The saw is loud
The chained mental fence is sturdy
This a tractor a crowd
But the work was dirty
The workers waking around
Trying to replace the concrete
Braking it up until they see the ground
All sorts of people in the park
Playing, eating and walking the dogs
Every now and then you would share a bark
Businessman sitting on the bench participating in talks
But that’s just the average day in the big apple I can’t wait to have my lunch
And drink a Snapple
The pressure to be the best was always in my mind. When I was 7 years old, my parents thought putting me in a swimming class was a good idea. Swimming classes weren’t too fun for me because of the unheated pool, especially for a skinny kid like me. Regardless of the conditions, I still tried to be the best in every aspect comparing myself to everyone else. I was really good for my age, but someone a year or two older than me would always swim faster, dive deeper, and hold their breath longer than me. I would always blame myself for not coming in first or being the best, even if I lost to someone older and more experienced than me. But I was still beating most of the kids in the challenges; some of that could be attributed to my tall, skinny build, which helped me with dives and swimming speed. Eventually, I took an interest in soccer due to my friends always talking about the World Cup. It took a little bit of convincing, but my parents finally gave in to the pressure and signed me up for soccer lessons. Before I even started practice, I kicked the ball around a local park, feeling more and more confident while picturing the plays I would do. I was confident going into my first practice, remembering that I dribbled past a stationary cone the day before, which made me think I was ready for the training session. As I walked onto the field, I saw my coach for the first time. He looked like a 60-year-old tough guy; he didn’t sugarcoat anything but instead did quite the opposite. We started the first drill, and I saw the other kids meticulously dribbling the ball and passing with precision; they looked way more skilled than what I did in the park the day prior, as I started off missing my passes and losing the ball when dribbling, feeling bad because I held up the line whenever things didn’t go smoothly. After a couple of weeks of training, I started to blame myself for not being as good as my peers. Around this time, I found out about a high-level team in my age group by the same organization; this lit a fire under me, and I knew I needed to get on the team to prove my skill. For the next year, I dedicated almost all my free time to practicing for a chance to get on the team. I came to the tryout, my hard work and a little bit of luck paid off, I finally made it onto the team. As I started training with the team, it became clear how much of a skill gap there was, and again, as always, I blamed myself for every little mistake. I compared my lack of skill to the best players on the team every time I got the chance. I lost a large portion of the one-on-ones I had with my teammates, and it was clear I was one of the worst players on the team. When the season started, my team started winning games and dominating other teams; the keywords here are “my team” because I had little to do with it. I was the definition of a bench warmer hoping to get subbed in. My team did so well that they lost in the semi-finals of the state-wide tournament, earning the runner-up title. This caught the eye of a New York professional club called the New York Cosmos. They invited my team to scrimmage at halftime of one of their games that had thousands of people in attendance including the soccer legend Pele, who would be attending. Even though I played pretty well at halftime knowing that Pele was watching, I looked around at the crowd of people and at Pele and knew that I didn’t deserve to be there. Everyone on my team carried me to that position. As the sixth grade came around, I moved schools and joined a jiu-jitsu gym. The coach turned out to be similar to my soccer coach, he was a tough-love type of guy. The coach broke us up into groups, I was with the new kids, and we first learned the very basics, I soon started to get the hang of it. I started sparring with people on my own level, and every day I noticed I was getting better. Now that I was moving through skill groups quite quickly there was no one point or one person to compare myself to but instead, I had to compare myself to myself from an earlier time. Instead of blaming myself for not being as good, I started asking myself if i had improved. This discovery focused my energy on me instead of bouncing it off other people. I started to develop my own style of jiu-jitsu relying heavily on submissions. Before every sparring session, I would always be the first to ask “Are submissions allowed”. Discovering this new way of thinking helped me improve to the point where I could have a good sparring match with a purple belt; I also felt happier focusing on my improvements. I joined my high school’s soccer team and turned out to be one of, if not the, best players on the team. This experience further exposed how silly it was to compare myself to others. The worst player in the soccer club took three years off and then was one of the best at my high school.
Creativity is the main driving factor behind today’s invitation, but is college killing creativity? College may be killing the creativity of this new generation. College may be educating students in a way that dampens and suppresses students’ creativity by locking them into a linear style of thinking. Creativity is the creation of new ideas and innovations. Researchers from the University of Mostar made it clear when they wrote, “Many official European Union documents identified creativity as a major driving force towards knowledge creation and social and economic advancement through the development of a knowledge Society” (Gaspar and Mabic p.599).Limiting or discouraging creativity in any way can influence the future success of the population. If you look back on the world’s biggest innovators, many of them did not have a high level of education; instead, instead They spent their time innovating and creating new ideas instead of doing meaningless assignments with little to no aspect of creativity. People such as Elon Musk have even recognized that there is a problem in today’s society with the difficulty of measuring the creativity and innovation of a person. He gave a fantastic example when he said, “if Nikola Tesla applied to Tesla would we even give him an interview? I don’t think we would”.Employers end up looking at degrees and past work because it is very hard to measure creativity. Although most employers value creativity and innovation, they still stick to Using the same method as they always have, which pressures more kids to go to college even if it is not a great fit for them. Society benefits from more creativity and innovation, so we should increase it and help the younger generations explore their creativity instead of dampening it.
