In a Riz Khan interview from Al Jazeera English on YouTube titled “Schools killing creativity?”, creativity and education expert Ken Robinson raises some interesting points about how the education systems of the world are ignoring individual talent and creativity in students (Part one / Part two – Did you know Al Jazeera was on YouTube?)
In most cases, Robinson says, schools are simply not helping our kids understand what they’re good at and what they’re destined to do with their work life. Or, their true talent doesn’t emerge in the school setting because of the curriculum, the assessment systems and uninspired teachers.
Did you choose a career path you thought you’d be good at, or thought you were interested in, only to just now be finally doing what your true gift is?
You’re probably not alone. Consider today’s social media “stars”, since today’s definition of social media didn’t even exist when they were in school.
In the interview, Robinson says it’s not a deliberate effort by schools to crush creativity but it is systematic.
Again, in many cases, teachers don’t even see the true talent.
Paul McCartney and George Harrison of The Beatles had the same music teacher in Liverpool. McCartney says even though his dad was a trumpet player and pianist, Paul was not immediately musically talented. Because of that first impression of McCartney and Harrison, their music teacher discouraged both from pursuing music further.
Robinson says talent in students is often buried deep and doesn’t emerge until the conditions are ripe.
I think that’s probably true of a lot of people. Writers. Coaches. Political leaders. Chefs. Actors.
How about our best servicemen and women in the military? How could they have possibly known they were skilled at the tactics of war when they were eight years old? Okay, maybe an occasional game of “Risk” could have revealed a few clues.
Ken Robinson says greatness is not rare. It’s not limited to a select few “gifted” people. Everybody, he says, has the capacity for original ideas and creativity. The problem is, schools wean it out.
So how can teachers inspire creativity?
One idea I like from Robinson is for teachers to aim to teach in creative ways. He says any teacher can make anything interesting. It doesn’t have to be taught in a boring way. If teachers mix up the way they teach and encourage students to get out of their comfort zone, perhaps it can spark some hidden talent.
Teachers make a huge difference, of course. Not just in getting us to solve our preordained path in life. But in getting us through some difficult developmental years, motivating us to think long-term and not just what’s ahead of us in the short-term.
What teacher are you thinking of right now?
I had a great 8th grade social studies teacher who stressed the importance of staying on top of current events in the news. Because of him, I developed an interest that likely led me to spend 12 years working in television news. Was that my career destiny?
Probably not, but it did require me to further develop my strong writing skills, ability to juggle several high-stress tasks at once in a TV news control room, and launch me to my current communications job – and put me in a position to explore the trends in today’s new media landscape.
The quality of a teacher is the only thing in my book that truly has an impact on what we decide to focus our energies on, and in the process stumble onto our hidden talent.
If what we start out to do in our career seems like a struggle, it probably isn’t what we’re best at. So, we find something else, in time.
Our education systems need to change, for sure, if we want to truly help every student develop their creativity. Trouble is, we’re too focused on standardized tests that care more about academic knowledge than true talent in areas you can’t measure – leadership, project management, general problem-solving, etc…
As Ken Robinson says, education systems don’t need to be reformed, they need to be transformed.
If you’re interested, here’s part one of the Riz Khan/Ken Robinson video from Al Jazeera English:
And, part two:
Thanks to Ernie the Attorney for highlighting this video today on Twitter.
September 21, 2008 at 8:38 am |
I would agree that too much emphasis has been placed on standardized testing. Presuming that we’re talking about schools in the U.S., I’d also agree that our schools don’t tend to bring out the best in our students and tend to stifle creativity. I’d even agree that teachers could teach in more interesting ways that encourage creativity in students and encourage those students to find their inner greatness.
But that’s rather akin to saying that if everyone got really, really good health care, less people would die.
If teachers were better paid, and better treated, and better trained, and better supported by their administrators, and so forth and so on . . .
If schools were better funded, and better run, and better supported by the communities and governments . . .
If classrooms were better equipped and featured better teacher/student ratios . . .
Then perhaps each teacher would be able to do more to make each class lesson more interesting, would be able to better address the needs of each student in each class, and would be able to encourage the creativity and inner greatness of each student in each class.
But that’s not a world we’re likely to see anytime soon. Teachers are saddled with large classes and small budgets, so that class materials are often paid for by teachers from their own pockets. Teacher recruitment is pretty lousy because the pay is pretty lousy. Teachers learn pretty quickly that their principal is not likely to back them up when disciplinary issues arise with a problem student, because the school administration needs to worry more about budgets and law suits than whether one problem student is holding back a class of forty other students. And so on.
Perhaps if we paid our teachers more attention, we’d be able to encourage our teachers’ creativity and their inner greatness . . . but until then we should recognize that it’s a more than a little ridiculous to expect each and every teacher to act as a personal life coach for every single student that passes through every single class on every single day of teaching.
Yes, I remember great teachers who inspired me. That was mostly because I caught their attention in one way or another. In classes where I had no interest and no apparent aptitude, I passed right under the teacher’s radar, and rightly so. They had a lot of work to do and precious little spare resources to spend on encouraging those who did not ask for encouragement.