The Importance of Creativity

Ken Robinson's lecture was very entertaining, creative, and very true! The school system is set up to teach children only what we think is the most important and that is, the basics. Chidlren are no longer given the freedom of creativity through activities such as: dance, art, music, or drama. Although, the basic math, english, science, etc is very important, creativity should be held to a higher importance as well. Allowing children to be creative will help them to learn better. When a child is up and moving to music or creating a picture they retain information better. If you sit a child at a desk all day and lecture them on multiplication and grammar all day, they are not going to pay attention therefore, they will not retain the information. A professor of mine said "if you gave your best lecture in the forest, did you teach?" Many of us answered "yes" but, the answer is no. You cannot teach if no one is there. So if you keep your students in their desk all day they will not mentally be there therefore, you are not teaching.

Students should be praised for the creativity instead of steared away from it. Who knows how many great actors, musicians, or artists have been taken away from us because their creativity was blocked in school. I think that teachers today need to find a way to teach the basic skills through something creative. Have your students sing about grammar, sing about the states, and even math. Teachers need to learn to use their creativity in the classroom, it will benefit your students. Once the teacher finds a creative way to teach those basic subjects that we find so important then, our students will start to enjoy learning them. I have always heard that children learn better when they are moving and from my personal experience with children, that statement is true!

Ken Robinson stated that the arts are placed at the bottom of the list when it comes to subjects in schools. He was right with this comment, and it is only getting worse. With the economic crisis schools are having to cut back on their budgets therefore, they are taking arts out of the schools. I know of numerous schools right now that no longer have art class because the schools cannot afford the supplies. Instead of spending the money on art supplies schools are spending it on updating the computer labs. Now, I do believe computer labs are important but at the elementary level these students should be coloring, painting, dancing, and singing. Let these children unleash their creativity at school.

Also, Ken Robinson mentioned that ADD/ADHD was not invented back in the day. Kids who were fidgity were considered to be creative. Now if a kid cant sit still or wants to move they are rushed to the doctor and diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and put on medication to calm them down. This is ridiculous to me, I mean come on, THEY ARE KIDS! Kids are going to want to move and be active. Think about when you were a child, could you ever be still for longer than 10-15 minutes tops?! I know I couldnt and I know of many kids who still cant. Kids have not changed, they still want to be active. I believe that bringing arts back into the school will not only make it more enjoyable for the children, it will also make it easier and enjoyable for the teacher. Although, many teachers have gotten lazy with projects. They dont want to do art projects because its messy or they dont want to deal with all of their students moving around the classroom. Those teachers I think need to re-evaluate. Most teachers go into education because they care about children and their education and we all know that kids learn more when they move and be creative.

Overall, I think that arts needs to be mandatory in the school system. Children need to be able to express their creativity at school. When children start enjoying themselves at school then they will start learning and retaining more, and thats what we all want right?