This topic has really plagued me over the years, but it has piqued my interest now that I am in college. When I was in high school, I would always find a way to insert my creativity into my classes. The loose form of my classes almost always gave the student the option to incorporate a creative aspect into their work. Going into college, I knew that it wasn’t going to be as creative. Looking at my new schedule, it seemed like I might have been wrong, I had a lot of classes that I thought were going to be creative, but every class I went to was the same: analyzing, memorizing, and calculating. Even in classes that seems obviously creative, like music, instead, I was stuck listening to a lecture and trying my best to memorize vocabulary, there was absolutely zero input and creativity from the students. This, paired with the awkward schedule I had, really stumped my creativity and made me feel drained. Many articles show the same frustration, saying “teacher can become the co-creator of new meaning-making”(Gaspar and Mabic p.599). There is also a little hope for my classes to get any more creative because the more I get my core classes out of the way, the less creative they seem to be. Creativity is a big problem in today’s higher education system. The linear style of learning can suppress students’ creativity and make them feel like they’re just a gear and a machine. The view that college needs more creativity is not uncommon among students. Many students today share the opinion “Generally, students think that teachers do not encourage them enough to be active participants of teaching process which leads to the conclusion that classical, ex cathedra approach is still prevailing.” (Gaspar and Mabic p.602)This problem is way more widespread than the quote implies. Beachers may be a part of this problem because some of them are just trying to prepare their students for an exam that they have no control over. However, everyone could help by advocating for more creative styles of learning. This is not the first time this question has been raised, studies were done to convince teachers and students to change the environment of higher education into a more creative one. Making class more creative can help draw a student’s attention and make a more interactive experience. An example of this would be asking the student to create something of their own, like asking law students to make up their own cases or asking music students to create their own melody. Instead the linear style of education “fails to prepare learners to be creative in a life of Change” (Florida et al. p.604) Most classes do not take recent events and changing tides into consideration, this makes it important to let students figure out how to adapt and create their own material, whether it’s a problem, solution, paper, or song. Schools that adopt these styles of learning are usually rated higher by students, showing that this method doe benefits the student. The big downside to this is the extra workload it can put on teachers, forcing the teacher’s grade and interpreting students to work instead of just checking something off as right or wrong. Other than the small criticisms, the majority of articles agree that colleges should change their style of teaching, But why isn’t it? It’s hard to find many reasons, but it can be because of the risk of an assignment being too hard to interpret, This is part of the reason it is so hard to find many statistics on the problem because there’s no standard way of measuring creativity. The risk of creativity also means that teachers will have to look at the journey instead of the final product most of the time. Logos It was hard to find because, as mentioned before, there is no good way of measuring the creativity of a person besides service, and even then everyone has a different opinion of what it means to be creative, which can make surveys very inaccurate. Florida et al does try to stay a little more factual than Gaspar and Mabic which makes Florida et al seem more credible. Both pieces were informative and clearly showed everything. The. Creativity is clearly needed, but yesterday’s method of teaching needs to be replaced or modified. Higher education needs to change for the better, and industry leaders need to change.
Works Cited
Florida, Richard, et al. “The University and the Creative Economy.” Creative Class Group, 2006, https://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/University%20For%20City%20and%20Community%204.pdf. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Gaspar, Drazena, and Mirela Mabic. “Creativity in Higher Education.” ERIC, 2015, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1074814.pdf. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Innovation is crucial in today’s society, but is it being suppressed by today’s higher education system? Today’s college system has a very linear style of teaching. This means it doesn’t let students have any choice or impact on the classes, which means that every class is practically the same, with no opportunities for students to innovate or create their own ideas. Most students aim to go to college after high school, whether they are pressured into it or just feel patient about it. At least that’s how it was for me. Throughout my years of school, I felt like creativity was slowly getting replaced with linear tasks and busy work. This was very gradual and consistent all the way from pre-k to college. Although creativity is a very sought-after and valuable trait, it’s clear that the higher education system does not let its students express and explore it enough.
