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  • Essay / The importance of creativity in education

    Creativity at school (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 was no drama provision at school). my school). “Serious” subjects like languages ​​and science were all about “learning the rules” and being able to regurgitate facts rather than come up with new ideas. This changed in high school, however: we were definitely taught to think critically in the humanities (languages, religious studies, and art appreciation). For example, we had a pastor, priest, or rabbi from a different faith who taught religious studies every semester and each of them taught us to ask questions and think about how and why what they were teaching could be different from what their colleagues were saying. Science was still all about being able to follow the rules and do things the way the teachers wanted us to do them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayWatching my nieces and nephews go to school (between the early 2000s and today, with my youngest niece in high school now) and seeing the types of teacher comments they face when they deviate from the "approved" path, I have to say not much has changed. Many teachers talk about 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 take the plunge or try something. new, which means they could make a mistake. He says that making a mistake, that is, being willing to be wrong, is not something most people are comfortable with. Essentially, as 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, to focus on the facts, to educate everyone. rules and penalize those who don't know the correct answers with lower marks. Anyone who speaks up in class or has different ideas about how to do something is also 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, which are the essential condition for a “successful” education, and you link that to getting a good job – which means earning a lot of money and achieving high status or any other objective in any other field. given country or culture. The emphasis is on conforming 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 toward inhibiting originality by making sure people know it's "wrong" or, at the very least, risky. Most children are happy to make mistakes – that's how they learn. They don't know any better than to learn by trial and error. If you look at how children learn to speak, it's a series of trials with different sounds to see which ones work. Sometimes children make up their own words, but are quickly told that those words are “wrong” – and this is how they start to become less creative with language and most children eventually stop trying to play with sounds and words. Essentially, they are “taught” thatcreativity is not acceptable. Poets, authors, and songwriters retain some of this creativity later in life, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Some people need to stay 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 things differently; I could never just copy someone's movements to learn how to use scissors, eat with a fork, or ride a bike. And some people, those who have serious accidents or face a major life change, have to relearn how to be creative just to cope with their new circumstances. But, due to a rather restrictive education system, this is not an easy thing to do. What I take to be Robinson's main point in his speech is that education in general, for many different reasons, does not teach creativity or even support it. Even though he says 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 support the need for people who “play by the rules.” rules,” and the hierarchy of subjects in most education systems means that academic subjects are considered more important than humanities or art. The first barrier to creativity in education systems is a set of societal values ​​that reward status (defined primarily 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 majority of workers (see former Eastern bloc countries and China). Making money is easier and gives more predictable results when there is no risk taking. So mistakes are not considered a good thing. As a result, businesses do not reward creativity and, as schools see it as their job to ensure the employability of their graduates, they do not view creativity as an important skill to teach. Society and corporate culture would need to change to eliminate these barriers. The second barrier to creativity in education systems that I see is that the politicians who decide the content of the programs as well as all the teachers who implement these learning plans have grown up. in an educational environment that doesn’t reward creativity – so how are they supposed to foster it? Politicians should change their personal views to develop plans focused on interdisciplinary work, emphasizing all subjects equally and encouraging "unusual" choices among students. Teachers should then be retrained so that they are able to recognize and encourage the creativity of 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 grade the work children do – from homework in the traditional sense to the pictures they draw or the dance shows they do. put.And the third obstacle to creativity in education systems that I see is parents. Although they are not directly responsible for the operation of the system as a whole, they play an important role in how.