Education Kills Creativity Essay Example
“If you judge a fish by its a ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” ~ Einstein
We are all born with different strengths and talents, but our education system fails to realize that. We are all thought the same way, held at the same standards as if we all think the same. Our education system does not nurture our creativity nor allow our minds to blossom. The education institution is routined, they measure success by how well you can do on a test and they are as a whole outdated.
Education is an ancient institution that has outlived its usage. Of course education has been useful in some areas but we are no longer in the 19th century. Our classrooms and schools overall have a big resemblance to Henry Ford's assembly line. We sit in straight rows nice and neat , sit still and raise our hands when we need to speak , give us a short break to eat and for 8 hours a day we are told what to think and do. We strive for an A, a letter which represents quality. Ironic enough these letter grades are often used to describe the quality of meat.
Often in these educational institutions tests are given to measure how well a student is doing in a class. These tests don’t encourage creativity, they force you to follow certain procedures so you can arrive at the correct answer. For example, standardized testing isn’t reasonable for all students. There are plenty of ways to go about doing a math problem and still end up with the right answer yet we have become accustomed to using the one way of solving a question to find the solution. With the idea that there’s only one right way to do things there’s no room for our creativity. Teachers celebrate how well we can follow directions and imitate them but don’t encourage thinking outside the box. The only thing that they encourage is good memorization skills.
For 100 years our school system has remained the same, it is so outdated and the only change that has been made is the induction of technology in classrooms. We can customize health care , Facebook, cars, phones and everything else then why is it so hard to do the same for schools? The way school is structured hasn’t changed at all, a few kinks may have been added but nothing to change to deprivation of creativity.
The only core subjects that allow creativity are ela and science but only to an extent. In ELA you’ll get assigned to write an essay but the only creative part is how you choose to start your essay and how you finish it. Although there will be some instances where a free write essay may be given but that can only help your creativity to an extent. Creativity is not something that can be forced; you can only feed what's already present. But how can you do that when you are starving it to satisfy the system. There have been claims that they are preparing us for the future but they have the same mind set from the past. Much has changed from the past to now need from creativity is ever apparent. Instead of trying to teach common core, what should be taught is the core of one’s heart to spark their creativity.
