- Hibah Ameer
- Karachi( Home-Town)
- Pakistan
Design Student, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture
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Does formal education as a child hinder a child's creativity?
I am writing on a paper on Education Systems restricting child creativity. On one hand formal education has it s benefits as it trains the human eye to notice things, place things in order. But on the other hand it sets certain limitations to a child's imaginative mind and forces him/her to produce stereotypical imagery of what they call 'art'
What are your opinions?
Tim Thornton
Kris Christenson
samantha grey
Gene Bryan Fisher
To learn to read, write, and understand basics of the sciences is a must but formal eduction unfortunately involves far more than that.
Some say we are what we eat and others say we reflect what we believe (learn in school to be truth)
A blind man cannot see (or can he)
A wise man teach (or can he)
A man without funds cannot buy things (or can he)
They once instructed students the world was flat and the sun revolved around the earth.
They once instructed students that there were four elements (water, air, fire, and earth)
If one is instructed of the "truth" obviously looking for the truth is a pointless venture!
Gokulanathan Ponnusamy
shane alexander
Trippy Ivy
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Madhavi Gavini
Formal education, by itself does not hinder creativity and imagination.
Creativity depends on how the education is delivered and the personality of the student.
I really like the 'Montessori method' of teaching.
There are many schools that incorporate novel teaching methods and customize them based on the students' skills and personality...this is ideal.
I believe that formal education is meant to be a form of guidance to the student.
Roberto Garcia
Susan Townsend
if you see the sameness everyday and night and it is mostly sad, bad,hurtful,negative then how is someone going to think differently and see the possibilities of the world , the mind, people ,place things. to see or have the desire to do something different, to be creative?
Susan Townsend
I would say that it depends on the teacher, and the environment and all who are involved with the child. Creativity comes from so many different stimulus. I the teacher shows that there is no right way to paint or draw a dog and that one should think of different things to show and to expose the child to in a positive manner. No rights or wrong just different. The subject matter also has a lot to do with it. Now math is math and reading is reading. However if a teacher uses their creativity to teach. and she or he is not just trying to get though the day! but really wants to see the student grow, and have cognitive thinking skills. yes I do think that formal education can can help the child have a creative mindset. I had a formal education but the people around me were creative. and so therefore I am. but like every thing else being creative is positive and most times some others do not see it that way!!
Linda Zhou
like the one i'm dealing with for GRE. lol
Travis Dobbin
Coming to school and being interested in learning your way, from that persons Talents, would make students more able to learn, follow the class and not feel stupid cause some kids fail a test that only a person with a talent of being "Book Smart" can pass.
Hands on people will learn mostly there way same with Artists, intro and extroverted people, Etc... ,
Yes, there is a system to go by, all students should and will be learned all the material of school, values, logic, creativity. People should be pushed to learn new stuff, but never shove them against a wall of a few options and not be valued for what they have.
People learning mostly there way or in there views of life will increase or should increase % of marks and make them feel good to want to go to school, cause it is something that they want to do since it will be what they love, witch is Learning and the feeling that the students know they will excel passed a normal school system and grow from themselves. Other topics and subjects should seem easy cause maybe you will have there attention and interest more , witch might increase learning.
chen xin
several days ago i have read a piece a news that the students of Cuba ,they just learn half day and pratcise half day .i
think it is a good idea.then we can use what we learn and also can do something labor ,then we have a real learn and
have a much longer memory about it .
Ray Boarman
We should fostering creativity, not just the arts, but problem solving and such. Try to show them there can be ways to do the same thing in different ways. You've got the education system producing these carbon copy kids with the same mind set, thinking about the wrong and right, and only a handful thinking out of the box daring to do it differently.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I cannot speak to the years before that.
It is so curious to me that so many people have not noticed this.
Ray Boarman
Fritzie Reisner 100+
The dramatic popularity nationwide, for example, of "Writer's Workshop," which places creative writing at the center of writing curriculum grades 1-8 and the widespread adoption of inquiry-based math and science, are examples of the rejection of rote in favor of curriculum focused on exploration, imagination, and design alongide critical thinking.
While the standardized tests of my youth were the sort with bubblesheets, which is what most of us probably envision when we hear the words "standardized test," even the standardized tests of today often are a mixture of short answer, and short and long "free-response."
I agree, though, that the big priorities in most districts now in k12 are critical thinking, communication, and support of ideas rather than the arts.
As you say, though, nothing has taken hold everywhere.
Elizabeth Gu 30+
One of the main problems in this formal education system is that schools prioritize particular subjects and values over other important things. For instance, when I was a high school student, my school teachers laid emphasis on studying mathematics, English, and Korean. Dancing, Drawing, Music, Philosophy, Global history, Cooking, Movie, and things like that all be underestimated and somewhat ignored just because they are not necessary for students to prepare universities entrance exams.
Formal education system reflects our rigid society.
However, ironically, it doesn’t really reflect the society our children have to overcome.
