Do Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson's main point of his TED Talk is that school systems, worldwide, segregate the arts to a lower level of learning. This segregation of the arts in schools drains students of creativity.

In this video Ken Robinson touches on three main points. His first point he was talking about the education system and one's creativity. He gave two anecdotes about kids that showed that they are willing to take a chance and be creative. If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. He believes that the education system institutionalizes people, and that people lose the creativity they had.

Are we underestimating the importance of creativity? Many times children are not encouraged at home to be creative, either because their parents restrict their ideas, fill their decisions with pessimism, or simply do not pay attention to this matter. However, creativity is a skill that makes the human being flexible and resourceful as well as helping them see problems differently and identify solutions more easily. Many times education will directly contradict creativity. It destroys the innovation of ideas, and stifles the imagination, while claiming it is “teaching.” Sometimes entering a classroom becomes the closest thing to entering a time machine since our teaching methods differ very little from those of ancient Rome over 2000 years ago. In Ted Talk “How Schools Kills Creativity” by Ken Robinson and the article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” by Leon Botstein, two different opinions about the current educational system are presented. While Robinson believes that the schooling system should work to promote creativity, Botstein says that the concept of a high and middle school is useless and should be abolished. However they both agree on reform. As a parent, I have always been concerned about my daughters’ education, and have always believed, like Robinson and Botstein, that our educational system needs a change.

Creativity is an abstract concept that is crucial as part of our advancements of mankind whether that be in the scientific fields with new inventions and research or in the artistic fields with new paintings and amazing portraits, but most people do not understand that the gift of creativity can be a crucial source of innovative ideas. As a result of the need of creativity, schools must include creativity as part of the daily curriculum that students learn. Students already spent seven hours a day at school, exposing them to a class that helps them efficiently and correctly use creativity would be beneficial to not only students but to all members of society. Places of education such as high schools must include classes in creativity in order to create

The beauty of creativity is that it is abstract, yet ubiquitous: in art, music or how one decides to compose an essay. However, creativity has recently been declining among the human population. According to an article, named, “The Creativity Crisis,” by Newsweek.com in July 2010, authors, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, state, “the Torrance Test … indicates that the public’s “creativity quotient” has steadily crept downward since 1990” (Prompt 1). Bronson and Merryman report that the test, which evaluates one’s creativity, had been dispensed to myriads of people across the globe, and have concluded that creativity has been slowly diminishing. Kyung Hee Kim, professor at the College of William and Mary, also comments that this is most prevalent and grave among students from kindergarten through sixth grade (Prompt 1). Consequently, society, or in this case, the world fears that current students and future generations will not be nourished with the creativity required to thrive as individuals, affecting the world as a whole. Ultimately, this poses the question whether a creative thinking class, which solely focuses on the education of creativity, should be taught in the school. This school should impose a creative thinking class, due to the fact creativity is a vital element for the future and is the solution to the creative crisis.

Education has tarnished the idea of an original thought and has caused us to “grow out of creativity.” An idea that I am now convinced is a possible reality due to the intellectual, thought-provoking argument made by Sir Ken Robinson that schools do restrain creativity. In Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” Robinson argues that schools do kill creativity by addressing his audience in a sophisticated yet playful tone that keeps the audience entertained and invested in what is being discussed. Robinson connects with the audience by telling jokes, using simple reasoning, facts, and personal stories that allows the audience to be emotionally moved by the argument. Robinson is able to open up the audience to a reasonable idea with only one reasonable solution, and it just so happens to be his. Obviously, a bit biased, Robinson steers clear of self-promotion by recalling stories of other’s accounts and relating to people as a professor instead of a person.

In this age of high-stakes standardized testing the idea of creativity in the classroom has become less and less popular. Susan W. Cress and Daniel T. Holm present a compelling case study for keeping creativity in the classroom in “Creative Endeavors: Inspiring Creativity in a First Grade Classroom” published online April 1, 2015 in the Early Childhood Education Journal.

