“Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”
– Pablo Picasso
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, voters are being bombarded with messages from both sides of the aisle reminding us of how exceptional our country is: A land of the free! A home of the brave! The greatest nation on Earth!
And to a large extent, those messages are true. The U.S. is a pretty exceptional place. Just not in the traditional ways that come to mind. After all, we’re no longer the healthiest (that would be Iceland) or the wealthiest (Qatar) of the world’s nations and we’re downright middling when our kids’ test scores are compared to those of other countries in the developed world, despite our current obsession with standardized testing.
But you know what we’ve always been good at, really good at? Creativity. Innovation. Ingenuity.
Americans receive more patents than citizens of any other country and our scientists lead the world in research. Since World War II, we have dominated the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, and economics. (If you’re looking for a tangible piece of “American ingenuity,” look no further than the Curiosity rover currently rambling over Mars.) And our universities continue to attract scholars from all of the world in record numbers.
But, according to a recent post at Psychology Today, American creativity is in decline among schoolchildren. New research from College of William and Mary education professor Kyung Hee Kim shows that the scores of American K12 students on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking have been in constant decline over the past two to three decades. According to Kim, the study shows that “children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle.” Especially upsetting was Kim’s finding that the biggest decline in aspects of creativity was in “Creative Elaboration,” which measures a child’s ability to expand on a given idea in a unique way.
Peter Gray, Boston College psychology research professor and the author of the blog post, suggests that the Torrance Tests, in which “people are presented with various kinds of stimuli and are asked to do something with them that is interesting and novel—that is, creative,” may be “the best predictor of lifetime achievement that has yet been invented,” more accurate than IQ tests, high school grades, and peer predictions. Gray agrees with Kim that the precipitous decline on these tests by American school kids represents nothing short of a “creativity crisis.”
On what does Gray blame this precipitous decline in our kids’ creativity? Well, us. And schools. And the society we have created together. (Sound familiar? I think Madeline Levine was onto something.) Gray writes:
Well, surprise, surprise. For several decades we as a society have been suppressing children’s freedom to ever-greater extents, and now we find that their creativity is declining.
Creativity is nurtured by freedom and stifled by the continuous monitoring, evaluation, adult-direction, and pressure to conform that restrict children’s lives today. In the real world few questions have one right answer, few problems have one right solution; that’s why creativity is crucial to success in the real world. But more and more we are subjecting children to an educational system that assumes one right answer to every question and one correct solution to every problem, a system that punishes children (and their teachers too) for daring to try different routes. We are also…increasingly depriving children of free time outside of school to play, explore, be bored, overcome boredom, fail, overcome failure—that is, to do all that they must do in order to develop their full creative potential.
I don’t have to look much farther than my local schools to see the evidence of this trend and how it might begin once kids enter full-time school. My boys are both in preschool. Their few classroom hours each week are spent listening to and talking about books, playing in open-ended centers, and running around outside. Compare that to their little friends who are in elementary school. According to one mom I know, her daughter’s kindergarten class only has recess once a week. Another complained that her son’s homework, which consists of repetitive exercises in a test prep workbook, takes up much of his waking hours after the school day.
If we continue to condone a school culture that prioritizes rote memorization and teaching to the test over curiosity and genuine understanding, do we really expect to remain a center of global creativity? Do we truly believe that our current system is going to nurture the minds of the girl who could one day figure out how to reverse global warming and the boy who might grow up to figure out a cure for cancer?
To paraphrase Picasso, our kids are born with all the creativity they need. It’s our job – perhaps more than ever – to make sure they get a chance to keep it.
Do you feel like your child’s school does a good job of fostering creativity? What do you do at home to help keep your kid’s eyes wide?
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a tricky issue. With the rise of the well-intended but poorly designed No Child Left Behind Act, important things like recess, art, and other subjects have gradually lost their place in schools. It worries me.
