubtedly important, the arts are too. "The arts" are only one part of creativity, though, and definitely not the definition. Another separate but connected point is that some school boards think that including a basic art class in their curriculum means that they're giving their students an opportunity to be creative in school, which is of course not true.

     The accepted definition of creativity is the production of something original and useful. Webster's definition is (2:) "having the quality of something created rather than imitated". According to a Newsweek article, "To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result)." Near everyone understands the "being original" part of these definitions, but few people realize that creativity can actually take place in any subject, train of thought, or process. For example, search the word 'creativity' in Google images and you'll get a lot of colorful, artsy images like these:




    (Which ironically aren't creative at all.)

     Creativity in schools is being lost. America's creativity scores are dropping to prove it. Our schools are still painfully using the "drill and kill" method, which is all based on standards. This year at Northern, we're taking more tests than we ever have before, especially for high-schoolers: along with the normal teacher-planned tests, there are also NJ ASK testings, three benchmark tests a year, midterms, finals, and S.A.T.S. While most students are bound to be opposed to any kind of test, I'm personally taking a moment to wonder about our school's thought process about this. I don't think many could provide a sufficient argument that creativity is at an okay rate right now. I can admit myself that I love to draw, but whenever a school assignment asks for a little art project, I'm not eager to spend much time on it. In fact, you'd probably never guess how much I love art just by looking through my school projects; they're mostly just stick figures now. Around middle school, most kids get less interested in being creative or smart. I feel like this around half the time; at home I listen to all the crazy unheard of music I can find and doodle whatever comes to mind, and at school I mostly mope around and don't get involved in anything. School, in a way, discourages me from doing anything that will make me seem "out there", though at the same time, I want to be that. I agree with Ken Robinson that schools are killing creativity.
   
     Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."