I’ve always been a creative person, trying to push the boundaries of every assignment and project that I get. Ever since I was young, I was encouraged to be creative. In pre-K, my day consisted of drawing, building with Legos, and singing the ABCs; all of this was encouraged and applauded. Every time I would make a terrible drawing, everyone would act like it was the best form of art since the Mona Lisa. This early start played a huge role in shaping me. This is well said by García when she wrote, “Creativity is an important part of our individual and collective identities.” (García et al. p. 2). This early encouragement of creativity plays a crucial role in two days of innovation and idea-making. And at this age, there’s almost no educational value; instead, the goal is to make kids socialize and build their creative side. As I made my way up to elementary school, the educational value of class increased dramatically. I was learning important material that I would soon use in my everyday life.Elementary school still had a big emphasis on creativity, making sure that a student would have an avenue to express themselves. My whole class had art, and the teacher would let us paint whatever we wanted to a certain extent. If you weren’t good at painting, projects like making your own magazine about your favorite animal would keep your creativity alive. From making posters to playing a part in the school play, creativity was a large portion of elementary school. This encouragement of creativity helps me in many unforeseeable ways nowadays. This is best put by García when she wrote, “Personal characteristics such as creativity, initiative, and common sense are useful for everyone in work and daily life.” ( García et al. p. 1)Creative experiences have stuck with me throughout my whole life and will continue to stick with me through every challenge I Conquer.
Going into middle school, I experienced fewer ways to output my creativity. Assignments didn’t have as much of a personal factor, but as long as a student wanted to be creative, they would always have an option. For instance, in math class, there could be an option to create your own house and then measure the area using skills the student learned in class. To me, this was the perfect mix of creativity and linear teaching. Many assignments were what I would call guided creativity, ” doing things that have been done before but differently.” ( Florida et al. p. 2). Every student had the option to put their own spin on a project or assignment. It felt like if a student wanted to be creative, they always had a chance. High school was very similar; many options to be creative were still on the table. If I happen to get a good teacher, I had even more freedom, and the assignments and teachers were more willing to let a student take risks “Experimenting and taking risks are important aspects of creativity.” (García et al. p. 2) Although teachers like these were few and far between, I noticed that paying attention and being involved in class felt a lot easier if there was some input from the students in a creative manner.Getting a dull assignment does not interest me whatsoever, but getting an assignment or project that I actually have to think about and create my own ideas for and that gets my gears turning. Creative assignments and projects would even get me and my friends interested in a topic outside of class; there were times we would sit at the lunch table and discuss cool facts we found out about our topics with my friends, as well as think of new ways to implement them into the project in the most creative way possible. Eventually, COVID came along and stumped a lot of the creativity going on in my high school. Now that everything was digital, most teachers switched to linear styles of teaching. This meant most of the work given was very one-dimensional, things like multiple choice and short quizzes Became the norm to try and make sure students were paying attention. Before COVID hit, high school was less creative than everything before that, but at least the students had an option and ways to make it happen.
As I started applying to colleges, my main goal was to get the most return on investment; I wasn’t looking at any other aspects. I was hopeful that every college would encourage creativity and have it as one of its key values when I constantly heard things like “Universities can play a crucial role in fostering creativity by providing access to knowledge, talent, and resources.” ( Florida et al. p. 6). I finally decided on going to Baruch College and was excited to start my first semester. When I looked at my schedule, it consisted of classes that any average person would think were on the more creative side. Classes like music, English, and government Seemed like they could have an interesting creative aspect to them. When I first walked into music class, the professor went over how the class was going to be taught. There was going to be absolutely no input from the students, and the only thing we were graded on were multiple-choice tests that heavily relied on memorization. This felt very disappointing when I first learned it. After this, I wasn’t expecting too much from my government class, and I was right for the most part. It did end up having a creative assignment, which surprisingly made the government class more creative than the music class. Thankfully, my English class made up for a lot of the dullness and linearity of the other classes; to a certain extent, we could choose our own topics and develop our own style of writing. This definitely made me more interested in the class because I could carry my interest from a topic outside of class into the class. From past experiences, I assume that the creativity I got from English class will help me “promote the holistic idea of graduateness, the capacity to connect and do things with what has been learned and to utilize this knowledge to learn in other situations” (Jackson p. 3). The creativity of this class will help me use the skills in other future environments. But other than English, every other class felt like I was just a recording device trying to memorize everything the teacher was saying. It felt like there were almost no avenues for creativity; every day blended into the next, and it just felt like teachers were using the same teaching strategy as my teachers during Covitch did. I understood that some teachers’ goals were to prepare their students for a final exam that