Honestly I think we are entitle to our own opinion and I can’t say his wrong for thinking that schools are officially taking our children’s creativity away. If anything the famous ted talk was something that everyone needs to listen to and think twice about what else these schools are taking away from our children. To me the stamen he made about schools is very much correct about the whole situation and how children learn from their creativity if not in school where though. To me I feel like children go to school to learn and advance in life trying to become something in the world, but to hear that these schools are taking their creativity it breaks my heart we send our children to get an education and to learn not to cut them from their privileged of becoming geniuses. On the contrary these schools need to step up their game and help these children become better in life, imagine if these schools are taking these actions were would the children go to express their creativity where would they end up; jail, or out in the streets doing graffiti in the streets. So I think schools need to stop being so cheap and do what’s best for all of our children. My experience with this, honestly I always thought that schools did their best to keep our children focus and become better in life but after seeing this I want to say that a lot of things have change it not necessarily a bad thing but it’s not a good thing either I’m more confused more than anything but at the end of the day if the parents and the child are happy were they are then that’s all that matters.
Jose, you know what I felt the same way growing up while attending school only because our schools were consider in the poor section of the city and this particular school wasn't really high on tech you know but I'm glad you went out if your way to learn new subjects.
Having been out high school since '85, I don't know if creativity is being killed in schools today. I can say that we had certain clubs and groups and events like talent shows and science fairs, etc., were where one's creativity could be featured. Teachers/Schools have enough on their plate as it is with teaching and other areas of focus to worry about -in my opinion- and rather than place the burden of this responsibility on schools, it should be the parents that assume this exploratory adventure of the child's creativity discoveries. Maybe the schools can enhance it, perhaps. That being said with school funding in inner cities being so sparse, and funds in private and suburban schools being more plentiful, I think that disparity should be dealt with first because I bet creativity in the schools with money is not being killed, but nurtured instead.
I thought his talk was very interesting. I agree with him and I do believe that the school system does pose some restrictions on children. It’s like the “curriculum” could be pretty much anything that someone in charge wants. He said in his talk that schools were aimed to educate and doing so, certain children were put down for things that they may like. They get pulled away from things that they like and things that they want to pursue. Instead, it is all assigned and expected from children. I think it would be a great idea for schools to educated children in the arts as well as academia. We are all different and if schools could be able to educate a child in whatever they want to learn, that would be awesome.
I think there is a lot of truth in what Robinson talks about in his TED talk. The arts are not valued as much as math and science, but they should be. Many schools facing budget cuts choose to eliminate music and art first. Most schools don’t offer dance or theater at all. This is especially true in elementary schools, which is interesting because that is the period when children are developing rapidly. They are learning what they like and don’t like. How can they do that if they aren’t exposed to more creative arts? I remember in elementary school we had music class, but it was only once a week. We didn’t have art at all once we passed second grade. But I don’t think it would be easy to incorporate these things in public schools. There are so many obstacles teachers face, from administrators to school boards. Many schools are placing an importance on test scores, which is a shame. There isn’t much time left over for subjects that aren’t English, science, math, and history. Children are energetic and creative. They have great ideas, but are told they need to sit still and be quiet. It’s hard to imagine what that world would be like if kids weren’t told that.
I think he is correct in many instances. Schools are focused on certain subjects that at times, I myself say why do I have to learn this? Many of the subjects or things I learn I wont need in my future career. He addressed that schools have useful subjects and don't emphasize art or music. I myself was focused in the basic common subjects because they were emphasized and I was never good at art nor music because it wasn't as important. Therefore, I can say schools may kill creativity because they don't emphasize other subjects. I may be good at art or music but I never really gave it a shot. The example of the dancer I thought was interesting because Joleane could have been diagnosed but instead they found an alternative way for her and she became a dancer. Now we hear more about students being diagnosed with ADHD and we don't think of alternative ways to help instead of medication.
From my experience, I think certain classes in early childhood were creativity killers, but other classes that fostered creativity offset these. When I was a child, schools still offered many of the classes that my children were not offered. The focus seemed to be on passing the standardized tests, for my children, and not on actually grasping the concept of the course work. I feel that the way schools were operating when my children were school aged was a misuse of one of our most important and precious resources. I agree with most of what was said in the video, and yes we do need to rethink our education system. It seems as we have amnesia as a nation and we seem to keep going back to things that have been shown to not be beneficial instead of rethinking the whole system. This is a very complicated thing to do and then one has to think of the repercussions of revamping the system. Many may potentially lose their jobs or positions, disrupting their way of life, so where would the immediate incentive lie for moving forward on this endeavor. Clearly we can’t throw out everything we have now, but losing what does not work and replacing it with what years of research have revealed to foster creativity in children and encourage learning should be incorporated into curriculum.
I do believe that since the beginning of school, we are being told what to believe and what to know. I know I sound like some sort of conspiracy nut, but todays youth is worlds different from when I was back in elementary school. I do believe creativity has taken a hit in the public school system and it is not as lenient as it was back then. When I take a look at my nieces and nephews 2nd grade homework, its stuff I was not doing until maybe the fourth grade. Although creativity does seem to have taken a hit, I still think there are teachers out there who want their students to be creative as possible. Elementary school is supposed to be a fun and creative time to explore what you know and find things that you enjoy as a kid. Like many people have said before, when am I going to have to know that SOH CAH TOA in my real life job? I feel as we learn many things that are unnecessary. Having an emphasis on other subjects other than math can spark up the creativity in the schools once more.
I believe that not all schools have been killing creativity. Due to low budges sometimes schools do think of music and art to cut down, but they try to include dress up days, science fairs, school activities with their parents. I work at a daycare and I see young children bring activities due to holidays and they look so excited with what they made. Some schools even allow intern teachers to teach lessons about art to their classrooms. I don't think all creativity is killed.
In a way I do think that schools are killing creatively because majority of the kids nowadays are always testing or getting ready for testing. Ken Robinson has a point when he stated that, "creativity is as important and literacy". I agree with him because creativity can help us all look at things differently. Being creative opens new points of view. For example, I grew up with my aunt who was very creative and at school at the time I was really into the art projects we were assigned or even when the art teacher would come in to our class an teach us how to draw and stuff. All this I enjoyed and now as an adult I love to be creative and come up with new things to do. I think that creativity does open your mind to new things. School is very different today. I work for a school district and I don't see art teachers coming in to classes to do art projects. So I do agree that schools are in a way killing creativity.
I think the Ted talk was very inspiring. Our education system has been a controversial issue for over some time now and I think Ken Robinson has figured out one of the reasons why it has become problematic. I agree with Ken Robinson, our education system might lead us into a negative pathway for the future generation. We are educating kids to be afraid to be wrong. We teach them about abstract thinking but do not prepare them about life’s hardships. We set limitations and barriers for children who are growing to become adults in our future. The education system we currently have now guides children into the normality and does not let them be creative. I have heard about suspension and referrals that children are given when they do not pay attention because they color when they are not supposed to. I loved Ken Robinson’s example of Gillian Lynne’s story about success that could have turned into a diagnosis of ADHD. We currently have another issue with overly diagnosing children whose personality can be a littler impulsive turn into an abnormal behavior (ADHD). These examples allow us to infer that we are going in the wrong direction with our education system. Just as stated by Ken Robinson, we need our children to be educated about creativity just as we educate them about literature. Children need to know that failing in ideas is only progressing into achieving what they want. How many failed light bulbs did Thomas Edison have until he was successful with one? One of my favorite quotes by Winston Churchill is “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. It is necessary that we come into conclusion how important it is to develop a new education system where children are taught that one subject is superior to another and that failure is not a negative outcome.
I do disagree with Ken Robinson about schools been limiting children’s creativity. Yes, many schools focus on teaching basic math, language, and science. But this is not with the intention of limiting children’s creativity, it’s more due to the lack of financial resources. Schools receive funds from property taxes, and unfortunately, children that attend schools in poor neighborhoods have less opportunities than children from richer neighborhoods. Basically, good teachers lack the resources to become great teachers. Schools with more resources provide more opportunities for children so they can expand their creativity, and children are encourage to take advantage of it. They have a more variable selection of sports, clubs, and extracurricular activities. Children go to more instructional field trips, and their parents are more involved in their activities. I do strongly believe that the problem is in the distribution of funds for public schools.
I really enjoyed his statement when he said, "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." When he brings up his opinion that we are being educated out of creativity, I understand his perspective and I agree to an extent. When we take classes, we have tests. These tests are meant to show what we've learned so far in the class and the answer is typically a right/wrong answer. I am going to assume that this is the most effective way to test because a lot of teachers/professors have been doing it for a long time. When we get an answer wrong, we are penalized for it, thus not promoting an alternative answer because it more than likely doesn't have an answer. All of this makes sense to me. However, if classes were engineered to be taught a certain way that allows free flow of the mind such as this class, there would be more creativity because there would be an opportunity to reflect upon something instead of merely memorize and test on it. When he starts to talk about hierarchy of school subjects, I can relate significantly. Being an Engineering student just a month away from graduation, I have undergone many math classes, physics classes, and classes involving both math and physics. The reason for taking such high math classes for engineering is to train your brain to think in many different ways. A math class I took last semester is only taken by engineers and math majors and a given problem can be solved in many different ways.
