"Creativity cannot be taught - but it can be killed."

This quote comes from a passage in an article titled "Are We Fixing the Wrong Things"by Dr. Yong Zhao.

We have heard all the arguments before about what our over reliance on standardized testing is doing to American classrooms, but I felt Dr. Zhao nailed it pretty succinctly in this one.

Creativity cannot be taught, but it can be killed. What fosters creativity in the United States is the whole multifaceted experience of growing up:  the soccer games, the orchestra performances, the opportunities to pick  and choose courses, even the much criticized mile-wide—inch-deep curriculum standards, which give students the flexibility to pursue topics that interest them and to progress differently than other students in the same school, district, or state. The current or proposed reform initiatives—centralized curriculum, standardized testing, accountability, required course of study—could kill creativity, the United States' real competitive edge.

Most reformers think the average teacher is against testing because they are afraid of accountability, but after working with thousands of teachers in recent years in workshops and classrooms, I think our teachers and administrators aren't so afraid of accountability today.  If they are still afraid of accountability then they are hiding it better. What I hear from those in the trenches today is that we are killing the goose that laid the golden egg.  Could it be that the broad curriculum that has been savaged by many as "a mile wide and an inch deep" is actually a strength not a weakness?

Despite warnings from people like Daniel Pink in "A Whole New Mind,"too many classrooms have abandoned all pretense to a broad curriculum and pretty much consume the bulk of the day with Math and Language Arts instruction.

What an interesting time to be an educator!  Nailing down what American's want is like putting your thumb on a peeled grape!

Comments

[Greg Carroll]

Mark,
So do we educational leaders simply respond to what Joe Public wants or is it our responsibility to do what is educationally sound and best practice? I am firmly in the second camp.
In New Zealand at the moment we are nearing the end of our academic year and are making class placement decisions for 2009. The decisions we make for class placements are based on our informed professional judgment, and are certainly not a popularity contest. There are any number of other examples I could quote as well.
We also are currently facing the introduction of National Testing for the primary (elementary) grades for the first time. Interesting times indeed .... :-)
cheers
Greg