Post by robcaudill on Aug 9, 2011 12:42:29 GMT -5
As I read through the article “The Creativity Crisis”, I felt like there were alarm bells going off in my head. This is the kind of thing my sister talks about all the time. She is a second-year elementary school teacher, and while she has said over and over how much she enjoys teaching, she has also said she feels discouraged by how much schools “teach the test” these days with little or no regard for nurturing the feeling of fun that she had as a child. Of course, it is obvious that schools are only trying to push their students to make them high achievers. AP classes at DHS and increasingly heightened expectations in elementary schools are only a few of the ways that schools are pushing their students. However, if we were to really look at many of the things we do in the classroom, they revolve heavily around what Jonathan Plucker described to the faculty of the Chinese university he visited: “standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and standardized testing.” Rarely is creativity actually pushed in public school classrooms.
My well-meaning sister is a prime example of this. She teaches students with significant disabilities, and has talked to me and my parents more than once about the fact that while she knows that the typical information elementary students learn is important, so is the ability to think for yourself and to develop some creative thinking and life skills. However, she so often feels trapped by the constant pressure to increase her students’ knowledge that she feels she can’t go out of the box and do anything different that may spur them to think in a different way. After reading this article, I think that in a sense she is stifling the creativity of these students. Obviously she doesn’t mean to do this, it just seems to be the “nature of the beast”, so to speak.
When I think about the quote from this article that says, “The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off,” I think the researchers have a valid point. However, until creativity becomes the next big “thing”, I don’t believe the children whose creativity is being tested will make many gains. Sure, they may have more facts in their head, but will they be able to apply them in a way that is meaningful? The same goes for me. I’ve learned so much in the past 12 years in the Danville Schools, but soon I’ll have to apply it to something meaningful. Will I be able to do it? Sure, I think I will because I consider myself a creative person. Will someone else who feels like they are less than creative be as likely to apply the information they’ve learned? I’m not sure about that. At any rate, it is still shocking to me to think about any form of intelligence quotient decreasing these days when we are all pushed to be better than ever before. The pressure is mounting; for me as a student, my sister as a teacher, and my dad as the leader of a business. We are all told we are being pushed to be the best. This article makes me think, though, are we really?
My well-meaning sister is a prime example of this. She teaches students with significant disabilities, and has talked to me and my parents more than once about the fact that while she knows that the typical information elementary students learn is important, so is the ability to think for yourself and to develop some creative thinking and life skills. However, she so often feels trapped by the constant pressure to increase her students’ knowledge that she feels she can’t go out of the box and do anything different that may spur them to think in a different way. After reading this article, I think that in a sense she is stifling the creativity of these students. Obviously she doesn’t mean to do this, it just seems to be the “nature of the beast”, so to speak.
When I think about the quote from this article that says, “The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off,” I think the researchers have a valid point. However, until creativity becomes the next big “thing”, I don’t believe the children whose creativity is being tested will make many gains. Sure, they may have more facts in their head, but will they be able to apply them in a way that is meaningful? The same goes for me. I’ve learned so much in the past 12 years in the Danville Schools, but soon I’ll have to apply it to something meaningful. Will I be able to do it? Sure, I think I will because I consider myself a creative person. Will someone else who feels like they are less than creative be as likely to apply the information they’ve learned? I’m not sure about that. At any rate, it is still shocking to me to think about any form of intelligence quotient decreasing these days when we are all pushed to be better than ever before. The pressure is mounting; for me as a student, my sister as a teacher, and my dad as the leader of a business. We are all told we are being pushed to be the best. This article makes me think, though, are we really?