This is the risk we take of having public schools. Their direction is determined by the government. Don’t get me wrong, I think that public schools are necessary to educate the nation, but it does leave us in a tricky spot when we disagree with policies.
In my city, the public schools are notoriously inept. Most parents who have some means will send their kids to private schools in which more latitude is given regarding requirements of how and what they teach and how long kids should be in schools. While this isn’t the best option, as it increases the unfortunate divide between the classes, it is a plausible option for parents – in my city – that are worried. I wonder if creators public policy should look at several exemplar private schools for a much better direction. I also think, though, the problem is more nuanced for one policy to fix. The class divide is a major problem when it comes to disparity in education. The NCLB tried to fix that with rigid standards and more tests. This won’t help kids who live in poverty. They lack help in other areas and increasing their tests while also decreasing art, music, recess, etc will not improve their interest in schools.
This is a complicated area, made more complicated by misunderstanding of where the problem really lies – in my opinion.
I know this is an area in which you’re both passionate and knowledgeable, Amber, and I appreciate your thoughts.
As a student, I never went to public school. I went to a Catholic school for K-8, an independent school for high school, and a private college. So, except for the two years I spent teaching at a very problematic public elementary school, I don’t have much experience with public school education other than what I read and learn about through friends. But Madeline Levine’s book and essays like this one in Psychology Today make me very worried about what my kids will find once they start public school. In our area, for better or worse, it’s really the only option.
Very informative post on a topic that is often overlooked in our education system and our homes.
As a former teacher, I know the restraints that are placed on many educators by the pressure of “the test.”I know that teachers and schools need to be held accountable, but the creative energy of a country’s youth is too big of price to pay for accountability. And, I also would add, that our collective mental health and happiness is at risk if we sacrifice creativity. For many people, including myself, creative activities are the way we stay sane; and I am not just talking about art or writing or music. A math problem or a science experiment can be approached with creative problem solving, as well.
Fortunately, we live in a school district that places a strong value on the arts, and my children reap the benefits of that. But this district also is very academically competitive, which translates to tons of homework and a lot of academic pressure, leaving little time for creative pursuits outside of the classroom. My high school daughter actually had to give up lunch this year so that she could squeeze in her art electives among her core classes. She packs a lunch and eats during her art studio class. She says she would rather go without a lunch break, than go without an art class everyday. See what I mean? Sanity requirement, even for a sixteen year old!
Wow, Shannon, thanks for sharing this anecdote from the front lines. On the one hand, it’s heartening that the highest performing schools still value the arts and creative approaches to problem solving; on the other hand, it seems like a raw deal that an artistically inclined student would have to trade lunch for a chance to pursue her interests.
Where’s the balance, I wonder.
You knew this post would catch my attention!
With children who went through an urban-suburban public school system, let me say that the arts were always the last on the budget, and visual arts suffered the most. This, as you know, was particularly painful for me to watch, having one child who was gifted in this area, doing what I could at home, but recognizing how little in terms of supplies and budget was available.
I spent years (in my corporate life) donating both time and supplies, specifically in visual arts. By high school, I was still doing the same (less, due to my own financial situation) – supporting the excellent art teacher any way I could, including fundraising when I could.
Creativity?
Yes, children have it in spades. We squelch it when we don’t allow them to question adults. We squelch it when we don’t provide the basic supplies to exploit and explore it. We squelch it when we – as a nation – devalue those who create – painters, printmakers, writers, musicians.
I’m doing some work with a school now, part-time, bringing a variety of services to low-income children. What do they need? Any kind of child’s books – English or Spanish (for kids up to age 5 or 6) – and the most basic art supplies that so many kids take for granted – construction paper, colored pencils, finger paint, caboodles to hold their pencils, crayons.
How do we nurture creativity and innovation unless we start with early childhood education – including valuing a natural curiosity and need to interpret the world visually?
I think you’re really onto something, D, when you mention the value that we as a society place on art and artists. Personally, I’ve been privy to several conversations where the idea of studying art (or any area of the humanities in general) is seen as a waste of time in this day and age.
