Scott Kasteler

Analysis Paper # 1
Intro to Writing
Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson, British author, speaker, international advisor, and the worlds
foremost expert on Creativity spoke to a group of people at the T! "onvention in
#onterey, California in $une of %&&'( Robinson has been a )rofessor of the *rts at the
+niversity of ,arwi"k, the dire"tor of the *rts in S"hools program, and in %&&-, he was
knighted by the .ueen of ngland for his servi"e in edu"ation(
Sir Robinson uses his humorous wit and his knowledge to edu"ate those at the
"onferen"e about "reativity in s"hools( /is biggest argument is simply this0 1schools
are killing creativity( 2rowing up in this generation 3 have found that what Sir Robinson
says is true( *fter elementary s"hool, the "lasses whi"h tea"h about the arts 4musi",
drawing, pottery5et"6 are all pla"ed as 1ele"tives7 rather than key "lasses in the
"urri"ulum( Robinson goes on to explain that all human beings are born with
tremendous talents, but our education squanders that talent ruthlessly.
The definition of Creativity is the ability or power to "reate and bring into
existen"e, to invest with a new form, to produ"e through imaginative skill, to make or
bring into existen"e something new( !r( #aya *ngelou, novelist, and one of the most
influential voi"es in history said0 1you cannot use up creativity. The more you use
the more you have. 3 look ba"k at the example given about the girl who while in a
drawing "lass began to draw a pi"ture of 2od( 18o one knows what 2od looks like7 said
the tea"her( ,hat "aught my eye was the girls rea"tion of 1youll know in a few
minutes(7 Sir Robinson observes that "hildren will take any "han"e they get to be
"reative, they are not at all afraid of being wrong( /e says that if we are not prepared to
be wrong, then we "an in no way "ome up with any original ideas(
Ken Robinson said while paraphrasing world famous artist )ablo )i"asso that
1"hildren are born artists but the only problem is that as they grow up, they do not stay
artists7( 3n this so"iety we do not grow out of being "reative, but we are edu"ated out of
"reativity( The edu"ation system does not pla"e "reativity and litera"y in the same
"ategory like they should( du"ation is the same throughout all parts of the arth, it
starts with #ath and 9anguage at the top, then pla"es humanities at the bottom of the
list(
3n wat"hing his spee"h to the people, 3 have to agree with Sir Robinson(
Throughout my "hildhood 3 was always praised as being "reative, 3 would write stories
and share my imagination with others( Being in "ollege 3 have found that "reativity is no
longer a large fo"us of edu"ation( The stru"ture of edu"ation seems to fo"us more on
1the needs of industry7 as Robinson said and that people in business and medi"al
personnel have been edu"ated 1slightly to one side7 meaning that they have "ompletely
ignored the "urri"ulum whi"h "an help our "reativity(
Robinson bases intelligen"e off of three important fa"tors0 !iversity: we think
about the world a""ording to our experien"es, !ynami"s: "reativity is the result of our
intera"tions with the world and others, and !istin"tiveness: people dis"over talents in
unexpe"ted ways( /e "loses his topi" by stating that 1"reativity is a gift, and we must
use it wisely or it will disappear7(
3n support with Sir Robinson, 3 have always found "reativity to be ;ust as
important as litera"y and a"ademi"s( 3t is not the mathemati"al problems that get people
to wear a spe"ifi" line of "lothing it is the "reativity of the individuals working to make
those "lothes pleasing to the eyes of the people( 3t is not the grammar that "at"hes the
eye while reading a novel it is the story, the "hara"ters, the dialogue, all of whi"h "ome
from "reativity(