We all know what creativity is; however, how would you define the term? Just like many other terms that I find difficulty explaining, I searched the meaning of creativity. According to Wikipedia, creativity is defined as ‘The use of the imagination or original ideas.” For some reason as soon as I read this definition, I had an issue with it. It in a way contradicts the idea of creativity. It is true that creativity is something that is original, but when analyzing the definition, it makes no sense to put a concrete definition to a word that brings a sense of openness and well, creativity. I just feel like the definition itself is not creative;it does not portray the true meaning of creativity.
In addition, something that I have been thinking about is the measurement of creativity. How can creativity be measured? How is one individual more creative than another? What abilities make certain people more creative, or appear more creative than others? When ”measuring” creativity, I think most people refer to terms of artistic ability. Creativity is usually expressed in art form, which is quite funny t mention, because when looking back at the definition of creativity, it was stated that the term is especially used in artistic form. I understand that creativity is vital in art, the strive for something new and interesting for viewers. However, why does it have to ”especially ” relate to art? After all, doesn’t creativity just deal with originality? Can’t someone be original in other fields, other than art?
This brings me to one lecture I had last semester in Psychology. I was told that one side of the brain was focused more on creativity, while the other is used for mathematical operations and similar forms of thinking. This is interesting, because when I was given this information, I was under the impression that mathematics was concrete, and absolute. It led me to believe that math was something that one had to learn, but required no creativity. I completely DISAGREE. Math I believe more than any other field, requires enormous amounts of creativity. When looking at math problems, there are many ways one can go about solving a problem. In addition, if it weren’t the creativity of the historic mathematicians who founded the basics of math, where would math be today? In addition, math is closely related to science. Each day, there are many new proposals to cures for diseases that years ago, were impossible to treat. The creativity of scientists has allowed the world to positively prosper in health, as it seems each day more diseases have been discovered, in need of more treatment.
The area of creativity is not only limited to artistic abilities. The idea of creativity is broad and not limited to art, which is what most people relate the term to. In addition, it is true that creativity is oppressed today because of the present educational system. With all the teachers who are losing their jobs, and the lack of proper material for students to have a successful education, it seems as if creativity will be hard to have.
