Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Listening to Ken Robinson in class was such an enlightening experience. The way he spoke about creativity in the educational system was refreshing. I feel that it would be beneficial for teachers and schools to adopt Ken's attitude about creativity and how it should be embraced rather than pushed aside and labeled 'wrong'. I think that we should not suppress children's preferred outlets, but try our best to put children in situations where they do their best learning as much as we can.   

While listening to Ken it was interesting to realize how people react so strongly when education is brought up in a conversation. For all of the good memories that people have about their time in school, it is often the unpleasant memories that stand out. This was also evident in our class discussion. To be spoken down to or to be made to feel like it is your fault for not learning course material is very belittling and would definitely have an impact on your views on a certain teacher, subject, and your own abilities.

I also found it interesting how it was pointed out that we teach children in hopes that they will thrive in the future when we really have no idea what that future will look like...making education more like a guessing game than anything else.
                                           
Although I was aware of this since the beginning of my own educational experience, it was unsettling to hear it directly stated that mistakes are discouraged in schools. Since making mistakes shows original thought and is a way of producing new ideas, it is odd to hear it being argued against. It seems as if school systems had one desired outcome for students and that uniqueness has been crushed. As Ken said, students are being "educated out of creativity".
                                             

It was troubling to realize how medication is now often used to deal with hyperactivity that may be a overshadowing a talent that a child possesses. The famous Gillian Lynne would probably not have been able to explore all of her talents if she just so happened to see another doctor who was more likely to prescribe medication. It is saddening to know that some other children are not so lucky as to escape that route.

Not all people learn by the way of traditional mathematics, and teachers need to try to incorporate different learning techniques into the math classroom. Also, it is important for them not to expect every student to be a mathematician, but to encourage them to work to the best of their capabilities.