The Death of Creativity

            I actually began watching Ken Robinson’s 2^nd video but within the first minute he referenced his previous talk with TED, so I decided I should probably begin with that video.  So I settled in front of my computer and began watching as Ken Robinson began to tell me how schools were responsible for the death of creativity in the minds of the students.  Right off the bat he had my attention. He did not claim to know everything about everything, but rather he told the audience that he did not know everything and no one knows what is going to happen in the future so how are going to prepare our students for the future. The educational system is so worried about preparing its students for the future and the world after school that they never really take the time to allow students to sit back and enjoy life now; they are too focused on what is going to happen when they grow up.  The future is not now and we need to educate children for now.            

            Robinson then spoke about the talents that are found in students and how those talents are all too often not harnessed but are considered to be a hinder to the educational system.  He asks why we do not teach dance in the same way we teach math and it is because society does not place as high a value on the arts and dancing as they do on Math and literacy.  Being creative will not prepare you for the real world, this is the message that is being subliminally relayed to the youth of the world through the under emphasis on creativity in schools.  Robinson states that we grow/get educated out of being creative and that is a shame because there are so many talented students who are lost because of the lack of focus towards creativity in the classroom. Personally, I do not have an artistic bone in my body, I lack all rhythm and I can’t sing to save my life; but I truly believe that if during my elementary school years if I had the opportunity to work on my creativity and have in encouraged I might be more willing to get up and dance in front of a group or paint a picture that is displayed for the community to see. I never had the chance in my elementary school because we did not have an arts program until I was in the 6^th grade and so I’ll never know how creative I could actually be.  Near the end of the speech Robinson said something that I really think sums up the way we should educate he said “our task is to educate their (the students) whole being, so they can face this future.” We need to prepare them for the unknown but we must also teach them in all areas of life, not just in literacy and mathematics.