During a “career day” some time ago, a fellow artist and I were invited to talk to school children about being an artist for a living (I thought this a pretty bold move by the school). During our presentations, we asked the students of their interest in various arts: music, dance, visual, writing. As the ages went up, we saw the enthusiasm go down, and I reflected on my own trajectory growing up. An experience in third grade might have damaged my pursuit of an art career had it not been for a fourth grade teacher who convinced my folks to put me in art classes outside the school curriculum. In visual art anyway, I avoided life-damaging education.
So when I saw this TED talk by Ken Robinson, I found myself nodding in agreement, and very moved when he described the discovery of a young girl becoming a dancer. The fact is schools really can kill creativity and we need to find a way for it to continue to flourish in young people, or we will be screwed as a species.
In the talk, Ken Robinson says, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Please visit the TED talk by Ken Robinson.
3 Comments
Both Fortunately or unfortunately I have long been on the margins in school and work. It allowed space to be creative whether in visual arts, social activism, science, or human services. Eccentric or oddball or some other kind of categorization serves well to evade the punishments of institutions. One is often in the company of some very damaged people also on the margins. Our culture of money excuses all behaviors including the creative but most artists don’t have that kind of cover. It is no wonder the class topic was about “making a living” as an artist. This is the question I get most often when people come up to see what I’m painting when working outdoors. They rarely ask how I’m seeing this, why I veer into the borderlands between realism and abstraction. Do they wonder what is a mistake and what is a true paint stroke in the way I work? Those who ask real questions are usually under 10 years old. In one such instance a father and daughter came up to me as I was painting on the Rogue River. The father prizes photo-realism and pulled a near-disgust face as he made critical remarks. At some point I offered up the goal of painting as keeping it alive. When he walked away, his little daughter said “This is really GOOD!” with accompanying energized smile. Good or not, she felt probably felt the lively brush strokes, the play of color and form. She heard and saw the “alive” part of it. Most interesting was that she chose to not agree with Dad. And I wonder how long before she gets shut down in life. I pray it doesn’t happen. Authentic artists know the art process itself is what is important and in creative moments there really is truth and beauty, intelligence and compassion. Along with biodiversity loss, we have human creative diversity loss. Since when did creativity become so dangerous we had to throw everything we could into shutting it down before reaching adulthood? We need to restore our schools to truth and beauty as we change our heavy footprint on the planet. The arrogance of human dominance is killing everything including our own true creative natures.
I agree on your statement about school killing creativity, Bruce. Fortunately my sons have access to art at home and studio, but they are bored with AMS and AHS art classes. It’s not only about the art classes, but also creativity in learning altogether. For instance, my younger son has always loved math. He got the highest score in the school last year on the state exams, but he hates his math class and doesn’t enjoy it. He dreads going to the class. It would seem there could be a more creative way to present information to children that doesn’t cause them to lose their passion. I am sad that he doesn’t enjoy the learning process in the context information is presented to him at school. In his art classes, his teachers have told him that abstract art is not real art, and that he should make a proper two point perspective drawing that looks correct and like everyone else’s. It feels so daunting to take on a system such as public schools. I do wish children could be taught in a manner that preserves their creativity and joy.
It’s really hard to hear about teachers that contribute in such a direct way to the suppression of a child’s creativity. Fortunately for your children, they may have a chance if you offer them the safety of complete freedom without judgment of what they are doing. I was extremely moved watching the acceptance speech by Michael Giacchino who won Best Original Score. He told the kids watching “If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It’s not a waste of time to be creative.” Watch it here:
NOTE: click on blue “play” triangle, not the image.