In my opinion, I think schools are killing creativity. I agree with Ted when he states that creativity is as important as literacy. I think that school systems potentially kill creativity in children. Curriculum in schools are very basic these days and lack room for children to use their skills to solve problems. This curriculum also does not include art classes or music classes which help enable children to uses their creativity and explore other subjects at a young age. I think this is an issue because like Ted stated “creativity is important”. How will children know what they like or what they are even capable of when they aren’t given the opportunity to explore their options? Children are fresh minds and are full of creativity and innovative ideas which are hindered by the school systems which are restricted to basic subjects such as math and science.
I really enjoyed listening to this ted talk. I do believe that over time school does diminish our creativity. The real focus i feel has always been mathematics, english and science, that those are going to get you a job. As with art and music it was more or less frowned upon because it was said it wouldn't get you anywhere in the future. Although, there have been plenty of times throughout school where I asked myself the point of learning some things, things I know I would never use in the future or in my career. It has always been, in my personal experience, the focus of getting a well-paid career so I would be able to take care of myself, my family and live comfortably rather than living pay-check to pay-check. I was taught to focus on school and getting a degree, that's why this ted talk from Robinson was so relatable.
I personally agree with the statements made in the video, for the most part schools seem to forget about the importance of the fine arts, music etc. When economically rough times arrive those are the first ones to go because they don't seem to be as important. However, I think those are and should be considered just as important as the rest because that is where students show they creativity. Every subject should matter equally because it contributes to students learning in multiple aspects. I wouldn't say schools are completely killing creativity but they do give less appreciation or less importance to areas that will contribute to the students creativity. In today's school system classes are focused on teaching material and then having a test on it. Most of these tests are made to show what they have learned so far and always based on right/wrong answers that do not necessarily teach anything other than memorization. Most of these tests force students to memorize rather than learn and once the test is over they forget the material which again defeats the purpose of teaching. Today school is just based on material that forces them to focus on specific subjects, kids are not allowed some time to unwind and create. Even in art classes, most times we are told what to draw/paint, we don't get the freedom to choose what we want to create. I think schools need to keep in mind how important creativity is in order for kids to develop in a more positive way. Schools might not necessarily kill the creativity but they most certainly do give it less attention.
I believe that Ken Robinson is correct when he says schools kill creativity. Some of the important points Robinson highlighted left a deep impression. He pointed out that as kids become adults, they fear making mistakes, and that fear is often the most harming obstacle to creativity. He also stated how the education system is the same everywhere in the world – with mathematics and science being mandatory courses while arts are the elective ones. There are always news about art courses being cut off the budget. Most mathematics and science-related careers are what parents and their prospective college children push for because of the high salary. Personally, I am not a creative person to begin with, so I do not think school killed my creativity. However, I do think school killed my motivation to study the subjects that I like. I feel like throughout my years of academic career starting from first grade, I can count on one hand the number of courses I thoroughly enjoyed and was excited to attend. School puts an invisible limitation on students’ capacities to explore and create interesting ideas.
The TED talk is correct. Schools kill the creativity of students. Throughout our education system we have been taught to follow instructions and focus on an example. We have been taught to create things in essence of what our finished product should look like. As art is an elective for most schools it tends to be avoided by most students. In my experience I found art to be a lot of fun! I was surprised to find out what I was capable of. It seems that schools focus everything on mathematics and english. We now are held to a standard of so many years of math with a standard level in order to graduate. I also found that schools emphasize so much on english. In my experience schools spend so much time teach MLA format in preparation of college. I have used MLA nearly a handful of times. Schools need to reorganize their goals. English classes need to introduce ASA and APA as these are incredibly common in college. Mathematics are always important as long as your career encompasses it. Art is forgotten about. Individuals aren't using their sense of creativty. Or when children are taught to be creative in the younger years there isn't ever a chance to let their imagination flow. Step by step, with a finished product similar to everyone else's.
In my opinion I believe that the Ted Talk is very true. I agree with Ken robinson because schools do kill the creativity for students. I believe that schools start killing creativity as a young kid begins school. I believe this because grade schools have basic teaching these days which makes you feel like you just need to get by. He makes very interesting points which makes me realize that the school system today makes students feel like they just need be done due to stress. As a child begins school they don't know what to expect so they have a different mentality before they begin. I believe that schools subjects aren't valued as much as they should be.
I think this Ted talk is absolutely true, it is always math and reading that receive the most emphasis in school. You always hear you can’t be a musician that is not going to pay the bills and people go on and on about how much you will struggle if you choose this career. Automatically as children we believe that something like math and science is the only career types that will get us great jobs and anything creative will leave us struggling. My personal experience with this would be choosing my career, I think as many people do they choose the one that will most likely get them a job. Instead of thinking of a career you love, people tend to focus on the money.
I can agree with this Ted talk, majority of my creativity came from self-learning. I became interested in drawing from video games, so I began looking up tutorials and images to teach myself. The thing about art classes is that majority of them are vague in hopes of provoking your own creativity. But majority of schools don’t much care about creativity which is why art and music classes are the first to get cut. Ken Robinson says we are all creative but we grow out of it. Even when I was younger my father told me to not pursue a career in art because I will be breaking and jobless. Learning to dance would have been a great aid in social learning as well in our education. Creativity can come from new ideas and college is a great place for creative ideas. Because people with different backgrounds think differently and everyone has the right to say what they want. I’ve been in philosophy classes where I was free to speak my mind and why I believe certain things and even defend my position. Schools both help and kill creativity. School helps the mind creativity for speaking about ideas, and kills the physical creativity. The creativity involves drawing playing music and producing images with their bare hands.
I think his talk was a very interesting point of view. I always talk to my friends about how we grew up learning musical instruments and doing a choir class. I started my choir class and first band class in 4th grade. I do think they should still fund more creative arts classes so that students could be better exposed to different points of views. He mentioned how we are all taught how to be university professors and he said that creativity is a product of being exposed to different experiences, but schools are not doing that for us as much. I think that in a sense they could be destroying creativity but it's something I haven't really thought of before. My experience has actually been pretty good with my schools and teachers encouraging creativity. I think it depends on the environment. I always did music classes like band and choir, and those classes are all about creativity. The funding towards creative programs should be the same as the funding towards the other programs. This is a thought I'm going to continue to ponder on and observe whenever I am able to.
This Ted talk was dead on. College has turned into an institution in which we learn new material one day and forget it the next. Some professors seem to just make us memorize certain theories and examples that will not aid us in future life. On top if that, we are not interested in learning about these certain theories and examples which makes school boring and feels like we are forced to do something we don't really want to do. We definitely need a more hands on experience in college and to just get out in the real world to learn instead of being stuck in a classroom for hours. I agree with Ken R., and believe that a major restructure of schooling today needs to take place. We are spending billions of dollars towards education systems here in the U.S and have almost nothing to show for it. If each of us were to try to achieve our dreams instead of put so much time into schooling, I believe we would all be more happy with ourselves. Although some schooling and learning is critical, most schooling kills creativity.
I completely agree with Sir Ken Robinson. This Ted talk made me reflect on my own educational experiences. In elementary school, I played trumpet in the band for two years. The middle school I attended cut its band out of the curriculum due to funding. Schools do put a high emphasis on math and sciences classes. I have taken an anatomy class in college where I was required to memorize many things, but I could tell you nothing about anatomy today. Ken says if you don't allow people to be creative nothing new will ever be discovered. Arts in school should be taken as seriously as mathematics. There are children who excel in physics or calculus in high school but there are also children who excel in drawing, dance or photography. Math classes are requirements for graduation and college entrance, while art and dance classes are electives. Finding your place in society as a creative person can also be difficult. I have two friends who already have their college degrees. One friend got a degree in film, because it is difficult to find work in his field he lives at home. A second friend got a degree in engineering and has been working since graduation. Education is vital for all students. I would like to see hands on education that can be found in art and music return to many schools.
I do agree that some schools do kill creativity, but not all of them. Districts overall are now trying to think of different ways to help students. I think it mostly relies on the teachers and principals. There is one school here in Delano that is not supportive of different things. One thing I know that the principal wasn’t supportive of, was track. Sports are sometimes escapes and are ways that students are able to express themselves. I have an art class that we were sent to a school to teach a lesson on the 80’s and we asked the teacher if it was ok to send out flyers to the parents if their child can dress up. She actually did let us pass them out. This was a was a way where the parent and child were able to be creative and express themselves in 80’s clothes. Some school districts have science fairs, crazy socks day, crazy hair day, and let their students dress up for Halloween. These are great ways for students to be able to express themselves in different ways. Like I said, it comes down to the districts, then the principal, then the teacher. There are some teachers and schools that only focus on examinations and tests scores. They don’t have different activities where students are able to express themselves and be creative because the scores are what counts. It very dull for the students that it may cause them to not want to go to school.
