Do Schools Kill Creativity?

06/17/2021

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.
Mary Lou Cook

An amazing TedTalk by the late Sir Ken Robinson, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" was presented in 2006 and has stood the test of time. It is now one of the most watched videos in TedTalk history. We encourage you to take a look.

In the book, From Teaching to Thinking and the forewords to the accompanying books in the Reimagining Our Work (ROW) collection, Ann Pelo and Margie Carter urge educators to find ways to enhance creativity, not suppress it. Here’s some of their powerful writing: “At the heart of education are two questions: What kind of people do we want to be? What kind of world do we want to live in?...

What answers might we deduce from the current pressures to inscribe early childhood programs with standardized, scripted curriculum that emphasizes literacy and numeracy at the cost of vigorous play and rigorous exploration?... This understanding of education arises from particular answers…What kind of world do we want to live in? A society in which success is measured through competition and achievement is calculated in the currency of the marketplace…

Something in us recoils from those answers.”

And in the book, Cultivating Curriculum in Early Childhood Organizations, Elizabeth Beavers and Donna Kirkwood, write about the importance of educators reflecting on the real meaning of education: “Through self-reflection, teachers become aware of how they can truly make an impact in the quality of interactions and meaningful experiences they provide children.”

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