Importance of Creativity reaction

After watching Sir Ken Robinson's talk on creativity, I must agree with everything he said. In my opinion, he hit the nail on the head when he was talking about the education system of today suppressing the creativity of the students. He made a comment about children being afraid of being wrong because that is the worst case scenario in the classroom. I never thought about how much emphasis educators place on getting everything right. There is no room for mistakes, and certainly no room for getting creative and finding other ways of doing things, when students are only at school in order to train to become a part of the future work force. Also, he talked about how arts are at the bottom of the list of priorities in schools, and he is right. In my high school, we didn't have theatre, art class, or dance class even as an extracurricular activity. However, there were some people that I am sure would have flourished in the arts, had they been given the chance. In such schools as mine, students are being stripped of the possibility of becoming an artist, a dancer, an actor, etc. I think that when students are not allowed to tap into their creativity in school, they could become uninterested in education altogether. Also, they become distracted and create distractions, just like in the the Gillian Lynne story he told.

I think that schools should stop assuming that the core subjects like Math, English, Science, and Social Studies are so much more important than the arts that we can forget about the arts altogether. Some students thrive in the arts even more than in other subjects, and I think they should be given the opportunity to study theatre, dance, art, music, and other arts classes. Just as there are future scientists or mathematicians in a classroom, there are future actors or dancers as well. Why should students not be allowed to get creative, when that may be their best means of thinking? I agree with the speaker that by suppressing the creativity of the youth, we are hurting our future. I also agree that the education system needs to reform its priorities and place less importance on only supplying students with skills that they need for their future jobs and place more importance on a truly well rounded education.