This was the best TED talk I've ever watched/listened to! He was so funny and engaging, and the topic was very close to my heart. My sisters has severe dyslexia, and really struggled in school. She was held back a grade, and was always put down by her teachers and peers because she wasn't a "typically" successful student. She was and still is an amazing athlete, and very intelligent in her own way. My parents were very supportive with her athletics because they knew it was what made her feel like she was "good enough". As her little sister, who is more successful academically, it broke my heart to see her upset because she didn't fit in in the classroom. However, once she graduated high school and was on her own, she discovered her talent for science, and was able to navigate school in her own way. She was the first person in my family to graduate college, and now is working for Stanford as a clinical researcher. I think that her creativity was stifled, and she had to struggle to find her own way to success. While she did pursue a career in science, rather than athletics or arts, I connect with this talk because I do feel that it would have been great if a teacher would have encouraged my sister to learn in her own way.
This talk was super interesting and really opened my eyes to the motive of the education system! I've never really thought about or even realized how education does focus on the core concepts of mathematics, language, and humanities, and leaves arts at the bottom as you progress. My high school did provide art classes for us, but the emphasis on their importance or the support behind pursuing an arts degree was not there. For the most part if you tell someone that you are an arts major, they look at you as if you won't succeed. I thought it was interesting how the speaker highlighted how children are so creative and don't have problem making mistakes. He further then explained mistakes lead to creating original ideas. I think this is super profound and correct. As we get older we are criticized for making mistakes. But what this speaker tells us is that mistakes are important when it comes to creating new ideas. The current education system focuses on perfection, not mistakes. I think if supporting creativity is the new turn in the education system, educators have to look at a new way of learning and accept failure, in order to achieve greatness. Overall, I would agree with this speaker in that schools are taking away creativity and this is something that I hope is brought back and found to be important for a person growing into adulthood. Imagine all of the possibilities with more creative people on this world!
I really never think about this. Our school system is ruining our creativity. One would think that school will Increase the creative spark in our minds but according to the speaker, school system actually ruins it. Through out his speech, I disagree and agree on some point that he made. One example was when he mentioned that everywhere in the world education system is almost the same, where there are the top subjects that we focus on and the arts are always in the bottom. See this is the problem and I agree with him, our school system focuses on this too subjects and forgets about the different things that are nescesary in life. He also mentioned that mathematics are just as important as dance, but semi disagree and agree with him, yes dance is important but mathematics in the other hand will produce more positive outcome depending on the route that you are taking in life. School system focuses on the things that they think they matter most and it kind of forgets that other thing that creates that spark in children's mind. Mistakes are the extreme thing that we can get, !but mistakes also teaches us lessons that we never think about. Mistakes is like history, a bad history that is, we need to learn from them and never repeat them. Mistakes also creates that spark in mind, as a human being we tried to think about different solutions and different route to avoid this mistakes and that is being creative.
I think they absolutely do kill creativity. I think math and reading is important, but it shouldn't be the only thing we learn. I remember LOVING art, but we only had it once a month. Then budget cuts happened and we no longer got to go to art. I was so upset. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like and what I would've chosen to do if my teachers and parents did things differently. I grew to hate english in first grade. My teachers would tell my parents I was under preforming and that discouraged me. Looking back I realize I wasn't stupid I just wasn't learning the same way as the teacher was teaching. I have to be hands on in order to understand something. I wasn't able to just sit at a desk and listen to the teacher go over things. I needed more one on one and needed to do something physically. I think grades are terrible for younger kids. If you get a bad grade it really upsets children at a young age. The teachers told me and my parents I wasn't doing as well as other students and I wanted to give up. I felt I was never going to be as smart as my friends. If I was just able to express myself the way I was made to maybe I would've enjoyed school more. I think teachers should notice children's struggles and find a way to work on them differently and in a way the children don't really notice. Telling kids they aren't doing well when it isn't always their fault just sets them up for failure. It is so discouraging. We should focus more on finding out what kids are good at instead of telling them they aren't as good because they don't do as well in math or language. There is so much more to life.
This Ted Talk was very interesting. I agree with Robinson in many ways. I do believe the arts are undervalued in schools today. Everything is focused around the sciences and even if someone is talented, it is often overlooked. On a personal level, when I graduated high school I wanted to attend an art school and study graphic design. I was often told art school wasn’t a practical decision and that it would be a waste of money. That’s how I ended up at CSUB getting a degree in business administration. While I don’t regret coming here and getting my degree, I do believe that if the arts were more valued it would have been more acceptable for me to attend an art school. I believe that in high school students should be taught the necessary subjects, but they should also be allowed to explore things they are interested in like art, wood shop, auto class, home ec etc. Most of the programs like these have been cut from schools which cuts off the students line of creativity and doesn’t allow them to explore and see what they enjoy to do and what they may want to make a career out of. I do however think there are some really amazing teachers out there that truly care about their students and want to help them succeed in things they want to do; but overall I agree with Robinson that schools kill creativity.
Arts and music are always being cut from schools, we focus on the everything else. Athletics, English, math, science, I understand these topics are what help our society develop, STEM jobs, but we should not limit our children from expressing themselves. Creativity is important, it's a way of expression and a stress reliever. I remember at my school, Buttonwillow elementary, we went from having music class 3 days a week to 1 day. Which is insane, school is never fun at a young age you want to have fun taking that away doesn't encourage children more to pursue their education. So I agree it does kill children's creativity. We're shoving information into their heads, we're teaching them to repeat and pass test not to actually learn.
After watching the ted talk by Ken Robinson, I could not agree less with his idea on rethinking our view of intelligence, as it is diverse, dynamic,and distinct. I never thought about it, but after watching his ted talk I do agree that school kill creativity, since the main focus on the education system is to teach children important subjects that will get them a job in the future, such as math, English, and science. Therefore, focusing less in the Arts that help children develop their creativity. I remember as a child I did not participate in any type of Art that I enjoyed. Thus, if schools do offer some type of extracurricular activity for children to be creative, activities that schools offer may not always interested for every child to develop or find a talent that they may have.For me, it was not until I was in high school that I got to sing in choir and I really got to find my passion for performing and singing. Nonetheless, I feel that schools still put less significance in those types of talents and make children feel that it is not enough to succeed in life and that we need some type of degree to get a good job.
This TED talk was quite interesting. I agree with what the speaker had to say about schools killing creativity. Nowadays schools try to focus more on math, reading, and writing that they have completely opted out of having time for art and music. It is understanding that schools have a budget and they are unable to support the art and music programs but it should still be part of education. Yes, it is important or kids to know the basic subjects in education but they should have some time in school to be creative and let their minds think freely.
That is a difficult statement to answer. I don't necessarily know there is a straightforward answer but I would more likely say yes, schools do stifle children's creativity. Growing up in the California public school system there was only one way to do something; whatever way the teacher told you. I remember being in math, going through a problem and finding a shortcut to the answer yet the teacher would say to follow his method so therefore I wasn't given the ability to think on my own. The one subject that I always loved because I felt the most creative in was English because I could write my essay however I wanted to. I do believe if we gave students the ability to think creatively we would help them so much later on in life.
In my opinion, creativity is being killed in some ways, and not others. My experience is based on the fact, that creativity is being killed in comedic, scientific, mathematical, and religious ways. I learned that everyone is born with a creative mind, and as each person grows older, he/she becomes educated and loses his/her creativity to some extent. Some creative geniuses are misunderstood by certain authority figures, and the misunderstandings can put certain limitations to the creative people’s inventions. Creativity is a great thing, as long as it is used in the correct manners and settings. Ken Robinson said that schools should modify some of their ideas, to reinforce the creativity of students. In my opinion, it would be nice if students’ creativities were reinforced in schools, so that these same students would become innovative in their workplaces. Schools need a good amount of simple technologies, so that students will become more experienced in college and at work. I do not think that creativity is killed in subjects like history, art, and creative writing. Examples of creative people in history and science include Galileo, Albert Einstein, James Joule, and Isaac Newton. They were curious, even though they experienced a lot of difficulties. Overall, I enjoyed this video. I think Ken Robinson was correct in certain cases.
I never really thought about schools killing creativity. After watching Ken Robinson talk about this theme I came to the conclusion that schools do kill creativity because they do not give students the oportuninity to take in consideration the original ideas they have. In the video Ken tells the audience a story about a little girl in her drawing lessons that was drawing a picture of god and then the teacher tries to kill her creativity by saying how is she drawing good if no one knows how he looked. I am glad that the little girl did not care and the teacher did not kill her creativity because she told her that after her drawing her classmates would know god. I believe that this teacher was killing her creativity because that was an original idea the little girl had about god’s appearance. Also, the fact that schools do not give dance, band, or other classes a great value as math or English kills the students creativity because since the school does not value all subjects equally students may feel that what they are not talented, brilliant, or creative. I work at a high school and I notice that the school does not really care about the electives students get. A couple students have come to me to ask me what elective I recommend them to take for the upcoming school year because their counselors tell them to choose any that it does not matter because they are not important. After this video I thought it through and I believe schools do kill creativity.
