Creativity and Schools

Ken Robinson's talk actually had a deep meaning to me. I personally have experienced the stigmas that are attached to being creative. Throughout public school I had a lot of run in's with my teachers and was percieved as quite the rebel. It's true I was rebelling however I felt justified in fighting for what I believed in. Creativity is something that should be valued very highly esspecially right now in our world. We need new solutions and if we continue to teach the same way, nothing new will ever be developed...except by the odd rebel. It's also true that we are taught to be afraid of failure or being wrong since a very young age. For example, if a child brings home a bug and the parent says "ah gross a bug!" and squashes it, do you think that child will be excited to bring home another bug? We have to teach children to not cry over spilt milk. Creativity should be encouraged in my opinion, but the other thing that must also be taught along with creativity is responsibility. As long as people know that there are consequences for their actions their actions should not get out of hand. As far as children that think in different ways(the dancer example Ken used) it's true that we should learn people's talents and encourage them and help them flourish. Many people think that problems in life are like an obsticle, that we must smash through or overcome, but if we learn to use our abilities to the fullest, we can be like a stone in a stream, where the water(problems of life) will just pass over us. The way we are taught is very against human nature in my opinion, teachers sometimes try to make children bash their heads against a problem until they get through it, instead they should find new ways to use the student's abilities, so they can overcome difficulties with ease.

Shall we stop it?...yeah, alright.
Cory