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According to Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s article “ The Creativity Crisis,” they give insight into how Americans I.Q. goes up 10 points but generation has “falling” since the 90’s. Bronson and Merryman scrutinized the grades from Pre-K to around 6th grade to the worst. The culprit they say is that, humans assume that creativity can’t be taught, whereas in the article they blatantly put out that you can be taught, all we is just need a little more than two art or music classes a week, we need to make creativity a healthy part of the classroom.
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
His anecdotes presented in the article are appropriate in terms of his subject and claims. The author responds back to the naysayers by saying that people only look at the test scores earned in school, but not the actual talent. He says, “Our culture- in Cartesian fashion- separates the body from the mind, so that, for example we assume that the use of tool does not involve abstraction. We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and number on IQ tests. And we employ social biases pertaining to a person’s place on the occupational ladder” (279). The author says that instead of looking at people’s talent we judge them by their grades in school or their IQ score, and we also employ them based on these numbers. People learn more each time they perform a task. He talks about blue collared individuals developing multi-tasking and creativity skills as they perform the task they are asked to
All students, and children especially, have tremendous talents, which are forgotten when their minds walk through the school door. Their forever developing talents and favorite interests are left for an uncreative school environment. I, for one, have always been taught and believed in an education, or following the guidelines of another, was essential in achieving wealth and success later in life. However, after listening to Robinson’s argumentative speech, I realize creativity and a valued education coincide with each other. To justify myself, creativity and thinking outside the box has led to many of the world’s advancements. Therefore, when teaching future leaders, and future generations of employees and employers, teaching creativity in a forever rapidly changing and unpredictable world would have benefits. At last, I believe that the educational system puts too much emphasis on a substantial, everyday American future over one’s happiness in a later life. Every human being is already born a unique artist, never made into one; constantly growing into a more talented
In this notable Ted Talk video "Do schools kill creativity?", Sir Ken Robinson discusses how public education systems demolish creativity because they believe it is essential to the academic growth and success of students. Robinson created a broad arrange of arguments to persuade the viewers to take action on this highly ignored issue, and he primarily focuses on how important creativity is. There are classes within schools that help utilize creativity, but they are not taken seriously by adults in society. Therefore, the value of creative knowledge decreases. Robinson uses an unusual combination of pathos and ethos to make an enjoyable dispute for implementing an education system that nurtures rather than eats away at creativity.
As a student of Creative Media Practice, I have come to appreciate the concept of practice as research, people set about research for a diversity of reasons, but the major goals for academics is to address a problem, find things out or establish new heights. According to Robin Nelson in his book, Practice as Research in the Arts: “The term ‘Arts Practice as Research’ would probably not have been coined had artists not gotten involved with modern higher education systems in respect to programmes of learning” (2013: 3). Creative writing has been a source of exploration for me but during this project, I struggled with what constituted as knowledge in creative writing research. Nelson also writes: “Artists engaging in inquiry
In their article, “The Creativity Crisis”, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explore the urgency of the downfall in the public’s “creativity quotient.” Bronson and Merryman emphasize the necessity for young children to be imaginative. Through an IBM poll, they verify that with the decrease of creativity in our society comes an array of consequences seen in the work field. The authors remind readers of another reason for the importance of creativity; they argue that creative ideas can solve national matters. Hence, Branson and Merryman believe that original ideas are key for a better world. Though I concede that creativity is a vital key to the solution of many national problems, I still insist that teaching creativity,
This shows how much society has changed since the 1900’s. Modern-day children are worse in almost every aspect of creative thinking when compared to previous generations. Society is hurting children’s imagination by not being supportive of outside time and social connections. With modern electronic devices, kids seldomly need to leave the house in order to be entertained. The lack of play time and social interactions severely hamper the development of children’s creativity. In summary, society is developing into something that lacks encouragement of creativity, and that is a major
In Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk video, he had many major points that relate to the definition and importance of creativity. A major point how creativity is as important in education as literacy. According to Sir Ken Robinson, “we should treat it with the same status. He explains is that education is used to prepare use for the future, but the future is unpredictable.”.
