Ted talks video: Is School Killing Creativity?
In the Ted Talks video that I watched, he insinuates that children cannot express themselves in school. He says that when children are creative and have special talents, teachers and parents think that there is something wrong and they must have a learning disability. I personally believe that school does kill creativity, unless you go to a school that fosters creativity, like my high school did. Most schools are designed to teach math and science and that is it. They prepare students for the working world by teaching them what they think are core subjects. However, some students aren't interested in the normal working world, they want a different career path, one that is more interesting to them. Most teachers would call these students "lazy" or "problem children". Most people don't understand the creative side of individuals and so they look down upon it.
In Ted Talks, he also says that schools create a specific kind of person, the "University professor" type of person. I happen to disagree with this be because I believe that no matter how hard you try to change someone's outlook on education, you usually won't be able to. You can't beat the creativity out do students with ungodly amounts of school work and "critical thinking".
I happen to be a very creative person. I grew singing and I have a very musical (creative)family. As a young child, my teachers definitely tried to get me to forget about my creative side and learn the subjects that someone else who didn't even know me decided I needed to learn. My own mother even tried to make me forget how much I love music. She would tell me that music doesn't give you a career it gives you a hobby. At one point in my life, music was my whole world and I planned on pursuing music as my career. The machine that we call school worked very well on me. I, with the help of society decided that I needed a more reliable career. Now I am going into law enforcement, which I love, but I was forced to find something else that I likes that fit into the little box of appropriate careers.
I think a good solution to this problem we have of killing students creativity is to run high school slightly like college, with less freedom of course. I think that in high school, you should be able to choose a specific subject that you want to focus your classes around throughout your high school career. This way, the creative students will be able to thrive in classes built around creativity, and they would probably love school a lot more. And those students that aren't very creative could focus their high school career on traditional subjects, such as Math and English.
I define intelligence by the ability to think deeply about any given subject, whether a highly creative subject or not.
I think that this Ted Talks video and this whole subject is a great example of why standardized testing doesn't work. Standardized tests focus on testing a specific type of student. The problem with this method of testing is that everyone is not alike. Just like the video talks about, some students are creative and some aren't. This is why standardized tests work well for some students but not for others, when both kinds of students are equally smart. This would be like asking a student that is not at all musical inclined to sing a song in order to get into college. It wouldn't make sense and it wouldn't be fair.
Sorry if there are typos I was really tired.
In the Ted Talks video that I watched, he insinuates that children cannot express themselves in school. He says that when children are creative and have special talents, teachers and parents think that there is something wrong and they must have a learning disability. I personally believe that school does kill creativity, unless you go to a school that fosters creativity, like my high school did. Most schools are designed to teach math and science and that is it. They prepare students for the working world by teaching them what they think are core subjects. However, some students aren't interested in the normal working world, they want a different career path, one that is more interesting to them. Most teachers would call these students "lazy" or "problem children". Most people don't understand the creative side of individuals and so they look down upon it.
In Ted Talks, he also says that schools create a specific kind of person, the "University professor" type of person. I happen to disagree with this be because I believe that no matter how hard you try to change someone's outlook on education, you usually won't be able to. You can't beat the creativity out do students with ungodly amounts of school work and "critical thinking".
I happen to be a very creative person. I grew singing and I have a very musical (creative)family. As a young child, my teachers definitely tried to get me to forget about my creative side and learn the subjects that someone else who didn't even know me decided I needed to learn. My own mother even tried to make me forget how much I love music. She would tell me that music doesn't give you a career it gives you a hobby. At one point in my life, music was my whole world and I planned on pursuing music as my career. The machine that we call school worked very well on me. I, with the help of society decided that I needed a more reliable career. Now I am going into law enforcement, which I love, but I was forced to find something else that I likes that fit into the little box of appropriate careers.
I think a good solution to this problem we have of killing students creativity is to run high school slightly like college, with less freedom of course. I think that in high school, you should be able to choose a specific subject that you want to focus your classes around throughout your high school career. This way, the creative students will be able to thrive in classes built around creativity, and they would probably love school a lot more. And those students that aren't very creative could focus their high school career on traditional subjects, such as Math and English.
I define intelligence by the ability to think deeply about any given subject, whether a highly creative subject or not.
I think that this Ted Talks video and this whole subject is a great example of why standardized testing doesn't work. Standardized tests focus on testing a specific type of student. The problem with this method of testing is that everyone is not alike. Just like the video talks about, some students are creative and some aren't. This is why standardized tests work well for some students but not for others, when both kinds of students are equally smart. This would be like asking a student that is not at all musical inclined to sing a song in order to get into college. It wouldn't make sense and it wouldn't be fair.
Sorry if there are typos I was really tired.
Rachel, You made a great point when you said that some students are not interested in the workforce that most schools prepare us for. You see that some of them may want to pursue a different career path and that is looked down upon. Why should schools limit what the students learn if they are not interested in these "core" subjects? I also agree with you when you say that some students are creative and some are not. By issuing these standard tests, they aren't really being fair to the students in which they test their academic ability. I liked the comparison you used about making a student who is not musically inclined to to sing to gain admissions to a college.
ReplyDeleteRachel, it interest me to learn about how passionate you are about music. I grew up and my whole high school career revolved around theatre. I had three hours of classes every day, and then three and a half hours of rehearsal after school. For a while, that was all I cared about in life. I noticed how many people put me down for it. Even my parents as well. I was told by them that I would "never be able to put food on the table". I think that may have been true to some extent, because it is hard to find a job, but you should never make someone feel like they cannot do something that they love to do. I really hope you keep your love for music close to your heart and never let it go. I know I will never forget about all the great times I had being on stage, and I know that no matter what, I will always have that to fall back on. I think some students need to hear that. The have core subjects thrown in their face from such an early age, that there really is no hope for a creative spark in their minds. I think that doing away with standardized testing would be a good way to start changing this. Like you said, whether you're a good test taker or not, it in no way determines your intellectual ability.
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