Schools Kill (11a)

The readings for this week really made me question how I ask questions and how I think. I'm so used to using the same old high school tricks of passing tests and quizzes. Just skim through the reading, jot down a few notes, and I'm done. But that’s why I don’t understand the readings. Because I'm not focusing in on what is on the page. That’s why I'm going to start asking questions as I read. Some questions we as a group came up with were: Would you rather hire a hard worker, or a critical thinker and why? Are schools at fault for killing creativity or are there other factors at fault? Is motivation necessary to complete certain task, why or why not? How can we learn to accept inspiration that is always around us?

So are schools at fault for killing creativity? In my opinion, yes. Schools don't allow for our minds to grow in different ways. Schools like labels. And labels are what kill creativity. In our last Ted talk, Ken Robinson talked about a girl who became a famous dancer. Early in her life, she was labeled as a child who couldn’t focus. He said that most doctors and schools would have labeled her as unfocused. Which would have led to her being put on medication. Instead, they allowed her to be who she was, and that led to her becoming a famous dancer. Schools create a certain stereotype child. Any kid who can't focus is either a bad kid or a kid with A.D.D. If schools would allow for us to be freer, we would have a lot more "famous dancers". We would have more people working in the arts fields instead of other less creative jobs. I think schools are at fault for killing creativity because they tend to push certain ideas and crush others.