In his lecture, Sir Ken Robinson posed a very bold question: "Do schools kill creativity?" In today's society, the goal is for mistakes to be completely eliminated. However, mistakes can play extremely important roles in anything from discoveries to learning. But today, nobody wants to try and do something new or out of the ordinary if they could be wrong. Without trying new things, creativity is hindered. Robinson defined creativity as "having original ideas that have value". He argues that creativity should be considered just as important as literacy.
The hierarchy of every public education system in the world seems to be the same: Math/Science at the top followed by language, then humanities, and finally the arts. Robinson believes there is a specific reason for this. There were no public systems of education before the 19th Century. Robinson argues that public systems of education were created to meet the needs of industrialism. Thus, the hierarchy is weighted more heavily toward subjects that apply most directly to work in an industrialized nation. This hierarchy created an attitude to the effect of, "Don't take music; you'll never be a musician," or "Don't take art; you'll never be an artist," etc. Some students may have been exceptionally good at something on the bottom of the hierarchy that is intentionally or unintentionally looked down upon by teachers and other adults. This may have caused those students to stop doing whatever it was that they excelled at, restricting their creativity. Looking at all of this, I believe that it is important for everyone to experiment with different things and find their niche in life. Whatever that niche may be, it is important, and people should not be discouraged from it.
To view Sir Ken Robinson's lecture, click on the link below.
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