Formal education has often come to criticism for being too rigid and killing the innate creativity from generations at an early age. Ken Robinson cites school as the reason why children are not exploring their creative knowledge and instead, it is forced out of them by focusing on subjects that are considered of more importance like mathematics and sciences. (Robinson, 2013) The young generation is taught that being wrong is the worst thing one could do and as a result, they fail to exploit and learn from their innate understanding of how things should be. According to him, education focuses on part and not the whole being. Focusing on the development of the brain to find solutions is partial as it ignores other parts of the child, such as the body that can be explored in other forms of art. This, however, is subjective as school knowledge has been at the epitome of inventions and industrial revolution that is the reason why we have progressed to the current automated world.
The speaker says that gauging intelligence based on academic achievement rather than creativity is not prudent. The hierarchy of subjects (mathematics at the top, followed by language, humanities and lastly arts) is based on profitability of the knowledge than one’s desires. (Robinson, 2013) Children are advised to focus and pass in these areas and abandon the things they are good at such as dance and music. This creates a society that feels inadequate when not able to succeed in the education system. (Robinson, 2013) The children, however, need education to identify and specialize in their creativity. Education’s purpose is not prioritizing one area over another, but provide possible ways in which these abilities can be harnessed for the betterment of society.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Knowledge from school is often viewed as not directly applicable in real life situations. The speaker identifies that the education system forces children to acquire knowledge that doesn’t align with their original creativity. He also fears that the process of academic inflation is likely to continue in the future with the increase in literacy, making education levels such as degrees common which forces people to attain higher chatters such as Ph.D. and doctorates. (Robinson, 2013) This continues an endless spiral that fails to identify that each individual has a different set of skills and intelligence. Saying this would mean that school emphasizes only the direct application of the knowledge acquired. Education aims at imparting knowledge that is not meant to be used directly but collectively allows the individual to apply the thought process and finding solutions in the current society.
The definition of creativity differs according to one’s understanding and perception of it. From Robinson’s perspective, creativity is made up of imagination and divergent thinking. It comes naturally from birth and is displayed as being a different form of knowledge from other than that gained from school for instance in the illustration he gives about the girl named Gillian Lynn whose mother thought was sick, the school wrote off but was actually gifted in dancing. (Robinson, 2013) This is partly true, but totally ignores creativity gained from the sources. With these thoughts, one can presume creativity to be a sort of daydream or disorganized wishes stumbled upon accidentally. Creativity is a collection of diverse processes that are brought together to achieve an idea. It can exit and is fostered by the right education. Creativity exists even with formal knowledge and is better enhanced by education than without as this would be wishful thinking. There are children who have special skills in mathematics and sciences by understanding the numbers in ways similar to how a dancer would have learned different dancing moves.
Skills such as communication and problem-solving learned in school are helpful in attaining one’s creativity. Literacy enables people to understand the tradition of the arts and apply this knowledge to their views. It also ensures survivability through lessons in living sciences such as biology and agriculture. The young generation is granted information on the nature of the society we live in and taught how to analyze situations and use them for their benefit. Learning forms the basis of knowledge that will open up and not totally diminish ones’ inventiveness. Through education subjects such as language for instance, an individual is able to find ways to express themselves and read manuals in their related arts. Students of fine art such as music have shown better performance and agility by learning mathematics since the art requires knowledge of counting music notes. Knowledge and creativity therefore go hand in hand. Understanding of the history of these talents introduces students to different ways of expressing their creativity and can combine or alter these to come up with new inventions. It has been proven that creativity, especially in painting, is often borrowed from previous works.
Instead of classifying creativity as a way of learning in itself, it is important that it is integrated into the curriculum and used to broaden the application of knowledge. Total elimination of formal education will not provide the environment we need to sustain this generation and the more to come. Therefore, when teaching subjects such as mathematics, the teacher’s focus should not only be on conveying facts, but also in showing different ways in which the information can be applied. This encourages the students to think and better utilize it.
School, therefore, does not kill creativity but needs to harness the students’ inventiveness by ensuring that the entire learning process connects to their innate curiosity. Incorporating captivating techniques such as trips to museums and historical and art sites, which is currently implemented in various school systems, goes a long way in ensuring that the children are motivated to use the knowledge they gain in class, and their own, to express themselves and make the community a better place.
References
Robinson, K. (2013). Do schools kill creativity [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&t=281s
