Do schools kill creativity?

In his presentation, Sir Ken Robinson says that individuals get “educated out of (creativity),” and I completely agree with him. Schools kill creativity, not because teachers and administrators are evil, but because the parameters by which success is measured, namely through test scores, does not allow for creativity in the classroom. Creativity is hard to measure and assess. Test scores are the opposite. Tests can be graded, grades go on transcripts, and transcripts lead to colleges. A college education is a necessary ticket in most areas of the working world.

I do, however, see a shift happening in the current day. The generation of students who sit in my classroom are encouraged to be creative in their social realms, if not in their educational ones. Kids in middle school and high school are creating cell phone apps (and making a nice buck in the process!). Creative photos with filters are posted on the internet every day and are viewed and criticized by peers and strangers alike. Superstars are emerging from home videos posted on YouTube. Once students leave the classroom, their creative wheels are turning unintentionally and without suppression.

Students in today’s classrooms tend to be far superior to their instructors in terms of technology. Technology and digital media will be useful avenues to foster creativity, even with the world’s test score focus. One way I can bring creativity to life in my classroom is through alternate assessments. It is important for students to be able to produce evidence of learning and understanding of mathematical concepts through formal summative assessments, but I feel each unit lends itself to both formative and summative options that can be expressed and assessed without a paper and pencil test. Students can create multimedia presentations that review topics from the unit for the class to utilize. Rather than complete a review sheet, students could make a Prezi, Powerpoint, or video that reviews key topics and examples.  These presentations can be posted on my teacher website for all students to use as review materials.

Another way digital media can be used to foster creativity is through project-based activities that tie learning to the real world. One of the main objectives in my district is discussing the relevance of the subject matter in relation to students. Geometry is one of those topics that surrounds students in the real world. Students could create videos or take photographs that model a particular concept, like area/volume of solids (found everywhere!), trigonometry (prominent in architecture, landscaping, and even Nascar), and other areas that are directly represented in the world around us. Students can write a story about the photograph, create a song to remember formulas, or present understanding in many other ways.

Finally, the most important way digital media can bring creativity to the classroom is through an approach that is far less tangible than the projects listed above. Sir Ken Robinson stated, “If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” In the classroom,  I can teach students the reward in working towards a solution, but being wrong in steps along the way. Encouraging discussions that incorporate hypothesis about a problem with responses from others is a great way to brainstorm as a group. Perhaps a class blog will foster this activity. Although the posts will be listed with an author, students may feel more comfortable opening up their creative mind on an Internet post, which may lead to more meaningful and creative discussions in the classroom during which students are comfortable being wrong from time to time.

Ken Robinson is pretty convincing that schools kill creativity. I believe it would be hard to contradict his statements because, in my opinion, he is right! Technology and digital media can be useful tools to foster creativity, even when tests are still the central measure of success. With more creativity and evidence of learning through the creative process, perhaps our society will shift in their values enough to stray from test scores and evaluate the whole person.

Ken Robinson - "Do Schools Kill Creativity" on TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY