Hi all,
Greetings from Atlanta, where it is 85 degrees and humid, and I have spent the past two days thinking and talking about education, creativity, writing, and, of course, happiness.
A few links to new things I’ve learned/discovered/heard about:
“Education and the Changing World of Work”
So, my questions to you are…how often do you feel that you are able to be creative? How does that manifest itself? What does it look like?
And, how comfortable do you feel “living with ambiguity”? Do you feel okay not understanding something from time to time? Is it exciting to be confused? Why?
These questions are coming from a talk I just heard a former teacher of mine give–he said that one of the problems with the way education works in America (specifically when thinking about testing and assessment) is that one of the biggest parts of being human and being a “grown up” is that our “lived experience is ambiguous”–but the way that schools work doesn’t seem to reflect that…so, curious to hear your thoughts!
Proffessor i think you should read “the element” by Sir Ken Robbinson. He talks about how ‘school kills creativity’ and also about how being smart in school doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be successful in the real world. Also vice versa. In his book he mentioned how Elvis Presley wasn’t even admitted into his own glee club. It really, truly is a great Book. Ill bring it to class with me tomorrow.
Sorry i wasn’t logged in^^^^^
I liked that you posted this, it was very interesting and has me thinking.
I came up with this. In school i was always pushed towards the sciences and math, all my classes covered those two. I had some classes that were creative but they involved art and music, two classes i did not care about. To take what the lecturer said a little further, the arts are not the only things that can be creative. I am interesting in entrepreneurship as a major and i have to constantly watch and observe daily life for my ideas. I ask people for things in their life that need to be worked on and through that i start to form my own ideas. What i am trying to say is that you could be creative in all aspects of life, being an entrepreneur is just one example of how creativity can allow you to make a powerful future business that flourishes. All of the current best companies such as ChaCha and Google all run on creativity. SO yes i agree that kids need more creative outlooks on life and we breed out creativity but not completely. In senior year of high school i was going to apply to Hunter and be a doctor but i went out at the last minute and went to a business college. I always did have a creative mind and saw life differently and i decided being a doctor is not for me. So one thing that school CAN teach us is that while it DOES remove creativity in kids, it also convinces the kids who are really special and creative and like to think that it is not for them and to find other things to apply to. I figured out for myself that it was not for me and i should pick another avenue, and i love every minute of that decision. While i would say that it should be easier to make those decisions and possibly studies should be conducted to figure out how to be able to separate the creative kids from the logical kids, i do not agree that it fully removes that creativity.
“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.”-John Dewey
Oh i just clicked the link that you posted! I didn’t realize that it was by Ken Robinson! Wow! I am actually quite jealous if that is who you met.
I am only able to be creative when I am given a few prompts or instructions. The lack of instructions forces me to act more on my personal instinct or intuition to accomplish the task. My creativity manifests itself mainly in decorating my fish tank. I always wanted to have my own ecosystem within the confines of a fish tank and I saw an aquascape as the perfect way of accomplishing this dream.There are hundreds of aquarium plants to choose from, and i have to be real creative when choosing species that work well with each other. I also find the placement of aquarium plants to be another task that requires an ample amount of creative thinking.In my opinion, tall plants have to be placed in the back, middle-sized plants have to be placed in the middle, and smaller plants have to be placed in the front.No one gave me these prompts, I simply made them for myself.School can do both, it can inspire creativity or limit it.In my opinion, teachers do not teach; students teach themselves. But teachers can guide the student towards the right path or the wrong one. Again, it is the responsibility for the student to decide what to accept or reject, this is the gray area in between.But in the general sense, I do believe that school limits creativity. They are persuading you to think like them instead of helping you discover your own hidden talents. I am somewhat uncomfortable living in a world of ambiguity,but the way I see it, life is one giant mystery that has to be solved. I do feel okay when I do not understand something from time to time, but this situation gives me the opportunity to come up with my own conclusions.It is sometimes exciting to be confused because it forces you to rely more on yourself. This process will help you understand yourself.
Diana, did u read that quote from Joe’s pamphlet?
I am not familiar with the writers included in the linked videos but I do agree that the current school system doesn’t encourage and kills creativity. As a product of the public school system, i have first hand experience as to what is considered important: high performance in classes and being able to properly analyze everything. There were 3 or 4 academic houses in my old school and as a member of the ALMOST non-existent Music/Art house, i can say that creativity is not at or even close to the forefront of education.Whatever we learn always comes in the form of a formula or a rule. When something comes up that doesn’t fit the mold, we’re lost. The lack of creativity stumps our ability to find alternatives which is what would really help us in life but nooooo, instead we pay to take courses focused on derivatives and logarithms -__-
Emil, Yeah i saw it last night, cos there were like 500 at my house. it was so great! I liked Joe’s profile pic.
I think we are creative everyday in our lives. 🙂 From the time we chose what clothes we wear in the morning, and what we chose to have in our coffee, and a bunch of other seemingly trivial things. Even though they’re routine things people do everyday, the end result can be different everyday; it just depends on yourself!