I found this talk interesting since I've obviously been through the school system. I agree with some of the stuff he says, like how schools focus on math and science more than the arts. Careers in math and science are good to pursue, but a lot of students aren't interested in it. Also, I feel that curriculum makes it harder for students even if they love math and science. For example, my cousins math homework showed that they're teaching them to solve the math problems more difficultly than I remember. Many are terrific at art and want to pursue careers as an artist which is great. I believe that one should find a career that they'll love doing. On the other hand, I don't agree with some of the stuff he says in this talk. In high school, we had different clubs/pathways to join that helped us in pursuing are career. For example I was in the Health Academy that helped me prepare for a career in medicine. We also had a business academy and many art clubs. My friend was in the art club and she ended up becoming a tattoo artist.
I think the speaker in this Ted talk is correct about schools killing creativity. He talks about how in school, we are only worried about stimulating the upper part of the body, mainly the head. Creativity is pushed below all other standards. I used to work for an after school program and one thing they always told us not to let the students do was to free draw. Of course most of the kids would use it as an excuse not to do anything, but the kids that actually wanted to practice their creativity just couldn’t. The only way they could draw during homework time was if they had a written document from a teacher stating why or what they needed to draw. Most teachers did not assign the kids homework that consisted of drawing so the only time they could draw was if they picked an art elective class. Once again, the kids were told what to draw or create so there wasn’t a lot of freedom for them to explore their creativity. While I was in school, not a lot of teacher promoted creativity so I didn’t really explore. I only really remember when I had a math teacher that wanted everyone to create a song/piece/speech for Pi day. People in the class were intimidated because many of us weren’t challenged creatively very often.
Growing up I experienced the opposite of what Ted explains. As I mentioned in my blog response I have had the joy to have teachers that have went out of their way to create a connection with their students. This means that they have figured out fun ways to teach, which in return has made the students engage in the class activities even more. However, I have to say that I have experienced something similar to that of the student in his speech who was diagnosed with what would now be ADHD. When my stepdaughter was in third grade her teacher called my boyfriend to tell him that the school’s nurse was asked to evaluate my stepdaughter, and that she believed my stepdaughter had ADHD. She told him that we needed to look into it because she though my stepdaughter was demonstrating the disorders’ symptoms, the main one being lack of concentration. I was shocked, but then upset. The reason I was upset was because I had remembered that the teacher had already complained to my boyfriend about my stepdaughter being real chatty in class. So I believed this was just her way of dealing with my stepdaughters’ class disturbance. I didn’t believe my stepdaughter had anything wrong because she behaved well at home and done average on her schoolwork. So what I done was: I had a serious conversation about the situation with my stepdaughter, I began having her do extra activities I printed from our computer after her homework, and I also had her read thirty minutes every school day. Needless to say, these past two school years we have not received any complaints from her teachers, and she has also received honor roll multiple times. With this being said, obviously teachers play a very important role in schools and in the lives of their students. So, from personal experience I feel like they should find creative ways to teach because students look for FUN!
This topic resonates with me on different levels. I agree with Sir Ken Robinson on most things but disagree to some extent. Yes, schools are killing creativity. Let me explain why I believe this to be true. I work in a kindergarten class. During my time with the students in the morning we are working drills on fluency, letter recognition, sight words, math concepts, and other things that fall within the Dibbles testing procedures. Students are pulled aside one at a time and drilled for a minute on each one of these things. Every quarter they are tested and tracked. The teacher of the class also drills the students and works on certain criteria every day before lunch for about 20 minutes. The students who are below average are pulled out of the classroom for 30 minutes each day to work even more intensely on these drills. Are they important? Yes. Do they help the students? Yes. Could they be taught in a more creative way? Absolutely. The teachers are placed under stressful situations and demanded to pull test results from these young students. The teachers success in the classroom is also monitored by these standardized placements. The classroom environment has shifted since my time in the primary grades. Now, the teachers at the school I work for try very hard to also incorporate as much creativity as possible into their programs. Which causes them even more stress. But out of their love for education and the students they give it their best efforts. So this is the part that I differ with Sir Ken Robinson. Everyday my classroom has music playing quietly in the back ground. For the month of March we had a lot of celtic type of selections. Lots of Irish tunes and bag pipping. Our teacher spoke about what the students were listening too. We also have a writing day every Thursday. Our students are given a sentence to write and must illustrate a portrait to go with the sentences. My teacher is a fantastic artist and gives a fantastic art lesson during this time. She has even taught our kindergarteners how to use proper stroke technique while painting and coloring. Our school offers various music classes and a handful of third grade teachers put on plays periodically for the school to partake in and watch. So while I do believe that school systems are killing the arts, I also believe that the teachers are doing their best to keep them alive.
I don't think schools kills creativity, but I do feel that they don't consider it as important as other subjects. When I started high school, I immediately joined a program partnered with Aera Energy that was solely dedicated to engage students in math and science subjects and to encourage students to start a career in science and technology fields. So basically my entire high school years were focused on honor math and science classes,and the other "creative" subjects weren't really important. I think I had to seek these art and music classes for my own interest and it really conflicted with my other classes and had to have arrangements sometimes. But I do believe the art and music classes that are available really help with creativity. I never disliked any of my art classes or choir classes, if anything it made me want to go to school everyday. The school system definitely do focus on the math, science, english, and history subjects though, which makes it hard for students to be introduced to creativity and other subjects that allow you to explore the right side of the brain and to stimulate inspiration and originality.
Schools don't necessarily "kill" creativity, but they do not have it as prioritized as other subjects like mathematics or science. I do not think that it is necessarily a bad thing, but there are certainly consequences when it comes to it. In one hand, it is understandable to prioritize that kind of stuff, but in the other it feels like it seriously downplays and limits abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is a rather good thing to have even if you have mathematics or science. Computer science, for example, while it does require quite a lot of mechanical knowledge, you must have a pretty good imagination in order to succeed in the field. While you could just be a code monkey, you can easily be something more if you decide to let your ideas be coded and be allowed to play around. We can look at Minecraft's Notch for example, where he's now one of the most well known programmers who created a game that's loved worldwide.
When it comes to how schools limit creative arts, I could probably think of the times whenever my art teacher was laid off from the school due to her disagreeing with the staff and the principal. It was a rather memorable moment in high school where I honestly started to no longer trust my school's teachers. The teacher was also one of the few teachers I knew who fully supported me to reach for a art degree, but in the end, once she was out, I was just told to stop pursuing it. Despite this memory, it's not necessarily school's fault, I just think it's just how today's world evolved: mechanical skill is more important than creative skill.
School definitely kills creativity. I know so many people who has graduated college and aren't even working in a field thats related to their major they got a degree in. School kills creativity because it doesn't allow a child to be open and explore any and everything possible. We have to let children be themselves and see what interests them, not force it upon them. I think the school system is all a scam, with that being going all the way up to the college level. College makes you take all these classes your not even going to really use later in life in reality. Don't get me wrong, I am all for learning more and knowing a lot of things but if I'm going to college for a specific major then how come we cannot just take those required major classes for that specific field we want to go into
Prior to this writing assignment, one of my professors made us watch this TED talk, and I thought it was really interesting. Robinson knows how to keep an audience entertained because I was intrigued by his points of view. In regards to the question, I think schools do kill creativity in children. So many school districts nowadays are so focused in standardized tests because the children's test scores are so low. Their only form of dealing with it is more testing and more curriculum involving math and reading. Math and reading are crucial subjects, but it is also crucial to incorporate the arts because that is what some children enjoy. Can you imagine someone never finding their true talent because they were never introduced to it? It is sad to think about. Also, some children learn to dislike school because of all the rigorous testing and lesson plans; they cannot express themselves. The arts could also serve as a form of de-stressing and taking a break fron the hectic school life. In my opinion, it is important to teach all subjects with the same importance.
!!!!NO MEETING THIS SATURDAY!!!! (we will meet later in the semester)
EMAIL: bschmoll@csub.edu
Greetings,
This course has some weekly assignments that you must keep up on. There are also a few other papers and books to read throughout the semester. But if you keep up with the weekly assignments on here, your writing will improve and you will put yourself in a great position to do well in this class!
These are time sensitive. You do not receive credit if you write them after the deadline(Saturday) each week. Furthermore, if you are in the habit of writing everything on Saturday you will not receive full credit. Why? There would be no time for others to interact with your writing. Write early; write often! Right? Right!
HERE IS THE WORK THAT MUST BE COMPLETED EACH WEEK...
FIRST, there's a blog entry (about 250 words) which will have you respond to a hopefully thought-provoking question. Each week, you must do the blog entry with enough time left in the week to be able to enter into dialogue online with your classmates. Write, reply, write more, reply more, and then write and reply more.
