Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Creativity Crisis in American Public Schools....
There is a concerted effort on the part of U.S. public schools to emphasize preparation for high stakes testing in reading and mathematics. Teachers, administrators and even schools can get the axe if their test scores are not high enough after a few years or so. So what does that mean? More standardized curriculum, rote memorization and nationalized testing. Children are left out of the decision making processes central to the educational activities they engage in. This is where creativity takes a hit. Because without autonomy, creative learning experiences are snuffed out. Should policy makers be concerned about this? Apparently not.
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ReplyDeleteThe way schools work now tends to foster a rather narrow range of strengths. Creativity itself is hard to measure, which makes it unlike other skills, but equally important. Unfortunately our contemporary model of schooling focuses on getting good results from tests, which cannot gauge creative thought. However, it's been shown that instructing students to use creative thought keeps them engaged better than other methods, as explained in this article (http://empiricalmag.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-excerpt-paradigm-lost-by.html).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments Dan! I will be sure to read your linked content! Your comment adds fuel to the fire that the arts are essential in our schools and should be a central part of the school curricula. Thanks so much!
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