How could children possibly think outside the box when they have to be good at thinking on their feet or come up with new ideas if this kind of limited and narrow way of education keeps shaping their way of thinking?
Robert Winner 50+
Perhaps the system is the problem. I see pre-algrba as a means to encourage and excite students into the next phase of math. The system sees it as a pass fail ... grade on a curve ... just a pre-requisite ... a box to check off ... the solution is the objective ... no application required. My teacher was a math whiz but could not communicate the process ... we had those who got it and those who didn't. It took a few years to remove him and get a communicator in the spot.
We have a system that takes the Lady and the Tiger and Death of a Salesman and says it has to be one or the other. If I just broke up with my girlfriend ..love sucks and the tiger is the answer. I see the Death of a salesman as a rebirth and a whole new man emerging ... my college instructor ask me if I understood what death means and if I could understand the title. Creativity killers Yep no doubt about it.
My English teacher told us in todays terms about Romeo and Juliet and ask if we had seen West Side Story. We no longer just read the words but looked into the characters and the circumstances and a whole new world opened up. I liked the Taming of the Shrew but loved the Burton and Taylor film.
In the US the system does not require you know the subject only that you can pass the test .. so we teach the test. It is hard to excite or engage the student under those constraints. By using application as the measuing stick we can engage and excite the student and yes develop that creativity that we are killing.
It does not have to be education or creativity marry the two through good teaching and fair grading practices. If the majority deserves an A then do it. Stop the curve madness. Students are real people not stats.
It is not formal ed. It is the system that formal ed is trapped in.
Out of space. Bob.
Jan DeLisle
Fortunately, there are schools and school districts that are mindful of accountability and still striving to keep the focus where it belongs: the individual child. In these "gold mines", opportunities exist and are increasing for students to concentrate on areas of individual passion, creativity and exploration. Our school district is such a place. We have a vibrant fine arts program with, conservatively, 3/4 of the student population actively involved in art, music (band, orchestra, chorus) and / or theater. Engineering classes begin in middle school through Project Lead the Way; robots and rockets abound. Inquiry-based learning is encouraged. Most importantly, Independent Studies is an elective option. The topic of study is designed by the student and provides precious time for invention, reflection, and WONDER! The teachers of these classes are trained to stretch individual thinking and encourage investigation through "new eyes". Products from these students leave no doubt that creativity is alive and thriving.
Barry Palmer 50+
Child development research is still in its early development. (If you think about all of the complexities involved in researching children, you might conclude that full understanding will take centuries.) When the research is more advanced, it will point the way to an optimal environment. All of our attempts at raising children have been based on trial and error, and most have been constrained by the necessity of producing an adult capable of producing enough to survive and reproduce.
Formal education is necessarily very restrictive. It must produce young adults capable of living in the current economy and society, with current technology. Considering the complexities of modern society, this is a very difficult challenge to accomplish before the age of 18. In some neighborhoods it is considered success when teenagers do not kill each other. Fostering creativity "should" be part of the process. It must fit into a system that has a separate purpose and higher priorities.
Within this restrictive, challenging context, it is hard for me to imagine what we would consider success with regards to fostering creativity. Our current technology is evidence of a great deal of creativity.
It seems to me that the basic change needed in our education system is to find a way to accomplish its primary objectives, for large numbers of students, while providing individually appropriate education. We still do not have a good way of "advancing" students individually, much less determining what is actually appropriate for each individual as that individual progresses. When we can educate individually, creativity will fall into its natural place.
Michael Perman 100+
Michael Brangwynne
Fritzie Reisner 100+
stan kinsman
Natural occurrences in a natural learning environment .The youth can create a new future if we let them mingle as humans .Curiosity always wins.Add intelligence & you've got winners who understand diversity & so much more on a level that moves quickly .
Carla Tonga
A 'students creativity' could be defined as invoked expression or freedom of expression from an individual.
We can only begin to see the diferencebetween 'conformed education' & 'creativite expression' and factors that can drive a student either way are 1) A teachers ability to teach, communicate & invoke. 2) A students ability to learn. communicate & question.
In my opinion & observation, schooling through to High School education is based around conforming to the national standard guidlines & a teachers personal perspective of behavioural control. These two points are the blocking agent to any students ability to grow creatively.
i.e., The student has been the #1 art student of their year for 3 years in high school, they are submitting their final piece for the yearl.
STUDENTt: I painted my niece in soft shades of blue because it reminds me of her & makes me feel happy.
TEACHER: No that wont do, blue is a sad colour & you've ruined the whole portrait
STUDENT': Why does blue have to be a sad? this is my portrait not anyone else's
TEACHER: Because it just is. (teacher storms out of the room).
-- After that conversation, I was graded so low, I was pushed down to the bottom of the class. All it took was one personal perspective of an authoritive figure.
Another example is as an adult student in university, I noticed the struggle lecturers had trying to push personal opinion & artistic boundries with students straight from High School. Generally speaking you could almost say that Formal education is training our children how to think, how to act & how not to question authority. A teachers job is to teach and over all that is exactly what they do very well but the question is 'what are they teaching and how are they teaching it?
