"How Schools Kill Creativity"

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html - Inspiration for this post came from this TED talk. It would be helpful to watch it to get the background ideas that Robinson talks about.

At first class this title seemed the opposite of what I thought schools were supposed to do. I thought schools were meant to improve our minds, which in fact they do, but I had never though of school as crushing my creativity. As Ken Robinson began to talk I was able to really relate to the examples that he was giving. I have been taught under strict guidelines how things should be completed. He thinks that children are innately creative because they are not afraid of being wrong. Because the worst thing you can do in school is be wrong we are grown and taught out of being creative in order to not be wrong.  Public school really started in the 19th century around the time of the industrial revolution in order to cater to new job needs. Schools told kids that certain subjects were not as important because they would not be able to get a job in that subject. There is a hierarchy among the subjects. "Kids are not taught dance as much as they are taught mathematics." Robinson emphasizes the importance of being creative and the fact that everyone cannot be assessed based on the same standards. His talk reminded me of a quote from Albert Einstein "Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it's stupid." I feel like this has really been emphasized since I have been at UNC. What do you think about the fact the schools seem to educated us to eventually focus on one side of our brain? What is the value of other subjects if you are not able to get a job with them? Even if you are a great artist you may be a starving one and no one wants to live like that. Though an interesting example he gave of Gillian Lynne who in todays time would have likely been given ADHD medication and told to sit down and be quiet. She would have probably never created the world famous musical choreography of Cats. What could be changed about schools as not to suppress the natural creativity of children?