Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity [Review]

Ken Robinson’s talk about creativity was also very interesting. I am not sure that I agree with him that “creativity now is as important in education as literacy,” but I do think that creativity is important and that we need to give children the opportunity to be creative in school. Creativity is what makes people unique. A lot of times, however, we take away what makes people individuals.

Robinson told a story about a little girl who was thought to have a learning disorder because she was fidgety and could not concentrate. She went to see a specialist who realized there was nothing wrong with this little girl; she was just a dancer. Her mother listened to the specialist and sent her to dance school and she ended up becoming very successful. But as Robinson points out, if she had been in school today she probably would have been diagnosed with ADHD and maybe instead of someone realizing her talent and sending her to dance school, maybe she would have been put on medication instead. A lot of children these days are being diagnosed with learning disorders and placed on medications. Instead of accepting them for who they are, we take their personality away from them.

It is important that as teachers we see children for who they really are. We have to accept that there are multiple learning styles. Not everyone learns by listening and reading. Some people need to move. Some people need to dance. Teachers need to learn who their students are, accept them for who they are, and try to adapt lessons to fit their individual needs.

Unfortunately, this is not easy. Teachers have preferred learning and teaching styles. It is difficult to learn other ways of teaching. It is time consuming to plan lessons that are differentiated for every student. Maybe it is not something that could be implemented into everyday lessons, but even once in awhile adapting for those students is valuable. Most importantly, it is important that we as teachers value children no matter who they are, no matter what their strengths or weaknesses are. Our job is to help all students learn and be successful. But it is important to remember that students can be successful in different ways. We should not expect all students to be the same.