SECOND, there's a reading. There’s no blog entry associated with this. Just read.
THIRD, there's a written response to the reading. Your reading and writing on the blog must be completed by the SATURDAY (by midnight) of the week in which the reading falls. This entry should be a long paragraph. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO OTHER STUDENTS IN PART THREE EACH WEEK.
Honestly I think we are entitle to our own opinion and I can’t say his wrong for thinking that schools are officially taking our children’s creativity away. If anything the famous ted talk was something that everyone needs to listen to and think twice about what else these schools are taking away from our children. To me the stamen he made about schools is very much correct about the whole situation and how children learn from their creativity if not in school where though. To me I feel like children go to school to learn and advance in life trying to become something in the world, but to hear that these schools are taking their creativity it breaks my heart we send our children to get an education and to learn not to cut them from their privileged of becoming geniuses. On the contrary these schools need to step up their game and help these children become better in life, imagine if these schools are taking these actions were would the children go to express their creativity where would they end up; jail, or out in the streets doing graffiti in the streets. So I think schools need to stop being so cheap and do what’s best for all of our children. My experience with this, honestly I always thought that schools did their best to keep our children focus and become better in life but after seeing this I want to say that a lot of things have change it not necessarily a bad thing but it’s not a good thing either I’m more confused more than anything but at the end of the day if the parents and the child are happy were they are then that’s all that matters.
ReplyDeleteJose, you know what I felt the same way growing up while attending school only because our schools were consider in the poor section of the city and this particular school wasn't really high on tech you know but I'm glad you went out if your way to learn new subjects.
ReplyDeleteHaving been out high school since '85, I don't know if creativity is being killed in schools today. I can say that we had certain clubs and groups and events like talent shows and science fairs, etc., were where one's creativity could be featured. Teachers/Schools have enough on their plate as it is with teaching and other areas of focus to worry about -in my opinion- and rather than place the burden of this responsibility on schools, it should be the parents that assume this exploratory adventure of the child's creativity discoveries. Maybe the schools can enhance it, perhaps. That being said with school funding in inner cities being so sparse, and funds in private and suburban schools being more plentiful, I think that disparity should be dealt with first because I bet creativity in the schools with money is not being killed, but nurtured instead.
ReplyDeleteI thought his talk was very interesting. I agree with him and I do believe that the school system does pose some restrictions on children. It’s like the “curriculum” could be pretty much anything that someone in charge wants. He said in his talk that schools were aimed to educate and doing so, certain children were put down for things that they may like. They get pulled away from things that they like and things that they want to pursue. Instead, it is all assigned and expected from children. I think it would be a great idea for schools to educated children in the arts as well as academia. We are all different and if schools could be able to educate a child in whatever they want to learn, that would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a lot of truth in what Robinson talks about in his TED talk. The arts are not valued as much as math and science, but they should be. Many schools facing budget cuts choose to eliminate music and art first. Most schools don’t offer dance or theater at all. This is especially true in elementary schools, which is interesting because that is the period when children are developing rapidly. They are learning what they like and don’t like. How can they do that if they aren’t exposed to more creative arts? I remember in elementary school we had music class, but it was only once a week. We didn’t have art at all once we passed second grade. But I don’t think it would be easy to incorporate these things in public schools. There are so many obstacles teachers face, from administrators to school boards. Many schools are placing an importance on test scores, which is a shame. There isn’t much time left over for subjects that aren’t English, science, math, and history. Children are energetic and creative. They have great ideas, but are told they need to sit still and be quiet. It’s hard to imagine what that world would be like if kids weren’t told that.
ReplyDeleteI think he is correct in many instances. Schools are focused on certain subjects that at times, I myself say why do I have to learn this? Many of the subjects or things I learn I wont need in my future career. He addressed that schools have useful subjects and don't emphasize art or music. I myself was focused in the basic common subjects because they were emphasized and I was never good at art nor music because it wasn't as important. Therefore, I can say schools may kill creativity because they don't emphasize other subjects. I may be good at art or music but I never really gave it a shot. The example of the dancer I thought was interesting because Joleane could have been diagnosed but instead they found an alternative way for her and she became a dancer. Now we hear more about students being diagnosed with ADHD and we don't think of alternative ways to help instead of medication.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience, I think certain classes in early childhood were creativity killers, but other classes that fostered creativity offset these. When I was a child, schools still offered many of the classes that my children were not offered. The focus seemed to be on passing the standardized tests, for my children, and not on actually grasping the concept of the course work. I feel that the way schools were operating when my children were school aged was a misuse of one of our most important and precious resources. I agree with most of what was said in the video, and yes we do need to rethink our education system. It seems as we have amnesia as a nation and we seem to keep going back to things that have been shown to not be beneficial instead of rethinking the whole system. This is a very complicated thing to do and then one has to think of the repercussions of revamping the system. Many may potentially lose their jobs or positions, disrupting their way of life, so where would the immediate incentive lie for moving forward on this endeavor. Clearly we can’t throw out everything we have now, but losing what does not work and replacing it with what years of research have revealed to foster creativity in children and encourage learning should be incorporated into curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that since the beginning of school, we are being told what to believe and what to know. I know I sound like some sort of conspiracy nut, but todays youth is worlds different from when I was back in elementary school. I do believe creativity has taken a hit in the public school system and it is not as lenient as it was back then. When I take a look at my nieces and nephews 2nd grade homework, its stuff I was not doing until maybe the fourth grade. Although creativity does seem to have taken a hit, I still think there are teachers out there who want their students to be creative as possible. Elementary school is supposed to be a fun and creative time to explore what you know and find things that you enjoy as a kid. Like many people have said before, when am I going to have to know that SOH CAH TOA in my real life job? I feel as we learn many things that are unnecessary. Having an emphasis on other subjects other than math can spark up the creativity in the schools once more.
ReplyDeleteI believe that not all schools have been killing creativity. Due to low budges sometimes schools do think of music and art to cut down, but they try to include dress up days, science fairs, school activities with their parents. I work at a daycare and I see young children bring activities due to holidays and they look so excited with what they made. Some schools even allow intern teachers to teach lessons about art to their classrooms. I don't think all creativity is killed.
ReplyDeleteIn a way I do think that schools are killing creatively because majority of the kids nowadays are always testing or getting ready for testing. Ken Robinson has a point when he stated that, "creativity is as important and literacy". I agree with him because creativity can help us all look at things differently. Being creative opens new points of view. For example, I grew up with my aunt who was very creative and at school at the time I was really into the art projects we were assigned or even when the art teacher would come in to our class an teach us how to draw and stuff. All this I enjoyed and now as an adult I love to be creative and come up with new things to do. I think that creativity does open your mind to new things. School is very different today. I work for a school district and I don't see art teachers coming in to classes to do art projects. So I do agree that schools are in a way killing creativity.
ReplyDeleteI think the Ted talk was very inspiring. Our education system has been a controversial issue for over some time now and I think Ken Robinson has figured out one of the reasons why it has become problematic. I agree with Ken Robinson, our education system might lead us into a negative pathway for the future generation. We are educating kids to be afraid to be wrong. We teach them about abstract thinking but do not prepare them about life’s hardships. We set limitations and barriers for children who are growing to become adults in our future. The education system we currently have now guides children into the normality and does not let them be creative. I have heard about suspension and referrals that children are given when they do not pay attention because they color when they are not supposed to. I loved Ken Robinson’s example of Gillian Lynne’s story about success that could have turned into a diagnosis of ADHD. We currently have another issue with overly diagnosing children whose personality can be a littler impulsive turn into an abnormal behavior (ADHD). These examples allow us to infer that we are going in the wrong direction with our education system. Just as stated by Ken Robinson, we need our children to be educated about creativity just as we educate them about literature. Children need to know that failing in ideas is only progressing into achieving what they want. How many failed light bulbs did Thomas Edison have until he was successful with one? One of my favorite quotes by Winston Churchill is “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. It is necessary that we come into conclusion how important it is to develop a new education system where children are taught that one subject is superior to another and that failure is not a negative outcome.
ReplyDeleteI do disagree with Ken Robinson about schools been limiting children’s creativity. Yes, many schools focus on teaching basic math, language, and science. But this is not with the intention of limiting children’s creativity, it’s more due to the lack of financial resources. Schools receive funds from property taxes, and unfortunately, children that attend schools in poor neighborhoods have less opportunities than children from richer neighborhoods. Basically, good teachers lack the resources to become great teachers. Schools with more resources provide more opportunities for children so they can expand their creativity, and children are encourage to take advantage of it. They have a more variable selection of sports, clubs, and extracurricular activities. Children go to more instructional field trips, and their parents are more involved in their activities. I do strongly believe that the problem is in the distribution of funds for public schools.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed his statement when he said, "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." When he brings up his opinion that we are being educated out of creativity, I understand his perspective and I agree to an extent. When we take classes, we have tests. These tests are meant to show what we've learned so far in the class and the answer is typically a right/wrong answer. I am going to assume that this is the most effective way to test because a lot of teachers/professors have been doing it for a long time. When we get an answer wrong, we are penalized for it, thus not promoting an alternative answer because it more than likely doesn't have an answer. All of this makes sense to me. However, if classes were engineered to be taught a certain way that allows free flow of the mind such as this class, there would be more creativity because there would be an opportunity to reflect upon something instead of merely memorize and test on it. When he starts to talk about hierarchy of school subjects, I can relate significantly. Being an Engineering student just a month away from graduation, I have undergone many math classes, physics classes, and classes involving both math and physics. The reason for taking such high math classes for engineering is to train your brain to think in many different ways. A math class I took last semester is only taken by engineers and math majors and a given problem can be solved in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteDevon I agree with you completely. Schooling does seem to create a narrow mind and restrict us from our full potential.
