Creativity and the arts

[dylantooflycrow]

My mom was an actor and director in New York City, and is now the director of arts education for the Danville School System. My father was also an actor and director in New York City. My Stepfather teaches in the drama department at Centre College. The arts have been an important component of my life since I was born. I greatly attribute my skills and talents to the arts in my life, and without them I do not think that I would be as well-rounded of a person as I try to make myself today.
I highly agree with Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman on their views on the importance of creativity in children and young adults. I also do not find it shocking to see this clear evidence in the decline of creativity in young people. I believe that the solution to the decline in creativity is creating more opportunities for young students to express themselves in the arts.
Bronson says, “The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).” The key to this statement is that there is never one right answer. Our school systems focus highly on the areas of science and math where there IS only one right answer. Students use the quick way out. Although they are learning, they are not applying or able to really think for themselves.
He also says, “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.” Creativity is the main component of the arts. Given a safe space to work in, and a proper teacher. A child’s mind can be free to create anything. In the safe environment of the arts, anything is possible and there are no wrong answers. Creativity can soar to any level and brilliant, unimaginable ideas can be imaginable.
They point out, “Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William & Mary discovered this in May, after analyzing almost 300,000 Torrance scores of children and adults. Kim found creativity scores had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward.” Clearly, the decline in creativity is a serious issue that has been happening over the past twenty years and is no doubt growing.
Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman bring up very strong evidence to the decline of creativity in young students. I agree that it is a very serious problem that we should fix. My personal interactions with the arts have always led to the augmentation of my creative process. I strongly believe that more arts courses and opportunities for our young students would drastically change the decline in creativity.

[karlhempel]

Dylan I believe what you are saying is that you are a conformist. Conformists show a lack of creativity typically. All of your family acts and you act too, I find this a bit of a conformist attitude. Yet, in this case, that’s beside the point because much creativity flows through the blood. Creativity is not always a developed skill; some people are just born to be creative. Dylan you are a prime example, the creativity blood flows through you in a mannerism which makes you highly entertaining and a wonderful actor. As well, I agree with some of the points you made. I do believe the school system is attempting to force creativity too much on the kids, which, in turn, actually creates a lack of creativity. If someone tried to force Lil’ Wayne to write lyrics, his lyrics probably wouldn’t be as good because he was forced to write the lyrics. Creativity is something that flows through all of us and it just needs the right catalyst to get the reaction going. As our society drifts away from creativity simply because they have the ability to steal other’s ideas, we as a society must realize this problem and encourage kids to be different and express themselves.

[kaitlinsnapp]

I completely agree with your argument supporting the arts. I think the points you bring up that show ways to improve creativity in kids were great! I was most struck by the sentence, “Students use the quick way out.” This statement proves that part of the fault falls on the students. Although I agree that many of the assignments given to students are based on one right or wrong answer, it is true that sometimes students avoid taking the time to be creative in the ways they present their work. It is just simpler and easier to be lazy. When you are creative it usually takes more effort, thought, and resources. In today’s world where kids have a million commitments to worry about, it is just more efficient to avoid creativity at all costs.
Additionally, I agreed with your description of creative thinking as a combination of both divergent and convergent mentalities. I would argue that this process is incredibly complicated and intellectually sophisticated. However, the article argues that our creativity trends are falling while intellectual levels are raising. To me, creativity is just as much a measure of intelligence as more fact-based knowledge. Therefore, there is no upside to this loss in creativity. When it comes down to it if we are falling in one area of learning, we are falling in all areas. That is surely something of great concern.

[wrightwilliams]

Like you dylantooflycrow, I find our lack of creativity disturbing. Being creative isn't so much about being given an assignment and following a set of guidelines, but just sitting back and thinking. You said, "A child's mind can be free to create anything." This statement struck me especially hard because it carries so much truth. If a student is given ample time to think and create for themselves there doesn't need to be a set of guidelines, only the time necessary to think for ourselves. Like you said, so much of life is dictated to us, and we're given a wrong and a right answer. Life isn't black and white, it isn't right or wrong and once we start to realize that and apply education to our real lives not only will our creativity go up, but our basic merits as people.

The quick way out for students isn't always the best. What does anyone gain from looking at a worksheet and copying down information you think the teacher wants? creating your own ideas isn't always easy, it requires work and is often more relevant than any worksheet can ever be. That is why I agree with your statements dylantooflycrow. Point well taken.

[dylantooflycrow]

I am intrigued to hear some of your answer Kaitlin, and I would like to rephrase and expand on some of our points. First, I completely agree that it is difficult in today’s world for students to take what seems to them a lot of time on their assignments, what with extracurriculars, sports, etc. And that is the main reason as to why we are losing our creativity. Creativity takes time, thought, and energy to be completely effective, and when we short-side ourselves into thinking we don’t have time to do an assignment well, we also lose our ability to creatively respond to the assignment.

You said, “To me, creativity is just as much a measure of intelligence as more fact-based knowledge.” I completely agree, in fact in class today I elaborated on that. All parts of our intellect should be used in combination in order to create true learning and experiencing of all things. Essentially, what you said, “When it comes down to it if we are falling in one area of learning, we are falling in all areas.” Our focus is almost solely focused on the maths and sciences that we forgot about creative thought and the aspects of thought where there is no right or wrong answer, only creativity and that’s what should be so strong about american education.

[nathanjohnson]

Dylan, I’m a fellow artist. We’ve worked together in a number of shows, camps, workshops and heck, we spent three of the best weeks of our lives together at a smorgasborg of the arts. But I do not find the arts as the only way to go.
You discussed school’s current focus on math and science. I fully agree that the arts often get the shaft, and do not have the funding they require. Funding the arts as a means of expression for students is a very important goal to pursue. However, not every soul finds solace in a sonnet. What we need to do is restructure the way we teach. Integrate the arts into the classroom, not as an alternative to “linear” thinking that may be produced by the sciences and mathematics. By teaching the process of learning to our math and science students – not just the result – we can instill the creativity we have lost. As a society, we are too concerned with winning and beating Asian nations in testing contests that we have lost sight of the true goal of learning – the process. By putting focus back on the process of math and science as well as the process of developing the concepts behind them, we can put the creativity back in the kid.