Creativity in schools (essay) My personal experience in school and high school was in Europe in the 1970s, and creativity was definitely limited to subjects like art and music ( there were no plays at my school). “Serious” subjects like languages ​​and science were about “learning the rules” and being able to regurgitate facts rather than propose new ideas. However, that changed in high school: we were definitely taught to think critically in the humanities (languages, religious studies, and art appreciation). For example, each semester we had a minister, priest, or rabbi from a different denomination teach religious studies, and they all taught us to ask questions and think about how and why what they taught might be different from what their colleagues said. Science was still about being able to apply rules and do things the way teachers wanted us to do them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Watching my grandchildren go to school (between the early 2000s and today with my youngest niece in high school now) and seeing the kind of teacher comments they have to deal with when they deviate from the “approved” path ”, I have to say that not much has changed. Many teachers say how important creativity is, but when they encounter it, they don't really know how to deal with it. According to Robinson, the main reason for this is that they are afraid to try or try something. new, which means they might make a mistake. He says making a mistake, which means being prepared to make a mistake, is not something most people are comfortable with. In essence, once adults, most people are no longer able to "risk" making mistakes. I think the predominant way of educating children in the Western world is to teach what is known, focus on the facts, make everyone aware of the rules, and penalize those who don't know the correct answers with lower grades. Anyone who talks in class or has different ideas about how to do something is punished – and a remark like “we don't do it that way” can be very discouraging to a child with different ideas. At the same time, you get good grades at the end of a “successful” education and you link that to getting a good job – which means earning a lot of money and getting high status or whatever the goal is in any What. given country or culture. The goal is to conform to what society has decided is “right” and being different in any way is not a good thing. In this scenario, education is the first step towards inhibiting originality, making sure people know it is “wrong,” or at least risky. Most children are happy to make mistakes - that's how they learn. They know nothing better than to learn by trial and error. If you look at how babies learn to talk, it's a series of trying different sounds to figure out which ones work. Sometimes children make up their own words, but are soon told that those words are “wrong” – and so begins the road to becoming less creative with language and most children eventually stop trying to play with sounds and words. In essence, they are “taught” that creativity is not acceptable. Poets, authors and songwriters retain some of that creativity later in life, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Some people have to remain creative later in life if they want to be independent, for purely practical reasons. I am referring to people with disabilities. Personally, I had to figure out how to do thethings differently; I have never been able to simply copy someone's movements to learn how to use scissors, or eat with a fork, or ride a bicycle. And some people, those who have had serious accidents or face a big change in their life, have to learn to be creative again just to deal with their new circumstances. But, thanks to a rather restrictive education system, this is not an easy thing to do. What I take to be the main point of Robinson's speech is that education in general, for many different reasons, does not teach creativity or even support it. While he states that creativity is at least as necessary as literacy, and I personally agree, education systems around the world suppress creativity because making mistakes and doing things differently is not encouraged in schools, employers they argue for people who “play by the rules.” rules", and the hierarchy of subjects in most education systems means that academic subjects are seen as more important than humanities or arts. The first barrier to creativity in education systems is a set of social values ​​that reward status (for mostly defined as financial success ) above happiness and/or mental and physical health Earning a lot of money is seen as positive in capitalist societies, and even in socialist countries, the “elite” have more money than the working majority (see). former Eastern Bloc countries and China). Making money is easier and has more predictable results in the absence of risk taking, so mistakes are not seen as a good thing. As a result, companies do not reward creativity and , because schools believe their job is to ensure the employability of their graduates, they do not see creativity as an important skill to teach. Society should change, as should corporate cultures, to remove these barriers. The second barrier to creativity in education systems that I see is that the politicians who decide the contents of the curricula, as well as all the teachers who implement those learning plans, have grown up in an educational environment that does not reward creativity – so how should they promote it? Politicians should change their personal views to develop plans that focus on interdisciplinary work, emphasize all subjects equally and encourage “unusual” choices in students. So teachers should be retrained so that they have the ability to recognize and encourage creativity in the children they teach. This change is not just theoretical, but must become visible in how they talk to children, what behaviors they reward and how they evaluate the work children do – from homework in the traditional sense to the pictures they draw or the dance performances they put on. wear. And the third obstacle to creativity in education systems that I see is parents. Even if they are not directly responsible for the functioning of the entire system, they are important participants in how children approach what they learn in school. If what children hear at home (because their parents were raised with different educational values) is very different from what they hear at school, any kind of “educational revolution” will not be very effective. Please note: This is just an example Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In summary, there are so many obstacles to changing the role of creativity in education, that it can seem like an insurmountable task to change anything. The only thing I can say in conclusion is that I believe we have no choice but to find a better path if we want to survive as a species and be.