How Education Kills Creativity in Students

A school is a place where students go to learn different things that they may use later on in life or use in their future careers. It is a place where you have the opportunity to get an education or a degree. Growing up, I remember being in Elementary school, and I hated going to class. I was in the second grade and I thought it was the worse thing a parent could do. Send your child to a building where you sit in a desk all day, and you have to be quiet. My mom would have to drag me up the steps and force me to go and learn. I didn’t want to because it wasn’t fun. We just sat there and listened to the teacher talk all day. I missed being in pre-k and kindergarten, where we would fingerpaint, learn about different shapes and colors, and multiplication and division. We were being creative and didn’t have to follow such a strict system. I knew that each day I was going to learn something new and actually use it.

Unsolved Dilemma: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

There have been many debates on whether school kills creativity or not. Dr. Sir Ken Robinson address this issue by saying that all kids have tremendous talent, and we squash them ruthlessly. The school does have an impact on the children’s creativity. People are entitled to their own opinions, some may argue that school should promote more creativity in the lessons, and others may say that it’s unnecessary.

Schools tend to follow a strict system. There’s not really any room for anyone to think outside the box. Creativity should be a way of thinking/understanding a subject better. Sir Ken Robinson challenges schools ability to promote creativity in school. He says that the education system doesn’t really address the issues about the curriculum. It fails a student’s ability to be themselves. It is you either follow the curriculum the way it’s set up, or you fail. Ken states arguments about artists who didn’t do well in school. Most artist who wasn’t good students did well in other areas that challenged them to think creatively. Artists like Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and many more built a legacy even though they didn’t didn’t go to high school or graduate.

Students should be able to their absolute fullest potential in class. Sometimes, if parents have more than one child they try not to compare grades, but it happens. If one child does well in academics and the other not so much but does well in art, drama, or music, their grades will be very different. They will both succeed, but one child will most likely use that creative mindset their whole life, and the second child will focus more on getting the best grades. The creative child would be the adult who didn’t let school change him. Robinson says that most educated people barely remember what they have been taught. If they want to change the world they should become a Doctor or a Nurse, or something like that.

Robinson expresses more that school can have a negative effect on most kids. Their performance drops as they get further in the semester. It becomes more of a place where you talk to your friends rather learn things that you aren’t even going to use. Students go to school, learn something about a subject, then after a certain time, take a test. Students are graded on that subject, and depending on if they passed or not, determines their confidence in themselves. They are socially ranked as either best or worst in the class. Their self-esteem drops, and they would be too ashamed to show their talent or skills in other areas because they think that since they didn’t do well in academics, then their gonna do badly in other areas.

Most kids, when they are young raise their hand immediately when a teacher asks a question, whether it’s right or wrong. As they get older, there is a pressure for students to give the correct answer in class, a fear that if it’s not the right answer they’d be looked down upon. They’d rather stay quiet in class, then raise their hand again. In school, you are expected to be in class and work towards having the top grades. Schools are pretty known for making children feel like robots. Understand the subject, know the answer to questions, and pass the test. No one thinks about how well the students understand, he or she just want you to pass the class, and move on. Their ability to use their brains creatively to grasp the content is diminished.

The Education’s Entire System Needs To Be Redone

The education system’s capability to decrease students creative minds can be depicted by the fact that they are unable to use what they’ve learned in class to real life. The system’s failure to address that issue affects people everywhere. Students should be taught in a way where they can relate issues back to education, that way their methods to other issues are creative, and they feel their self-esteem rising.

The student has been taught to act a certain way, think one way, or get the wrong answer, be quiet, and sit still. There is no other option than to think the way the system has been designed for you to think and be. Those who do great in class are typically thought of as smart and will get into the best colleges, and the rest will try even harder to get the same rewards the smart kids have.

Conclusion

Robinson identifies with students that they aren’t wrong in the way they face different issues. But, they start to have a negative mind about school the more they go each day. Doubting their capability to think for themselves and how to handle different situations. Their imagination breaks down because of the education system. Schools need to bring back students capability to innovative, critically, creative thinkers, instead of robot zombies expected to have the best grades.