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Hibah Ameer

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?

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  • Harro Penk

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    Sep 21 2012: I'm sensing that you feel that formal education is somehow against creativity, and that it creates "stereotypical imagery". I think quite the contrary can be true in education: You can have phenomenal creativity in math, science, and other formal subjects. Much of it has to do with your instructors and the curriculum, but it also has to come from the student. For example, it takes all kinds of imagination to come up with certain math proofs, especially geometric ones. Also, in physics, many problems take a tremendous amount of deep critical thinking and imagination.
    The real stereotype is that only "the arts" are creative. And honestly, look at much of "art" out there - it's industrial, derivative, boring. There are just a handful of truly great musicians, memorable sculptures, and immortal painters. The rest might as well go singing at weddings, sell their statues for lawn-art, and paint their sister's living room on the weekend.
    Imagination is where you look for it, not just where you expect it.

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