Do Schools Kill Creativity?

[villager]

Run time: 20:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY   Posted on YouTube: January 07, 2007 By YouTube Member: TEDtalksDirector Views on YouTube: 1193585   Posted on DU: March 31, 2010 By DU Member: villager Views on DU: 483

 
Was doing an author visit at a school today, and the subject of this video came out...

...while talking about what our students today are "allowed" to do (and think) -- or not...

[ZeitgeistObserver]

1. I saw this a couple of days ago, and thought

it was really good.He's also very funny.
I was especially struck by the idea that those starting school today will retire in 2065, and since we don't know what life will be like even 5 years from now, we have no idea what to teach them.
So creativity seems like a good idea.

[villager]

2. Welcome to DU's Zeitgeist, Observer!

;-)

[ZeitgeistObserver]

3. Thank you!

I've been a lurker for a long time, but finally decided to speak up. I really enjoyed this TedTalk.

[EFerrari]

10. Welcome to DU, ZeitgeistObserver.

Does everybody know this gent except for me? I want to steal him.

Seriously. He made me think that dance is a great way to teach math because you have to count, add and subtract and multiply and attend to detail.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

11. Thank you!

I've never heard of him before either, but I really enjoy TedTalks for just that reason. A lot of intelligent people out there I've never heard of and they're an inspiration in an otherwise dreary landscape.

Music and math have a connection, so dance would probably be a great way to teach it.

[EFerrari]

4. What a great speaker.

What is an "author visit"?

[villager]

5. I write books for young folks. A tradition in schools has been to invite said authors

...to come visit, give talks, etc.

Fellow authors & I were talking about how not only budget-constrained schools are now, viz. such visits now (not only writers, but illustrators as well), but how, increasingly, administrators are increasingly terrified to vary from "set" schedules to allow various visitors/speakers to come and "disrupt" the day with whatever their real-world experiences might be...

[EFerrari]

6. That's so saddening.

I think being in public schools as they are forced to run now would have finished me off as a kid. :(

[villager]

7. Yeah. Once I offered a "pro bono" visit to an economically challenged school...

...for a teacher friend of mine. The principal wouldn't allow their English students to meet a working author because it might have disrupted the curriculum schedule... (for the packaged curriculum they'd bought).

Said teacher friend since left that school to go teach in another state.

I don't know if I would've made it in public schools -- where I did a lot of my "first writing" -- today or not, either...

[EFerrari]

9. I went through a great system probably at the time it was most supportive

and I needed every bit of it because my single mom was never home and English wasn't even spoken at home at the time. Going to school was like going to Disneyland every day for me. Simply having access to a library was overwhelming. I used to walk the stacks just taking in the fact of all those books. The geekiness was strong in that one. lol

[ClassWarrior]

8. A classic.

Thanks for sharing.

:fistbump:

NGU.