This goes hand by hand with many of the concepts of Pinar's currere method. Darling-Hammond and Friedlaender state that “By knowing students well, teachers are more able to tailor instruction to students’ strengths, need, experiences, and interest.” As teachers and as academics, it is our responsibility to work towards an improved curriculum and school system together with our colleagues and administrations. As Pinar (1994) writes, “we cannot expect to meaningfully participate in the transformation of the nation and its educational institutions if we fail to authentically participate in the constitution and transformation of ourselves and our work” (p. 74). Ken Robinson gives us a whole view of how creativity plays an important role in schools and in life. In my opinion, we do not learn creativity in a traditional educational classroom. Creativity is more about experiences than it is about knowledge. Even knowledge is still very important, being creative goes beyond the limits because is based in life experiences, culture, needs, and identity as Pinar states in his currere
Schools are limiting students and sending the message that if you are not particularly good at “school” then you are not smart, schools do not allow students to express creativity through arts because standardized tests just simply do not allow it. When students are applying for colleges millions of students are turned away because they do not have the best SAT or ACT scores and are seen as unintelligent. In order of fix this we need to see the bigger picture, we need to realized that students have so much more to offer than what is shown on the SAT or the ACT and we need to start to think about what really matters after school is over and we are on our own in the real world. Imagine this being your child, would you want them being evaluated just on how well they can read a story or solve a math problem when you know they have so much more to offer, I know I wouldn’t, do
We learn to follow the steps, use the formula, and get the right answer, but because of these classes, we forget about the arts. If the arts are forgotten, then the student’s way of expressing what they feel is taken away. Which brings more pressure to students in classes like math, physics, geography, etc. That is why schools should make arts classes mandatory because arts classes help students build their artistic and creative skills, make them better learners, and encourages them to find other ways of expressing their thoughts. The chair of the UK Government had a test made to see the ability to think in “divergent or non-linear ways” between the ages 3- 25.
After reading the article, I found several points that I did agree with. One problem they talked about was our school systems and how they are cutting out time for kids to be creative while in school. To me it seems our school systems have lost their ways and are more focused on teaching us the core curriculum. We need to have time to allow our kids to express themselves in art class, extracurricular activities, and to just be children. I would agree with them that art needs to be placed in homeroom, so kids can express their ideas every day of the week and not just on days they have art class. We need to limit the amount of technology students can use as well, because I think this is a big factor in why our younger generations have lost how to be creative. We are relying on the internet way too much and should encourage kids to go back to the old way of doing research, by using the library and their
There are many people who believe and consider that creativity is affected by culture, the way that ideas, how concepts are introduced, and developed into a reality. In today’s market, creativity is linked to innovation, which is an appreciated and sought after skill to have in todays changing world. I agree with this statement and declaration with four reasons. The first reason is if we did not let people think of ways to be improve items, then we would not be currently in a place in society with the advancement of technology and new ideas that come out everyday from the people of the world. Secondly, the believed notion that “More Energy is equaled to Better Moods”, which is appropriately true about how creativity is affected by culture. Another reason why creativity is affected by culture is allowing the possibilities and opportunities created by creative minds of our culture. The final reason why creativity is affected by culture is one learns persistence and dedication from the journey they take to be unique and creative; while they create and find new answers that they never knew before using creativity to
Since we are born we have imagination and as we grow up this imagination may increase or decrease. Creativity strongly relies in our imagination. Depending on different circumstances people learn to express their creativity openly while other people close themselves and believe they do not have creativity. Creativity is a natural talent that every single human has. Creativity can be used to solve a complex problem in a different manner or just to find innovative ways to have fun. Creativity is thinking out of the box. Even though creativity cannot be taught from scratch there should be a class that is specific for creativity.
TED Talks (Producer). (2006, February). Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html