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Does public education kill the creativity of children?
Specifically in the elementary school years.
Should kids be taught to be creative? How important is creativity in formative school years ?
Is it the purpose of the school to teach kids to be creative? Can one be taught to be creative? If so, how would you go about teaching kids to be creative?
I would say that I learned to be creative once I'd amassed a critical mass of knowledge. Once I'd learned enough ways of doing things, I started putting them together in different ways. When I think of creativity, I think of Thomas Edison who learned to be creative working in a patent office and looking at patent after patent after patent, day after day after day. The more you know, the more able you are to come up with a new way of doing things. The trick is to stay in school long enough to amass enough knowledge to reach the point you are able to put things together in different ways.
It depends on the school. But, I am also a firm believer that parents are just as responsible for fostering or killing creativity. Isn't sitting your kid in front of a video because it claims to make your child Einstein-like killing your child's creativity?
Regardless, it is not the responsibility of any school to foster children's creativity. I think most are fairly neutral when it comes to creativity types of exercises, lessons, etc.
It depends on the school. But, I am also a firm believer that parents are just as responsible for fostering or killing creativity. Isn't sitting your kid in front of a video because it claims to make your child Einstein-like killing your child's creativity?
Regardless, it is not the responsibility of any school to foster children's creativity. I think most are fairly neutral when it comes to creativity types of exercises, lessons, etc.
Turning off the TV would probably do more to foster creativity than anything schools could do.
It depends on the teacher and the school. I think the best teachers absolutely DO foster creativity among their students. Creativity is part of learning and should be encouraged. I once attended a teacher workshop on creativity in the classroom; I found it fascinating. I don't know about "teaching" creativity, though, although I think it can be encouraged and an environment created in which inherent creativity can flourish.
There have been studies in which the researchers found that elementary school teachers were more likely to describe their most creative students (as defined by various characteristics) as their least favorite students; highly creative kids can sometimes be annoying in the classroom, or at least less likely to be the quiet, easy-going, follow the rules kinds of kids. From the little reading I've done on the subject, it certainly does seem that at least in some cases a classroom setting (I don't see it as a public/private issue) can hinder some creativity. On the other hand, a good teacher and a stimulating classroom and school environment (even just the result of being around a lot of different people with sometimes very different viewpoints and experiences) can presumably also encourage creativity.
Sorry if my eyes start rolling like bowling balls at tournament time when I hear the word "creative." I honestly think that an undue and inappropriate focus on "teaching creativity" has been one of the spears in the side of education ever since the 1970s.
Here are my thoughts:
Creativity is earned.
It is not a delicate little flower that needs to be protected from the harsh, Gradgrindian environment of school. Instead, genuine creativity is earned.
It's earned by learning the fundamentals of the discipline in which you feel a creative urge. For example, in order to be creative as an artist, you first must learn two- and three-point perspective, the use of paint, charcoal, pencil, and ink, the techniques of shadowing, texture, line. Then and only then can you be genuinely able to synthesize the techniques you have learned and the knowledge you have gained from masters of the discipline and forge them into something new.
Creativity is earned.
It is earned by learning and reading and understanding the masters of the discipline. It's no surprise that Virgil learned from Homer and Milton learned from Virgil and tons of people learned from Milton. By learning from these people, you make yourself an apprentice to the world's best teachers, seeing how they bust a move, if you will. THEN you can be genuinely able to do something new, to synthesize their techniques together with your own insights and genuinely create.
Again, creativity is earned. Too many foolish, pie-eyed ed majors think that if they just present students with a blank piece of paper and no directions, that they'll get something kreee8ive as a result. Most often, what they get is formless, purposeless, and derivative -- not because the students are stupid or lack creativity, but because (once again) creativity is earned. Before a vessel can be poured out, it has to be filled. Before students have anything to say, they have to open their ears and hear.
Otherwise, all we force them to do is to reinvent the wheel -- and no one nowadays calls the concept of a wheel particularly creative...except for the first wheel and the woman or man who designed it.
It's no surprise to me that when teachers try to "teach creativity," they normally get work of such poor quality that they finally resort to doing what a colleague of mine did: making her students write poems according to a line-by-line template.
Yeah.
Very creative.
In short, without ingredients, you will not get cake. You can't get creativity just by asking for it.
Now, that said, ALONG WITH and AFTER teaching students the fundamentals of a particular discipline, you can indeed foster creative thinking. You can, for instance, present a problem to a physics class and ask them to come up with a multiplicity of possible ways to solve it -- for instance, can you design a container that will protect a raw egg from breaking if the container and egg are dropped from a height? KNOWING PHYSICS, the students will be far more able to brainstorm ideas and test concepts, not waste time (and eggs). In short, they've worked for their "ingredients."
So, you want students to be creative in art? Show them great art.
You want students to be creative in literature? Read them great literature.
You want students to be creative in science? Have them learn science.
This is sort of like the argument of some teachers who don't bother to correct students who color outside the lines saying it's the child's creativity. Problem with this is learning to color within the lines is to teach a skill necessary towards development of artistic ability. Creativity can't be taught, it can be developed through knowledge and skill.
I don't think they foster creativity. How many books on creativity did you learn about in school?
One good book I've read is James Webb Youngs "A technique for producing ideas". He was a leading advertising figure in the 40's. He taught a very simple method for producing ideas. Basically you gather raw material. You look for relationships among things. You gestate the material (basically sitting on it and doing nothing).
You put it out of your mind.......then when you're least expecting it, you get an idea! I don't think school fills in the dots of your own experiences. I'm sure kids have gotten an idea for something when they were least thinking about it. Like out taking a walk or out at a park. Then wham....it comes out of nowhere.
Young thought that producing ideas was just as definite a process as the production of a Ford on an assembly line. Pretty interesting belief. I don't think kids are exposed to the right beliefs.
It's unfortunate that so little is presented in school about creative people. What about Picasso? Why isn't he studied? Why is so little attention devoted to masters of a particular discipline?
Should they be "creative" in math? Should they be "creative" in art? Two entirely different types of classes.
Frankly, I did poorly in classes where creativity was prized, and well in classes where knowledge and the "right answer" was prized.
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Can one be taught to be creative? 
Turning off the TV would probably do more to foster creativity than anything schools could do.