Sachita Nishal
Stereotypes on the other hand, are much more tricky because they are not only influenced by the education system or the books etc but also by social interaction of students with their peers. They are a combination of what the students understand from their daily interactions, the media through which they learn as well as the world they experience outside academic institutions.
So fact is, formal education can enhance a child's creativity and train the human eye to notice things and put them in order, but only if appropriate media and methods are used that help the child to actually think and ponder. Without it, children have no social platform to interact, be competitive, realise their strengths and weaknesses and discover themselves.
cst commonsense
to see how it all works:
http://www.commonsensethinking.co.uk/sft.html
For the Student:-
We take you on a journey of discovery. A journey that starts with yourself and ends with yourself gaining a new vision of the real world. Your virtual journey is hard and long and it takes you to many places, visiting many different organisations across the world, including large and small business, desert islands and peoples of different cultures. The going is tough but you persevere and you discover what makes these people and organisations work. You seek and discover the fundamental issues behind mans eternal adventure. You travel through Baltimore and reach out to the cosmos, after all, you are just a child of the universe and you are discovering new ways of thinking for yourself. As your journey nears its end, your last quest is especially long and hard, but eventually, although tired, you are elated, you have reached the summit of your climb. You realise that from this journey’s end your horizons have changed, and from this new vantage point you can see a great distance all around. You look again at the world and with new eyes and you see the world as it really is. You see clearly the paths to new horizons and new lands awaiting your discovery. Your strength is renewed, you are ready to take your first step along your own life-long journey. In just three weeks time you will:
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Anna Gregerson
In music, you learn scales, chords, fingering, notes. The finest musicians in all genres, usually have some or strong background in classical music - theory and practice. In sports, there are endless drills. In math, it all starts with knowing 0 and 1 - with number lines, memorization of tables to make your brain independent of a calculator - to quicken your ability to go further. In writing, you express your ideas from a selection of basic principles - noun, verb, object, adverb. Some of the most amazing art, writing, philosophy has been created during the most structured regimes - witness the artists coming out of China under the strictest oversight. Michaelangelo working DIRECTLY for the Pope. The Golden Gate Bridge during the fear, paranoia and constraints of the Great Depression. Shoot, even healthy politics requires knowledge of the principles of governing in general and your government in particular. (Lack thereof of this may explain the current deadlocks national and international.... )
There is no one right foundation - only the right one for your purpose - personal, community, national, spiritual.... . Public (and private) education cannot possibly be tailored to the nth detail but there are some things that we do know to pass on that are most helpful in a broad time and place. Without it, it's easy to confuse, distract, obstruct, dominate. It is no surprise that the first thing those who would oppress do is to demonize education and creatives.
xue yanqin
chen xin
John Moonstroller 20+
Here is my take on the video presentation of Sir Ken Robinsons Ideas.He injected loads of Humor In his talk. In fact just about the whole 18 min. was one long joke. Here are my notes below.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#359000
we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.
The whole system is built from the top down to assist those with intelligence to make it to the top tier.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#647000
Intelligence is dynamic.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#777000
The Brain is intentional.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#801000
Intelligence is distinct.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#880000
Our educational system has mined our minds in the way we strip mine the earth.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html#1068000
I think Sugat Mitra, has more to say about creative children and education.
You might want to watch this video and he is talking about kids and a system in your part of the world.
Again, good luck.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html
Mustafa Zuberi
It is the parents job to provide a creative outlet at home for the child instead of letting him/her sit for hours in front of a television/game console/ I pad or on the internet. Reading books has all but ceased to exist which is one of the best forms of nurturing the the imagination.
If anything the stereotypical imagery reflects the lack of stimulus provided in the daily life of a child not just at school.
Every piece of art has the artists experiences and soul reflected in it thus the art will be colored by imagination the lack of which is eminent when lives are limited to what is easily available on the internet or on the Television.
Carla Tonga
If a child is drummed with authoritative rule and conformed behaviour 35+ hours per week, then you have the parent trying to invoke the childs personal expression and creativity, the relationship between school and home is immediately conflicting.
Balance and communication is key is it not?
Hannah Staats
Then, I entered middle school at a standard public school, which was a whole new experience. It was not a bad school- it taught the students and did the job- but it did not encourage students to think for themselves, create, and solve problems.
I started going to an 'artsy' charter school the next year- total culture shock! This school does use an open- minded approach and offers all kinds of arts classes to nurture students' creativity, but it is somewhat lacking in discipline. Many students in my classes are failing them, because they are under the impression that they can skip homework without consequence, because at this school there IS no consequence, besides the bad grade.
I think we need schools today to teach students how to be self- responsible, to problem- solve creatively, to be open- minded and to be socially capable so they can grow up to be the thinkers and designers of tomorrow. If homeschooling is done well and is the right fit for the student, that's great, but public school has the potential to nurture creativity just as well.
Go charter schools!