Epiphany: Creativity in the Classroom?

After studying  1,500 CEOs from 33 industries and 60 countries, IBM concluded that the number one skill needed to lead well in today’s complex age is… (trumpets please)… CREATIVITY.

If that’s true, then it invites the following epiphany: maybe our education system should try to nurture creativity in students.

But if you’re the parent of a school-aged child, you might not want to count on it.

I’m a high school teacher. I work in the public school system in an alternative, at-risk setting.  So I get to see firsthand how creativity is (or is not) systemized in American schools.

If you’re not a teacher, though, here are some things you might want to know about how your child’s education evolves.

1.By law, K-12 teachers like me HAVE to make their lessons revolve around a long list of state requirements. (These are linked at the bottom of this post if you’re curious.)

As you can see, each required teaching element—whether analyzing political graphs or understanding the consequences of the Civil War—is aimed at making sure students either A. memorize a fact or b. develop a conventional academic skill.

Most of these requirements have nothing to do with building creativity in students.

Of the 16 pages of instruction on teaching English, for example, the word create is only used ONE TIME—in that case, it requires teachers to have students “create” a piece of art that expresses an idea.

2.Teachers HAVE to go this route. We are required to submit paperwork that proves how our lessons, over the course of the year, reinforce every single objective on the state’s list.

3. Teachers’ job performance and students’ learning performance are both measured by how well students do on state standardized tests (cue the bubbles and no. 2 pencils)…which, by the way, don’t test for creativity either.

The student is doing well (or not so well) based on how much of the required facts and academic skills the student knows.

So, what does that mean? For starters, a student could be able to take apart an engine and put it back together, or to create a professionally edited film, but the test could label him a complete failure. It would not have a way of measuring or affirming this skill.

4. The best teachers try to inspire creativity, but their efforts are handcuffed by the pressure to focus on the facts and skills that prepare them for these tests. Often times, the most creative teachers buck the system, and in some cases earn the disfavor of the school and government, because they loosen their grip on the conventional facts and skills.

Kara Mayer Robinson wrote a great piece on creativity in education that stirs reflection about creativity in society as a whole.

In it, she makes the following statement, which I love because I indentify with how she defines creativity:

“Creativity is so much more than artistic flair or dramatic inclinations. It’s the ability to generate something original and useful, to think beyond limiting parameters and find new ways of doing things. To be creative, a person has to have what’s called ‘divergent thinking,’ or thinking in a way that’s different from the expected.”

While I’ve always dabbled in various arts, I don’t consider myself a devoted craftsmen of any of them.  I’m not a painter or a dancer–roles that might be considered more conventional “creatives.” Rather, my exposure and participation in the arts fuels the way I think. It bolsters my problem-solving skills, allowing me to  imagine new ideas and create new systems.

Keep in mind though, this kind of creativity—generating useful ideas–is not one of the skills students are being required to develop either.

Which is why it’s important that family and community members make an intentional effort to affirm, nurture and reward creative expression in their children. Because whether the school systems teach it or not, your kid’s success might depend on it.

If kids are encouraged to be creative now, they will find ways around challenge—bad economies, job restrictions, ineffectiveness–later in life.

As Louis Pasteur (the guy who figured out how to “pasteurize” milk and other stuff so germs don’t spread infection) said, “chance favors the prepared mind.”

Examples of state curriculum requirements/standards:

English – http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ELA11-14open1_142201_7.pdf

Social Studies – http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/SS_HSCE_210739_7.pdf