Sixth dispostitional blog: CREATIVITY

How do we encourage, teach and reward creativity and imagination in our schools?  How important is creativity as a skill for the 21st century?

 I've been watching a lot of TED videos lately; and I really like a couple by a man named Ken Robinson.  In such videos, he talks about how public schools are destroying creativity.  He then uses several stories and example of why he believes this.  Here is one such story.

Meet Gillian Lynne - one of the world's best and well known choreographer.  She is the person behind Cats and Phantom of the Opera, two of Broadway's best plays.  When she was younger, Miss Lynne would fidget in school.  And like most teachers back then - and still today - her teacher would command her to stop.  It became so much of a problem, in fact, that not only did she have trouble in school, but her mother took her to a doctor to see what was 'wrong' with her.  Of course there was nothing wrong; Gillian Lynne just liked to fidget.  At the doctor's office, the doctor took the mother into the hallway to talk with her privately, leaving Gillian in the room by herself.

The doctor turned on the radio while leaving the room, however.  And while in the hallway, the doctor and the mother looked inside and saw Gillian dancing.  "There is nothing wrong with Gillian," the doctor said, "Gillan is a dancer; take her to a dancing school."

Today, as Robinson pointed out, Gillain would be diagnosed with ADHD.   Thats not the problem; the problem is not a disease in which our kids need a diagnosis. 

The problem is the lack of creativity being taught in schools - how kids are not encouraged to develop their talents and their creativity.  Most schools today produce cloned students: all taught the same thing, all having the same opinion.  The problem is how our school has become like a factory producing machine-like students ready to take on a world in which students that can think, process, and change on their own is desired. 

Which brings us back to Gillian Lynne.  Her teachers did not want her to move; they wanted her to sit still and be like the other students.  But thats not what she was - she was and is obviously a dancer.  Yet schools did not want her to develop her creativity or to search for what makes her happy. 

Ken Robinson said, "Human resources [like creativity and natural talents] are like natural resources; they're often buried deep.  You have to go looking for them."  Our current education system does not dig deep enough for this.  This is a problem.  Education is teaching our students for a world in which we have no idea what is to come.  We dont know what kids would need to prepare themselves for the next fifty plus years, and yet we somehow have to make sure they are ready for it.  What we can give them is such skills as problem solving and creativity - skills that will allow them to not only change with tide of the future, but also to find their true talents and love what they're doing.

So; how do we encourage, teach and reward creativity and imagination in our schools?  In our current setup, we can't; our school system is not designed to teach kids to think 'outside the box.'  We don't need to tweek here and change there.  We can't do with only a reformation; our school systems need a transformation - a revolution of creativity. 

Abraham Lincoln once said to Congress, "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."  As future teachers, we must let go of the out-of-date lesson skills that we grew up with; we must learn to think and act with a fresh set of mind in hopes of creating an atmosphere in which our students can dig deep within themselves to find their talents.  We must rise to the occasion.

Bring on the Revolution.