had nothing to do with the teacher, but even the teachers that could implement creativity into the classroom usually didn’t choose that route, instead opting for an easier route grading-wise. If all the teacher’s assignments are linear, there is no interpretation or thought that needs to be put into grading; instead, it’s easier to just grade right or wrong. If colleges started to include more creative teaching styles, I think it would greatly benefit them in many economic and social ways. “Places that can attract the widest pool of creative talent by harnessing the creative contributions of the most diverse range of people gain considerable economic advantage, emerging as creativity magnets.” ( Florida et al. p. 6). This means that if colleges put more emphasis on creativity, it would help them stand out from their competition and further their name. If colleges want to be on the cutting edge of innovation, then they need to adopt new styles of teaching. This can come in many forms; the correct teachers need to be vetted, hired, and encouraged to facilitate the creativity of their students. Teachers need to be more mindful of their students’ wants and needs and adapt their teaching style to the class instead of having everyone adapt to their style. Although this is a big change, it needs to be made. But not only do teachers need to refine their teaching methods, but the higher-ups at colleges should also take a second look at their mandatory exams and ask themselves if it will help the student adapt the skills in the future instead of using linear teaching methods. Students must also advocate for their own futures and ask their colleges to evolve their teaching styles to best fit them. This point is made as clear as possible by Florida when he wrote, “The changing role of the university is bound up with the broader shift from an older industrial economy to an emerging Creative Economy” (Florida et al.p. 2). College is not adapting quickly enough to modern society. The higher education system is stuck in its old roots and needs to change to best apply itself to the next generation of students and talent. This change definitely needs to be implemented correctly. Many students may suffer from the lack of direction many creative assignments have. This can be easily countered by making creativity an option for creativity. This is exactly what many of my English assignments are. This puts power back into the student’s hands and lets them learn in a way that works for them. Many different subjects would need their own custom application of these values and strategies for them to work efficiently, but implementing these strategies can help immensely. It may be difficult to convince people with older styles of thinking due to the fact that there is no accepted and proven way of measuring creativity; this means reliable statistics on this subject are impossible to find. Instead, a person has to look at the changing culture and society that demand more creative talent. Creativity plays a huge part in today’s society and is only going to become more relevant. The higher education system should adapt to these trends. In order to stay relevant and competitive and move society forward into the new age.
Works Cited
Florida, Richard, et al. “The University and the Creative Economy.” Creative Class Group, 2006, https://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/University%20For%20City%20and%20Community%204.pdf. Accessed 20 May 2023.
García, Presentación Caballero, et al. “CREATIVITY AND HAPPINESS IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.” global education forum, March 2018, https://globaleducationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DOC-7_Creativity-and-happiness-in-university-students.pdf. Accessed 20 May 2023.
Jackson, Norman. “An Imaginative Curriculum.” an imaginative curriculum, Higher Education Academy, https://imaginativecurriculumnetwork.pbworks.com/f/Imaginative+Curriculum+Network+Information+Note+2004.pdf. Accessed 20 May 2023.
BISHOP, WENDY, and DAVID STARKEY. “Creativity.” Keywords in Creative Writing, University Press of Colorado, 2006, pp. 70–75. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgr61.19. Accessed 21 May 2023.
1. At first, we needed a prank idea, but no one had a great one that didn’t have great punishments. Some of the ideas included doing the cup in the hallway thing, but we were sure we would get caught before we could finish it, and there was also a lot of cleanup that had to be done afterward. But when someone suggested a water gun fight in school, most people were on board until we realized the many drawbacks, such as getting mold into the walls or possibly the carpet, or maybe bringing a bunch of water guns to school secretly was a bad idea, so we thought about water balloons. Before the end of the school day, we filled 2-3 buckets with water balloons. and slightly before school ended, the seniors (us) walked out and started grabbing water balloons and throwing them at each other. This resulted in a bunch of teachers coming outside to look at what was going on, but all the teachers that came out were good teachers, so we didn’t throw it at the teachers, we did throw it at some kids we were semi-cool with, but it was mostly a fight between the seniors. When I tried chucking it hard at my friend John, who was standing about 60ft away from me (this was an all-out war; we took over the sidelines and had a dead zone and everything), a girl that i knew walked in front of it, and I threw the balloon (nonitentanaly) at her face, going mok 10. She was shocked, but we laughed it off after the fact. Everyone was soaked, and it was one of the most fun times i had in high school.
2. I remember playing on the bed when I was between 2-3. This was my earliest memory. I remember trying to crawl away from my sister because she annoyed me. Just as I thought I was getting away, she grabbed my right leg, and I thought, “Oh my god, how?” It was just a feeling, and I didn’t know how to speak well yet. This was a memory that I never thought was real because it was likely from a dream or something like that. But when I was rewatching recordings of me as a child, I saw it happen! Same bed, same position, same direction i was crawling, same leg grabbed, it was a 100% match. This made me realize that I give credibility to memories, and some of them i get wrong, like this one. And I’m sure some of my memories are really far from what actually happened.