DeleteIn my opinion, I think schools are killing creativity. I agree with Ted when he states that creativity is as important as literacy. I think that school systems potentially kill creativity in children. Curriculum in schools are very basic these days and lack room for children to use their skills to solve problems. This curriculum also does not include art classes or music classes which help enable children to uses their creativity and explore other subjects at a young age. I think this is an issue because like Ted stated “creativity is important”. How will children know what they like or what they are even capable of when they aren’t given the opportunity to explore their options? Children are fresh minds and are full of creativity and innovative ideas which are hindered by the school systems which are restricted to basic subjects such as math and science.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed listening to this ted talk. I do believe that over time school does diminish our creativity. The real focus i feel has always been mathematics, english and science, that those are going to get you a job. As with art and music it was more or less frowned upon because it was said it wouldn't get you anywhere in the future. Although, there have been plenty of times throughout school where I asked myself the point of learning some things, things I know I would never use in the future or in my career. It has always been, in my personal experience, the focus of getting a well-paid career so I would be able to take care of myself, my family and live comfortably rather than living pay-check to pay-check. I was taught to focus on school and getting a degree, that's why this ted talk from Robinson was so relatable.
ReplyDeleteI personally agree with the statements made in the video, for the most part schools seem to forget about the importance of the fine arts, music etc. When economically rough times arrive those are the first ones to go because they don't seem to be as important. However, I think those are and should be considered just as important as the rest because that is where students show they creativity. Every subject should matter equally because it contributes to students learning in multiple aspects. I wouldn't say schools are completely killing creativity but they do give less appreciation or less importance to areas that will contribute to the students creativity. In today's school system classes are focused on teaching material and then having a test on it. Most of these tests are made to show what they have learned so far and always based on right/wrong answers that do not necessarily teach anything other than memorization. Most of these tests force students to memorize rather than learn and once the test is over they forget the material which again defeats the purpose of teaching. Today school is just based on material that forces them to focus on specific subjects, kids are not allowed some time to unwind and create. Even in art classes, most times we are told what to draw/paint, we don't get the freedom to choose what we want to create. I think schools need to keep in mind how important creativity is in order for kids to develop in a more positive way. Schools might not necessarily kill the creativity but they most certainly do give it less attention.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Ken Robinson is correct when he says schools kill creativity. Some of the important points Robinson highlighted left a deep impression. He pointed out that as kids become adults, they fear making mistakes, and that fear is often the most harming obstacle to creativity. He also stated how the education system is the same everywhere in the world – with mathematics and science being mandatory courses while arts are the elective ones. There are always news about art courses being cut off the budget. Most mathematics and science-related careers are what parents and their prospective college children push for because of the high salary. Personally, I am not a creative person to begin with, so I do not think school killed my creativity. However, I do think school killed my motivation to study the subjects that I like. I feel like throughout my years of academic career starting from first grade, I can count on one hand the number of courses I thoroughly enjoyed and was excited to attend. School puts an invisible limitation on students’ capacities to explore and create interesting ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe TED talk is correct. Schools kill the creativity of students. Throughout our education system we have been taught to follow instructions and focus on an example. We have been taught to create things in essence of what our finished product should look like. As art is an elective for most schools it tends to be avoided by most students. In my experience I found art to be a lot of fun! I was surprised to find out what I was capable of. It seems that schools focus everything on mathematics and english. We now are held to a standard of so many years of math with a standard level in order to graduate. I also found that schools emphasize so much on english. In my experience schools spend so much time teach MLA format in preparation of college. I have used MLA nearly a handful of times. Schools need to reorganize their goals. English classes need to introduce ASA and APA as these are incredibly common in college. Mathematics are always important as long as your career encompasses it. Art is forgotten about. Individuals aren't using their sense of creativty. Or when children are taught to be creative in the younger years there isn't ever a chance to let their imagination flow. Step by step, with a finished product similar to everyone else's.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I believe that the Ted Talk is very true. I agree with Ken robinson because schools do kill the creativity for students. I believe that schools start killing creativity as a young kid begins school. I believe this because grade schools have basic teaching these days which makes you feel like you just need to get by. He makes very interesting points which makes me realize that the school system today makes students feel like they just need be done due to stress. As a child begins school they don't know what to expect so they have a different mentality before they begin. I believe that schools subjects aren't valued as much as they should be.
ReplyDeleteI think this Ted talk is absolutely true, it is always math and reading that receive the most emphasis in school. You always hear you can’t be a musician that is not going to pay the bills and people go on and on about how much you will struggle if you choose this career. Automatically as children we believe that something like math and science is the only career types that will get us great jobs and anything creative will leave us struggling. My personal experience with this would be choosing my career, I think as many people do they choose the one that will most likely get them a job. Instead of thinking of a career you love, people tend to focus on the money.
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ReplyDeleteI can agree with this Ted talk, majority of my creativity came from self-learning. I became interested in drawing from video games, so I began looking up tutorials and images to teach myself. The thing about art classes is that majority of them are vague in hopes of provoking your own creativity. But majority of schools don’t much care about creativity which is why art and music classes are the first to get cut. Ken Robinson says we are all creative but we grow out of it. Even when I was younger my father told me to not pursue a career in art because I will be breaking and jobless. Learning to dance would have been a great aid in social learning as well in our education. Creativity can come from new ideas and college is a great place for creative ideas. Because people with different backgrounds think differently and everyone has the right to say what they want. I’ve been in philosophy classes where I was free to speak my mind and why I believe certain things and even defend my position. Schools both help and kill creativity. School helps the mind creativity for speaking about ideas, and kills the physical creativity. The creativity involves drawing playing music and producing images with their bare hands.
I think his talk was a very interesting point of view. I always talk to my friends about how we grew up learning musical instruments and doing a choir class. I started my choir class and first band class in 4th grade. I do think they should still fund more creative arts classes so that students could be better exposed to different points of views. He mentioned how we are all taught how to be university professors and he said that creativity is a product of being exposed to different experiences, but schools are not doing that for us as much. I think that in a sense they could be destroying creativity but it's something I haven't really thought of before. My experience has actually been pretty good with my schools and teachers encouraging creativity. I think it depends on the environment. I always did music classes like band and choir, and those classes are all about creativity. The funding towards creative programs should be the same as the funding towards the other programs. This is a thought I'm going to continue to ponder on and observe whenever I am able to.
ReplyDeleteThis Ted talk was dead on. College has turned into an institution in which we learn new material one day and forget it the next. Some professors seem to just make us memorize certain theories and examples that will not aid us in future life. On top if that, we are not interested in learning about these certain theories and examples which makes school boring and feels like we are forced to do something we don't really want to do. We definitely need a more hands on experience in college and to just get out in the real world to learn instead of being stuck in a classroom for hours. I agree with Ken R., and believe that a major restructure of schooling today needs to take place. We are spending billions of dollars towards education systems here in the U.S and have almost nothing to show for it. If each of us were to try to achieve our dreams instead of put so much time into schooling, I believe we would all be more happy with ourselves. Although some schooling and learning is critical, most schooling kills creativity.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Sir Ken Robinson. This Ted talk made me reflect on my own educational experiences. In elementary school, I played trumpet in the band for two years. The middle school I attended cut its band out of the curriculum due to funding. Schools do put a high emphasis on math and sciences classes. I have taken an anatomy class in college where I was required to memorize many things, but I could tell you nothing about anatomy today. Ken says if you don't allow people to be creative nothing new will ever be discovered. Arts in school should be taken as seriously as mathematics. There are children who excel in physics or calculus in high school but there are also children who excel in drawing, dance or photography. Math classes are requirements for graduation and college entrance, while art and dance classes are electives. Finding your place in society as a creative person can also be difficult. I have two friends who already have their college degrees. One friend got a degree in film, because it is difficult to find work in his field he lives at home. A second friend got a degree in engineering and has been working since graduation. Education is vital for all students. I would like to see hands on education that can be found in art and music return to many schools.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that some schools do kill creativity, but not all of them. Districts overall are now trying to think of different ways to help students. I think it mostly relies on the teachers and principals. There is one school here in Delano that is not supportive of different things. One thing I know that the principal wasn’t supportive of, was track. Sports are sometimes escapes and are ways that students are able to express themselves. I have an art class that we were sent to a school to teach a lesson on the 80’s and we asked the teacher if it was ok to send out flyers to the parents if their child can dress up. She actually did let us pass them out. This was a was a way where the parent and child were able to be creative and express themselves in 80’s clothes. Some school districts have science fairs, crazy socks day, crazy hair day, and let their students dress up for Halloween. These are great ways for students to be able to express themselves in different ways. Like I said, it comes down to the districts, then the principal, then the teacher. There are some teachers and schools that only focus on examinations and tests scores. They don’t have different activities where students are able to express themselves and be creative because the scores are what counts. It very dull for the students that it may cause them to not want to go to school.
