Post by paigewallace on Aug 9, 2011 9:30:30 GMT -5
Authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman write an article they entitle “The creativity Crisis.” Why “crisis” you may ask? That is exactly what the article revolves around. This article reflects the views and opinions of the two authors on the subject of today’s, more specifically, America’s downfall of creativity.
Many people, scholars even, would suggest our downfall of creativity would be a result of this generations technology and our dependence on it. We all read a previous article written by Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” This article reflects the view of Carr on today’s technology, more specifically how much we rely on it. He makes it very clear that Google, Smart phones, and other sources of information are making us lazy and unwilling to perform accurate or real research so to speak. I completely agree with Carr’s point of view, many scholars, professors, everyday people even are deciding to blame technology for the lack of creativity. “The Creativity Crisis” seems to suggest a similar idea.
We all are familiar with intelligence tests, to determine our IQ. However we are not all familiar with tests and tasks that measure our creative potential. The article states “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).” I know what were all thinking at this moment, “Hoory!, there’s No wrong answer so I couldn’t possibly fail!” That is the exact reason why I believe that creativity in America is at a downfall. From a very young age, students are taught to look for the very best answer, generally lettered for A-D. It seems as though sometimes I do considerably worse in Art and music courses that require me to think outside-the-box.
“Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way.” States the two authors in “The Creativity Crisis.” I completely agree with this idea. The reason, in my opinion, that today’s generation more specifically in America is because creativity is thought to only be a result of those courses when in reality they should be expected from us in every subject, every day. I agree with Carr’s thoughts in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” on technology making us lazy, not because we don’t just want to do the research the hard way, but because we are specifically looking for the answer. We don’t really want to elaborate or analyze or perform new types of thinking.. we want to get it done so we can get back to Facebook or whatever other task is at hand.
In conclusion, Po Bronson, and Ashley Merryman have every right to be concerned with today’s decline of the imaginative mind. We all do. The question is not how are we going to fix it. There are many things today’s parents and teachers can do to prevent the one track mind of students. By teaching them that they always can put a different look on things, that there Is not ALWAYS going to be just one correct answer. The question is if today’s generation will make the effort to increase awareness and importance of the such crisis. The question is, will we go beyond google to find a solution to this problem.
Many people, scholars even, would suggest our downfall of creativity would be a result of this generations technology and our dependence on it. We all read a previous article written by Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” This article reflects the view of Carr on today’s technology, more specifically how much we rely on it. He makes it very clear that Google, Smart phones, and other sources of information are making us lazy and unwilling to perform accurate or real research so to speak. I completely agree with Carr’s point of view, many scholars, professors, everyday people even are deciding to blame technology for the lack of creativity. “The Creativity Crisis” seems to suggest a similar idea.
We all are familiar with intelligence tests, to determine our IQ. However we are not all familiar with tests and tasks that measure our creative potential. The article states “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).” I know what were all thinking at this moment, “Hoory!, there’s No wrong answer so I couldn’t possibly fail!” That is the exact reason why I believe that creativity in America is at a downfall. From a very young age, students are taught to look for the very best answer, generally lettered for A-D. It seems as though sometimes I do considerably worse in Art and music courses that require me to think outside-the-box.
“Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way.” States the two authors in “The Creativity Crisis.” I completely agree with this idea. The reason, in my opinion, that today’s generation more specifically in America is because creativity is thought to only be a result of those courses when in reality they should be expected from us in every subject, every day. I agree with Carr’s thoughts in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” on technology making us lazy, not because we don’t just want to do the research the hard way, but because we are specifically looking for the answer. We don’t really want to elaborate or analyze or perform new types of thinking.. we want to get it done so we can get back to Facebook or whatever other task is at hand.
In conclusion, Po Bronson, and Ashley Merryman have every right to be concerned with today’s decline of the imaginative mind. We all do. The question is not how are we going to fix it. There are many things today’s parents and teachers can do to prevent the one track mind of students. By teaching them that they always can put a different look on things, that there Is not ALWAYS going to be just one correct answer. The question is if today’s generation will make the effort to increase awareness and importance of the such crisis. The question is, will we go beyond google to find a solution to this problem.