Do schools kill creativity?

This feature article is written by Mia Thomas. She is a Year 8 student at Aquinas College.

“Creativity is contagious pass it on.” Those were the words of Albert Einstein.

But what happens when by the time you leave school you have no creativity to pass on? Sadly that’s the reality our society faces today. The younger generation are losing their creativity and it is the schools doing it. But how?

Today I will share with you the ways schools are killing creativity and why we need creativity in our daily life.

Did you know that a good percentage of student stress is caused by over testing? Regular standardized testing not only causes stress in students but may undermine learning. Some researchers suggest that schools primarily rank students based on their test scores and compare students to each other, how awful.

The dictionary’s definition of creativity is: The use of imagination or original ideas to create something new. How are we going to ever make anything new if we are forced to learn things that people have already invented? I believe that we should only be testing students on what they know, not what they need to know. And that we should only be using tests at the start of they year to see what students do and don’t know.

Another way the flower of creativity is being crushed out of us is by not respecting creative subjects. Too many people believe that math’s is more valuable than music and that music is just a walk in the park. But those same people aren’t proficient in any musical instrument. Gillian Lynne choreographed the famous musical Cats. Yet when she was in school she was considered useless because she could not sit still.
Gillian went to see to see a specialist that left her in a room by herself. As soon as he left the room she started dancing. The specialist told her to enroll in dance school. And today is one of the most famous dancers we know. If Gillian was left in school any longer for all we know she would be working in a bank. Because public schools did not respect that she could do more than Maths and English.

The reason when need creative people in this world is pretty clear. When you are working at Countdown on the till and someone walks up to you. What do you say? You say hello. But what if for a whole day you are saying hello it gets pretty boring Hello Hello Hello see BORING. So what do you do, you think of creative ways to talk to people. Top of the morning to you. How’s your day going? Those are the people you want to be served by, the people that think of new ways to do things. Now you mightbe thinking yeah yeah but what if you are a scientist they don’t need to be creative.

Well yes you do because you are not going to get anywhere if you don’t think creatively. If Earnest Rutherford didn’t wonder what would happen if he split the atom would we have nuclear fission No.

In conclusion, I hope you now know some of the ways schools are killing creativity and the importance of creativity in everyday life. If Creative people invent tomorrow, so can you but only if you schools help out. So let’s be creative and find ways schools can be creative too.

Questions
1. Do you agree with Mia that schools kill creativity?
2. Can you list ways schools could change to be more creative?