ReplyDeleteThis was the best TED talk I've ever watched/listened to! He was so funny and engaging, and the topic was very close to my heart. My sisters has severe dyslexia, and really struggled in school. She was held back a grade, and was always put down by her teachers and peers because she wasn't a "typically" successful student. She was and still is an amazing athlete, and very intelligent in her own way. My parents were very supportive with her athletics because they knew it was what made her feel like she was "good enough". As her little sister, who is more successful academically, it broke my heart to see her upset because she didn't fit in in the classroom. However, once she graduated high school and was on her own, she discovered her talent for science, and was able to navigate school in her own way. She was the first person in my family to graduate college, and now is working for Stanford as a clinical researcher. I think that her creativity was stifled, and she had to struggle to find her own way to success. While she did pursue a career in science, rather than athletics or arts, I connect with this talk because I do feel that it would have been great if a teacher would have encouraged my sister to learn in her own way.
ReplyDeleteThis talk was super interesting and really opened my eyes to the motive of the education system! I've never really thought about or even realized how education does focus on the core concepts of mathematics, language, and humanities, and leaves arts at the bottom as you progress. My high school did provide art classes for us, but the emphasis on their importance or the support behind pursuing an arts degree was not there. For the most part if you tell someone that you are an arts major, they look at you as if you won't succeed. I thought it was interesting how the speaker highlighted how children are so creative and don't have problem making mistakes. He further then explained mistakes lead to creating original ideas. I think this is super profound and correct. As we get older we are criticized for making mistakes. But what this speaker tells us is that mistakes are important when it comes to creating new ideas. The current education system focuses on perfection, not mistakes. I think if supporting creativity is the new turn in the education system, educators have to look at a new way of learning and accept failure, in order to achieve greatness. Overall, I would agree with this speaker in that schools are taking away creativity and this is something that I hope is brought back and found to be important for a person growing into adulthood. Imagine all of the possibilities with more creative people on this world!
ReplyDeleteI really never think about this. Our school system is ruining our creativity. One would think that school will Increase the creative spark in our minds but according to the speaker, school system actually ruins it. Through out his speech, I disagree and agree on some point that he made. One example was when he mentioned that everywhere in the world education system is almost the same, where there are the top subjects that we focus on and the arts are always in the bottom. See this is the problem and I agree with him, our school system focuses on this too subjects and forgets about the different things that are nescesary in life. He also mentioned that mathematics are just as important as dance, but semi disagree and agree with him, yes dance is important but mathematics in the other hand will produce more positive outcome depending on the route that you are taking in life. School system focuses on the things that they think they matter most and it kind of forgets that other thing that creates that spark in children's mind. Mistakes are the extreme thing that we can get, !but mistakes also teaches us lessons that we never think about. Mistakes is like history, a bad history that is, we need to learn from them and never repeat them. Mistakes also creates that spark in mind, as a human being we tried to think about different solutions and different route to avoid this mistakes and that is being creative.
ReplyDeleteI think they absolutely do kill creativity. I think math and reading is important, but it shouldn't be the only thing we learn. I remember LOVING art, but we only had it once a month. Then budget cuts happened and we no longer got to go to art. I was so upset. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like and what I would've chosen to do if my teachers and parents did things differently. I grew to hate english in first grade. My teachers would tell my parents I was under preforming and that discouraged me. Looking back I realize I wasn't stupid I just wasn't learning the same way as the teacher was teaching. I have to be hands on in order to understand something. I wasn't able to just sit at a desk and listen to the teacher go over things. I needed more one on one and needed to do something physically. I think grades are terrible for younger kids. If you get a bad grade it really upsets children at a young age. The teachers told me and my parents I wasn't doing as well as other students and I wanted to give up. I felt I was never going to be as smart as my friends. If I was just able to express myself the way I was made to maybe I would've enjoyed school more. I think teachers should notice children's struggles and find a way to work on them differently and in a way the children don't really notice. Telling kids they aren't doing well when it isn't always their fault just sets them up for failure. It is so discouraging. We should focus more on finding out what kids are good at instead of telling them they aren't as good because they don't do as well in math or language. There is so much more to life.
ReplyDeleteThis Ted Talk was very interesting. I agree with Robinson in many ways. I do believe the arts are undervalued in schools today. Everything is focused around the sciences and even if someone is talented, it is often overlooked. On a personal level, when I graduated high school I wanted to attend an art school and study graphic design. I was often told art school wasn’t a practical decision and that it would be a waste of money. That’s how I ended up at CSUB getting a degree in business administration. While I don’t regret coming here and getting my degree, I do believe that if the arts were more valued it would have been more acceptable for me to attend an art school. I believe that in high school students should be taught the necessary subjects, but they should also be allowed to explore things they are interested in like art, wood shop, auto class, home ec etc. Most of the programs like these have been cut from schools which cuts off the students line of creativity and doesn’t allow them to explore and see what they enjoy to do and what they may want to make a career out of. I do however think there are some really amazing teachers out there that truly care about their students and want to help them succeed in things they want to do; but overall I agree with Robinson that schools kill creativity.
ReplyDeleteArts and music are always being cut from schools, we focus on the everything else. Athletics, English, math, science, I understand these topics are what help our society develop, STEM jobs, but we should not limit our children from expressing themselves. Creativity is important, it's a way of expression and a stress reliever. I remember at my school, Buttonwillow elementary, we went from having music class 3 days a week to 1 day. Which is insane, school is never fun at a young age you want to have fun taking that away doesn't encourage children more to pursue their education. So I agree it does kill children's creativity. We're shoving information into their heads, we're teaching them to repeat and pass test not to actually learn.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the ted talk by Ken Robinson, I could not agree less with his idea on rethinking our view of intelligence, as it is diverse, dynamic,and distinct. I never thought about it, but after watching his ted talk I do agree that school kill creativity, since the main focus on the education system is to teach children important subjects that will get them a job in the future, such as math, English, and science. Therefore, focusing less in the Arts that help children develop their creativity. I remember as a child I did not participate in any type of Art that I enjoyed. Thus, if schools do offer some type of extracurricular activity for children to be creative, activities that schools offer may not always interested for every child to develop or find a talent that they may have.For me, it was not until I was in high school that I got to sing in choir and I really got to find my passion for performing and singing. Nonetheless, I feel that schools still put less significance in those types of talents and make children feel that it is not enough to succeed in life and that we need some type of degree to get a good job.
ReplyDeleteThis TED talk was quite interesting. I agree with what the speaker had to say about schools killing creativity. Nowadays schools try to focus more on math, reading, and writing that they have completely opted out of having time for art and music. It is understanding that schools have a budget and they are unable to support the art and music programs but it should still be part of education. Yes, it is important or kids to know the basic subjects in education but they should have some time in school to be creative and let their minds think freely.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have to agree with you; yes kids need to know the fundamentals but I do think there is a way to allow them to be creative as well.
DeleteThat is a difficult statement to answer. I don't necessarily know there is a straightforward answer but I would more likely say yes, schools do stifle children's creativity. Growing up in the California public school system there was only one way to do something; whatever way the teacher told you. I remember being in math, going through a problem and finding a shortcut to the answer yet the teacher would say to follow his method so therefore I wasn't given the ability to think on my own. The one subject that I always loved because I felt the most creative in was English because I could write my essay however I wanted to. I do believe if we gave students the ability to think creatively we would help them so much later on in life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, creativity is being killed in some ways, and not others. My experience is based on the fact, that creativity is being killed in comedic, scientific, mathematical, and religious ways. I learned that everyone is born with a creative mind, and as each person grows older, he/she becomes educated and loses his/her creativity to some extent. Some creative geniuses are misunderstood by certain authority figures, and the misunderstandings can put certain limitations to the creative people’s inventions. Creativity is a great thing, as long as it is used in the correct manners and settings. Ken Robinson said that schools should modify some of their ideas, to reinforce the creativity of students. In my opinion, it would be nice if students’ creativities were reinforced in schools, so that these same students would become innovative in their workplaces. Schools need a good amount of simple technologies, so that students will become more experienced in college and at work. I do not think that creativity is killed in subjects like history, art, and creative writing. Examples of creative people in history and science include Galileo, Albert Einstein, James Joule, and Isaac Newton. They were curious, even though they experienced a lot of difficulties. Overall, I enjoyed this video. I think Ken Robinson was correct in certain cases.