Schools with music programs have a higher estimated graduation rate estimated at 90.2% and a higher attendance rate around 93.9% (11 Facts about Music Education 7). In comparison, schools without music programs; however, average a72.9% graduation and an 84.9% attendance (11 Facts about Music Education 7). Additionally, students who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance than those who do not (11 Facts about Arts in Education 2). Despite the benefits of having a music and art program, they are often the first things to go when a school starts budget cuts. Due to, schools today focusing on four main core values: Math, Science, English, and History. Consequently, by focusing on these four main core values schools are crushing the creativity of students. Ken Robinson successfully argues this viewpoint in his TED Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” By enthralling the audience with humorous rhetorical questions, creating connections with the audience through logical and relatable examples, and by keeping a fairly concerned tone throughout his speech to convey the urgency of the issue at hand Robinson effectively and subtlety attacks the modern world’s education system while at the same time informing his audience how schools are squandering the creativity of their students

If you search almost anywhere on the internet about creativity and public schools you will run into a video by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. He emphasizes that schools kill creativity in every way. On the other hand, President Barack Obama disagrees whole heartedly. Both of these men agree that creativity is important to children and schools but they disagree on whether or not creativity is being implemented in schools. Robinson stated in his lectured at TED 2006, “I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it” (Ken Robinson. TED2006). He goes to say that

However, this creative spirit is quickly lost as students progress through their years in education, where independent thought is second to memorization and repetition. While vocabulary quizzes are common, this expansive vocabulary is rarely utilized in creative writing but rather regurgitated on the SAT examination. Instead of exploring the ways math could be used in various careers that students might pursue, math classes require memorization of trigonometric angles. In ethics class, instead of presenting one’s own views and providing support for these views, a student is expected to simply repeat what was said in class, whether the student agrees with these opinions or not. However, anyone can simply repeat back previously provided information and duplicate past processes. Education should be about finding creative new solutions to problems in the world today and encouraging individual thought that will change the world in the future. In order to improve the world, it is necessary to think of new solutions to problems. Creativity is necessary to come up with these solutions, and by stifling creative thought in education, educators are also stifling progress in the world. The goal of education is to prepare students for the rest of life, and educators are obligated to encourage creativity in order to achieve this

Jazmin Herrera Professor Dominquez English 301-11 17 September 2014 Essay 1- Rhetoric Analysis In Do Schools Kill Creativity?, Sir Ken Robinson argues a case for creating an education that nurtures creativity in a TED talk. TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation. In which, Sir Ken Robinson, an English author and speaker, attended and spoke during a TED talk in February of 2006 about the educational system and creativity.

According the most recent national assessment recorded in the Washington post, “the nations high school seniors have shown no improvement in math and reading performances since 2009.” In the most recent years, education has taken a huge downfall. Since 2010, over 45% of students drop out. Many students have problems with the grading system, so many different testing programs and having to follow a set of rules and not expand on those rules. The education system needs to induce more creativity, enforce the ways on how education is important and elaborate more on the rules of grading.

In Robinson’s Ted Talk, many strong concepts are explored , however, there is a lack statistical evidence to support some of his claims. Within his TED Talk he really is adamant on the prevalence of the decrease in creativity and in the many ways it is implemented. A strength I his strengths was incorporating personal stories to relate to the topic. For instance, the story about the little girl and her drawing of God and the story about his son in nativity play. In Robinson’s defence he utilizes the stories to explain that children often take risks and are not afraid of being wrong. In effect, it helps in his delivery of the claim that kids are creative expressive beings when they are young. Imagination has no limits, for the younger generation

Creativity is equally as important as literacy, and we need to start treating it that way in schools around the world. According to Ken Robinson’s claim in his, “How Schools Kill Creativity” speech, he believes this to be exceptionally true. All children are creative and talented, however, we have grown up in a world where we believe that it’s wrong to exemplify our creativity. Robinson uses both, pathos, and ethos to help make his claim. He arises emotion in you; he causes you to really think, to trust him, and to question ultimately, how things are being done in the educational system. We as a world have become so consumed with the idea of putting each child into a category of what they’re going to be successful in, regardless of their creativity or passions. You’re either good at math, science, or English; everything is based on your academic ability. What happens then to the people who aren’t academically smart, but are more creative? They are then made to feel that what they have to offer the world simply isn’t good enough, but the truth is, it is good enough. Over time however, we are taught out of our creativity. Schools around the world kill creativity by instilling a sense of fear in the child that what they are doing, and how they feel is wrong, this ultimately discourages them, and they fall victim to the industrialized educational system that we have present day. Robinson believes now more than

Robinson made a GREAT point in his presentation saying that his understanding is that creativity is just as important in education as literacy. I agree with this 100% and think that we as