Give us all ur munnies so us canz play... or else.

[maxwellsearcy]

I have always been a strong advocate of creativity and imagination. In fact, one of my main goals in life is to spread arts education throughout the world— solving social problems with artistic expression. As Po Bronson addresses in his Newsweek article, “The Creativity Crisis,” America is facing its own crippling atmosphere of stagnant intellects.

I’m one hundred percent sure this trend is related to, if not directly caused by, our abandonment of the arts across the board in public education. According to the New York Times, following the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act, one school in Sacramento barred over one hundred students from taking any non-math or reading class except gym, even though studies as early as 1996 show that learning is easier when both sides of the brain– artistic and intellectual– are involved. Public arts funding in the United States is sponsored mostly by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1965 and has since issued around $4 billion in grants. That sum— $4 billion— seems astronomical until you realise that it’s only around one quarter per American per year. It’s sad that something so widely regarded as a fundamental career path in society (from movie actors to fashion designers to writers to architects) is so underrepresented for students in our nation.

In fact, the innovators and entertainers in the United States are one of our country’s greatest assets. In 2009, the average U.S. consumer spent about 5.4 percent of his or her income on entertainment— more than what was spent on gasoline, and almost five times as much as what he or she spent on education. A large part of the things we do revolve around art, and as our art is becoming less creative and less powerful, so are we. Bronson’s analyses are no surprise, to see the signs all you have to do is look at history, as societies age and become less stable, they become creatively stagnant. When Bronson writes, “Enriched environments are making kids smarter. With creativity, a reverse trend has just been identified and is being reported for the first time here: American creativity scores are falling.” I remain thoroughly unshaken. We’ve had this coming since we started giving up those last fifteen minutes of music so we could cram in an extra quarter hour of spelling quizzes, and some of us have already mentally prepared ourselves.

One more thing Bronson is right about— this is a serious problem. Historically, both Greek and Roman playwrights began to recycle plot structures and abandoning experimentation with characters just before each civilization’s collapse. It seems that one of the signs of a society's downfall is that they start repeating themselves artistically, something America does better than just about anyone. And yes, I am blaming Saw VI for the downfall of American culture along with our congressman’s aversion to sticking up for music class. Bronson’s creativity crisis isn’t just an observation of a terrifying trend; it’s a warning bell. If we don’t start pouring more than a quarter or two into the arts education pot every year, we’re going to end up just like all those Greeks and Romans: dead. Although hopefully not in togas.

[zaidsiddiqui]

Max, there is almost no creativity crisis in America, it's a bunch of bologna. You said, "this trend is related to, if not directly caused by, our abandonment of the arts across the board in public education," but think for a moment and you'll realize that the arts are not the only form of creativity. Technological innovation is a great example of creativity and illustrates how the minds of the younger generations are already benefitting modern society. The older generation is saying there is a crisis because the tests reflect what would be considered creativity on the younger days of the old generation, not what would be considered creative based on all the new technology. Being well versed in the arts may make one well rounded, but it doesn't make them more creative than the technological expert or the science nerd. Creativity tests need to be restructured and update to modern standards in order to accurately reflect creativity in today's society. Another thing you said was that "A large part of the things we do revolve around art, and as our art is becoming less creative and less powerful, so are we," but that isn’t necessarily true because our art is changing and creativity of art is hard to judge because pictures speak a thousand words.

[drewlane]

Max, I completely agree with you. Our abandonment of arts education in America's schools is frightening, especially to a person who wants to go into the arts. Although the arts are not the only form of creativity, they are the STRONGEST form of creativity in our lives. Creative individuals have an opportunity to shine in the classroom when we offer art and drama courses, rather than all math and science courses. Creativity can be fostered in many ways, but the arts&humaities classrooms are the place that we should focus on fostering that creativity we need. I believe the best way to fix any problem with our nation's children's creativity is to hand them a piece of paper and say, "make something." After all, creativity stems from the word create, so why shouldn't our children have a place that is set aside for creation? I understand where you are coming from, Zaid, but the only logical reason for any decline in creativity is the banishment of the arts in our public school systems across the nation. while it may be hard to judge creativity, we cannot go against the tests created to judge them. Until the tests get restructured to tell us that there isn't a creativity crisis in America, we have to go by the tests that have produced results and conclude that we have a creativity crisis in our nation, and cutting the arts cannot possibly make those scores rise.