ReplyDeleteRoshaan S.
I never really thought about schools killing creativity. After watching Ken Robinson talk about this theme I came to the conclusion that schools do kill creativity because they do not give students the oportuninity to take in consideration the original ideas they have. In the video Ken tells the audience a story about a little girl in her drawing lessons that was drawing a picture of god and then the teacher tries to kill her creativity by saying how is she drawing good if no one knows how he looked. I am glad that the little girl did not care and the teacher did not kill her creativity because she told her that after her drawing her classmates would know god. I believe that this teacher was killing her creativity because that was an original idea the little girl had about god’s appearance. Also, the fact that schools do not give dance, band, or other classes a great value as math or English kills the students creativity because since the school does not value all subjects equally students may feel that what they are not talented, brilliant, or creative. I work at a high school and I notice that the school does not really care about the electives students get. A couple students have come to me to ask me what elective I recommend them to take for the upcoming school year because their counselors tell them to choose any that it does not matter because they are not important. After this video I thought it through and I believe schools do kill creativity.
ReplyDeleteI found this talk interesting since I've obviously been through the school system. I agree with some of the stuff he says, like how schools focus on math and science more than the arts. Careers in math and science are good to pursue, but a lot of students aren't interested in it. Also, I feel that curriculum makes it harder for students even if they love math and science. For example, my cousins math homework showed that they're teaching them to solve the math problems more difficultly than I remember. Many are terrific at art and want to pursue careers as an artist which is great. I believe that one should find a career that they'll love doing. On the other hand, I don't agree with some of the stuff he says in this talk. In high school, we had different clubs/pathways to join that helped us in pursuing are career. For example I was in the Health Academy that helped me prepare for a career in medicine. We also had a business academy and many art clubs. My friend was in the art club and she ended up becoming a tattoo artist.
ReplyDeleteI think the speaker in this Ted talk is correct about schools killing creativity. He talks about how in school, we are only worried about stimulating the upper part of the body, mainly the head. Creativity is pushed below all other standards. I used to work for an after school program and one thing they always told us not to let the students do was to free draw. Of course most of the kids would use it as an excuse not to do anything, but the kids that actually wanted to practice their creativity just couldn’t. The only way they could draw during homework time was if they had a written document from a teacher stating why or what they needed to draw. Most teachers did not assign the kids homework that consisted of drawing so the only time they could draw was if they picked an art elective class. Once again, the kids were told what to draw or create so there wasn’t a lot of freedom for them to explore their creativity. While I was in school, not a lot of teacher promoted creativity so I didn’t really explore. I only really remember when I had a math teacher that wanted everyone to create a song/piece/speech for Pi day. People in the class were intimidated because many of us weren’t challenged creatively very often.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I experienced the opposite of what Ted explains. As I mentioned in my blog response I have had the joy to have teachers that have went out of their way to create a connection with their students. This means that they have figured out fun ways to teach, which in return has made the students engage in the class activities even more. However, I have to say that I have experienced something similar to that of the student in his speech who was diagnosed with what would now be ADHD. When my stepdaughter was in third grade her teacher called my boyfriend to tell him that the school’s nurse was asked to evaluate my stepdaughter, and that she believed my stepdaughter had ADHD. She told him that we needed to look into it because she though my stepdaughter was demonstrating the disorders’ symptoms, the main one being lack of concentration. I was shocked, but then upset. The reason I was upset was because I had remembered that the teacher had already complained to my boyfriend about my stepdaughter being real chatty in class. So I believed this was just her way of dealing with my stepdaughters’ class disturbance. I didn’t believe my stepdaughter had anything wrong because she behaved well at home and done average on her schoolwork. So what I done was: I had a serious conversation about the situation with my stepdaughter, I began having her do extra activities I printed from our computer after her homework, and I also had her read thirty minutes every school day. Needless to say, these past two school years we have not received any complaints from her teachers, and she has also received honor roll multiple times. With this being said, obviously teachers play a very important role in schools and in the lives of their students. So, from personal experience I feel like they should find creative ways to teach because students look for FUN!
ReplyDeleteThis topic resonates with me on different levels. I agree with Sir Ken Robinson on most things but disagree to some extent. Yes, schools are killing creativity. Let me explain why I believe this to be true. I work in a kindergarten class. During my time with the students in the morning we are working drills on fluency, letter recognition, sight words, math concepts, and other things that fall within the Dibbles testing procedures. Students are pulled aside one at a time and drilled for a minute on each one of these things. Every quarter they are tested and tracked. The teacher of the class also drills the students and works on certain criteria every day before lunch for about 20 minutes. The students who are below average are pulled out of the classroom for 30 minutes each day to work even more intensely on these drills. Are they important? Yes. Do they help the students? Yes. Could they be taught in a more creative way? Absolutely. The teachers are placed under stressful situations and demanded to pull test results from these young students. The teachers success in the classroom is also monitored by these standardized placements. The classroom environment has shifted since my time in the primary grades. Now, the teachers at the school I work for try very hard to also incorporate as much creativity as possible into their programs. Which causes them even more stress. But out of their love for education and the students they give it their best efforts. So this is the part that I differ with Sir Ken Robinson. Everyday my classroom has music playing quietly in the back ground. For the month of March we had a lot of celtic type of selections. Lots of Irish tunes and bag pipping. Our teacher spoke about what the students were listening too. We also have a writing day every Thursday. Our students are given a sentence to write and must illustrate a portrait to go with the sentences. My teacher is a fantastic artist and gives a fantastic art lesson during this time. She has even taught our kindergarteners how to use proper stroke technique while painting and coloring. Our school offers various music classes and a handful of third grade teachers put on plays periodically for the school to partake in and watch. So while I do believe that school systems are killing the arts, I also believe that the teachers are doing their best to keep them alive.
ReplyDeleteI don't think schools kills creativity, but I do feel that they don't consider it as important as other subjects. When I started high school, I immediately joined a program partnered with Aera Energy that was solely dedicated to engage students in math and science subjects and to encourage students to start a career in science and technology fields. So basically my entire high school years were focused on honor math and science classes,and the other "creative" subjects weren't really important. I think I had to seek these art and music classes for my own interest and it really conflicted with my other classes and had to have arrangements sometimes. But I do believe the art and music classes that are available really help with creativity. I never disliked any of my art classes or choir classes, if anything it made me want to go to school everyday. The school system definitely do focus on the math, science, english, and history subjects though, which makes it hard for students to be introduced to creativity and other subjects that allow you to explore the right side of the brain and to stimulate inspiration and originality.
ReplyDeleteSchools don't necessarily "kill" creativity, but they do not have it as prioritized as other subjects like mathematics or science. I do not think that it is necessarily a bad thing, but there are certainly consequences when it comes to it. In one hand, it is understandable to prioritize that kind of stuff, but in the other it feels like it seriously downplays and limits abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is a rather good thing to have even if you have mathematics or science. Computer science, for example, while it does require quite a lot of mechanical knowledge, you must have a pretty good imagination in order to succeed in the field. While you could just be a code monkey, you can easily be something more if you decide to let your ideas be coded and be allowed to play around. We can look at Minecraft's Notch for example, where he's now one of the most well known programmers who created a game that's loved worldwide.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to how schools limit creative arts, I could probably think of the times whenever my art teacher was laid off from the school due to her disagreeing with the staff and the principal. It was a rather memorable moment in high school where I honestly started to no longer trust my school's teachers. The teacher was also one of the few teachers I knew who fully supported me to reach for a art degree, but in the end, once she was out, I was just told to stop pursuing it. Despite this memory, it's not necessarily school's fault, I just think it's just how today's world evolved: mechanical skill is more important than creative skill.
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ReplyDeleteSchool definitely kills creativity. I know so many people who has graduated college and aren't even working in a field thats related to their major they got a degree in. School kills creativity because it doesn't allow a child to be open and explore any and everything possible. We have to let children be themselves and see what interests them, not force it upon them. I think the school system is all a scam, with that being going all the way up to the college level. College makes you take all these classes your not even going to really use later in life in reality. Don't get me wrong, I am all for learning more and knowing a lot of things but if I'm going to college for a specific major then how come we cannot just take those required major classes for that specific field we want to go into
ReplyDeletePrior to this writing assignment, one of my professors made us watch this TED talk, and I thought it was really interesting. Robinson knows how to keep an audience entertained because I was intrigued by his points of view. In regards to the question, I think schools do kill creativity in children. So many school districts nowadays are so focused in standardized tests because the children's test scores are so low. Their only form of dealing with it is more testing and more curriculum involving math and reading. Math and reading are crucial subjects, but it is also crucial to incorporate the arts because that is what some children enjoy. Can you imagine someone never finding their true talent because they were never introduced to it? It is sad to think about. Also, some children learn to dislike school because of all the rigorous testing and lesson plans; they cannot express themselves. The arts could also serve as a form of de-stressing and taking a break fron the hectic school life. In my opinion, it is important to teach all subjects with the same importance.
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