“Creativity is as important as literacy. If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. You can be creative in anything – in math, science, engineering, philosophy – as much as you can in music or in painting or in dance.”
– Sir Ken Robinson
Do Schools kill creativity?
Yes, and the American school system is failing our kids. With excessive testing and senseless standards on the rise, teachers continue to feel hopeless, and disillusioned students start to doubt their own intelligence. We haphazardly raise our standards in math and literacy, clueless to what skills students will need in the future. We don’t know what the job market will be in 20 years, yet we continue to use antiquated teaching methods based on an industrial paradigm. Educators are pressured to “teach toward the test” instead of fostering divergent, creative thinking.
The Ted Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” by Sir Ken Robinson is one of the most listened to talks out there. In other words, educators are aware of these problems, but how can we take the next step to fix them?!
BELOW ARE 2 AMAZING TALKS BY SIR KEN ROBINSON. He discusses changing education paradigms and fostering creativity in schools! THEY ARE BOTH WORTH WATCHING!!!
Our “Teachers Inspired” Episode-
This week, I sat down with an old teacher friend and discussed the importance of creativity in schools. I met Madelyn during my first year of full-time teaching. At that time, we were both working as music teachers in a rather militant Charter School in New York City. After a few months of working there, we began to question the validity of their teaching methods and standards. “Are these practices sustainable for teachers? Are these methods working for students?”
First, watch the videos above, then listen to our Interview! Today we discussed:
- Our personal experiences teaching at a Charter School in NYC
- Sir Ken Robinson and divergent thinking
- Do schools kill creativity?
- The stress of keeping kids “on track”
- Unnecessary standards for testing
- Why music and the arts are important!
Make sure to check out our conversations from last week on Emotional Education with Eileen Johnson. And stay tuned for more conversations with inspiring educators!!! <3