Creativity missing in our education | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Creativity missing in our education

29 September, 2019

Today we live in a world of marks and examinations, social status and financial stability. It’s a reminder of the pathetic condition of our education system which is based on conventional prescription with transfer of information and competition for marks rather than on critical thinking and creativity of the learner.

There is a ‘sense of hollowness’, which a lot of young people today find in their school and university lives. They find that the learning game is essentially marks-based and success depends on the highest marks achieved. It is a game played to eliminate a lot of contestants from the race. Thus, students do not understand the true purpose of education. What they have understood is that learning and mastering the curriculum is the key goal of the education system.

Wrong methodology

Years continue to pass, some students graduate, some fail, some drop out and nothing really changes. Our education system has become a dictator unwilling to step down. The students memorize, sit the exam and thereafter, forget everything, only to know 10 years later what an atrocious world they have been living in.

Hence, our methodologies in schools are demolishing creativity. Students have lost their capacity for creativity because our teaching methods don’t stimulate innovation and creativity.

When we were children no one told us how to use our imagination or how to be creative. We played with Lego, pretended we were astronauts travelling in space. Being naturally creative, we asked questions like “Why is the grass green?” and “Are we alone?”

Then came school, a child’s worst nightmare. We learned to live in a controlled environment. The teacher told us to stop dreaming and live in reality. So, what did we learn at school? We learned to stop questioning the world, to go with the flow. The ‘whys’ you have always wanted to ask never appeared on the tests, and were not in the curricula.

Creativity isn’t a test to take or a skill to learn, or a program to develop. Creativity is seeing things in new ways, breaking barriers that stood in our way. Creativity is the art of hearing a song that has never been written or seeing a work of art on empty canvas. Its essence is in its freshness and the ability to make dreams come to life.

Imagine this: a normal classroom with cheerful faces. Students’ excitement to start school ignites the classroom. The teacher asks the students to draw a tree. Some students were talented, others were average, and some couldn’t give a visual figure of a tree. The teacher rates the students’ work where some get an A+, some a D and others get a big F.

Students who got As believe they’re highly talented and artistic, and those who got an F start to think they are losers and their work is rubbish. From this ‘draw a tree’ assignment, creativity starts to linger in the air and then, fades away. This is why many adults say, “I can’t draw!”

In school, children are ‘taught’ to draw shapes like a ‘perfect’ triangle. Everything is ‘properly’ drawn. Whenever a child attempts to colour something, the teacher screams: “Do NOT colour outside the lines!”

The 21st century world demands students who can think creatively and critically. As technology develops, we will have robots to do the basic work for us. However, it is our mission to ensure that the next generation will be full of inventors, musicians, painters and mathematicians, who will bring humanity to another level.

Creativity

Today, instead of growing into creativity in school, we grow out of it. During this process, the system has planted in the students’ minds a picture of a perfectly, carefully drawn life. Our teaching techniques are taking the beauty out of learning. Diminishing creativity from the student’s mind is a serious problem with wide-reaching effects.

The cycle of sitting still, memorizing, testing and getting a job have existed for a long time now and few dared to challenge it. However, those who dared to challenge the status quo like Albert Einstein, the Wright brothers, and Walt Disney have changed the course of history.

How do we expect students to be creative if teachers give them the outline, the title, and the structure of their ‘creative writing assignment’? We give students model answers to memorize, a specific title to write a poem about, and everything but the freedom to express their ideas.

Youth have fresh ideas. While teachers complain that students are spending an awful lot of time on social networking, they forget to mention that it’s the only way the students can have their voice heard.

Education isn’t about facts being stored in our minds. Education is the beauty to nurture creativity, to fuel curiosity and create a well-rounded person.

Sri Lanka is battling its way to the top and promising that no child would be left behind. But we forget the purpose of education.

Schools become factories where children come out as pale as ghosts with everything being structured ‘perfectly’ and ‘properly’ in their minds. Somewhere in the pursuit of meaningless certificates, diplomas and graduations, we have lost the true meaning of learning.

During our insane worship to win the race, our mad love to become number one, we forget that our schools are raising children that are racing nowhere.

Shift

There is need for a basic shift from the current form of education where students are ‘passive recipients’ to more participatory ways.

It is important that the education system recognise the student as a ‘resource’ and not just a ‘recipient’ of information so that we do not invalidate the process of creativity.

Comments