But can we really not see the link between the breadth and depth of thinking that creativity requires and the ability to solve problems – the ones that can’t be answered by bubbling in A, B, C, or D on a test answer grid?
Ooh, ooh, how do I get my kids to be less talkative? Just kidding (sort of).
This is a great post and a fascinating topic. I think there are many in our society (i.e. big corporations and their political buddies) who want (most) kids to be less creative and become non-thinking automatons to work meaningless jobs without complaint. I don’t think this is true of teachers or schools, but they caught up in whatever is being pushed for school “reform” this year, and when that becomes more and more testing, I’m afraid creativity (among many other things) suffers. But, at my kids’ public school at least, the teachers work hard to foster creativity in between test prep and all the other baloney. They are required to take art through 8th grade (music, unfortunately, only through 4th, unless they join band) and they have recess every day. The teachers are always having them do projects which involve creative stuff (which is not to say that they do not also do their share of stupid busy work and worksheets, too).
At home we go through cycles of mom-encouraged projects. My kids display various levels of cooperation and resistance, depending on their mood, the project and the way I present it. I recently had a moment of panic, when I saw this cool online magazine you could download, full of project ideas to do with kids, and then I thought of how much of that kind of thing we DON’T do, and I started feeling all guilty, until I remembered all of the creative projects my kids generate on their own: building stuff out of cardboard, drawing, making museums, playing school, elaborate imaginative games and worlds they create, and, of course, Legos galore. I like to think that it helps that I did creative projects with them when they were little, that they have free access to all of the art supplies, that the TV is almost never on at home. But maybe it’s something else altogether.
Whew, did not mean to leave such a long comment, but this topic is so interesting to me! Now I’m going to share your post on FB!
Having followed your blog for awhile now, I can be pretty certain that creativity isn’t lacking in your house, even if you didn’t download that online magazine. And I think you’re right: the kid-generated projects are probably the ones that matter most. If we give them time and access to open-ended play things (both “play things” by design like blocks and Legos and crayons and not by design like cotton balls and string and cushions from the couch), maybe it’s just best to stay out of their way?
Thanks for the share, Andrea!
I do not think my sons’ schools do a good job of fostering creativity in the classroom. My older son is very creative, and has found ways to be creative in his coursework and homework, and several teachers have allowed this, but others will count points off or make him rewrite, etc. to meet the strict standards put in place by the state and federal governments. Thankfully he can spend a bit of time playing music, painting, and writing at home. It’s worse for my elementary-aged son, who by nature is a tad bit less creative, and really needs to be fostered in this area. They have about ten minutes of recess every day– if they finish their lunches quickly enough– and one day of PE a week. We put him sports to combat this, but that means, between sports and homework (which equals an hour each night for fourth grade) and chores and dinner… it means that we often don’t have time for creativity. And when it comes to weekends, I can either do the laundry, cleaning, cooking and shopping, or I can come up with crafts and creative play. Which one do you think usually happens?
We need more chances to foster creativity in the schools or after school. Parents could use all the help they can get in this area.
Oh, I hear this, Sarah. So much of this question revolves around the issue of time: How do teachers have time to foster creativity when they’re expected to do x hours of test prep each week? How do kids have time for free play when they have y hours of homework every night? How do parents have time to help nurture creativity when they have a mountain of responsibilities?
A great post. Big Little Wolf is right we squelch it when we don’t offer the basic supplies to explore and exploit. Last year I watched how all the funding went out of my son’s school and the kids suffered. The art teacher had to teach a regular class because the school can offer her part time work. Sad and frustrating .
oops ..meant to say the teacher was offered part time hours to remain an art teacher. She had to decline and become a second grade teacher, a position that was full time.
This torments me daily. I wish I could just let me kids run around in the woods all the time. But between having a pretty serious need to reclaim my life (it’s been almost seven years of stifling my own creative and intellectual needs to meet their small person needs) I’m looking to school as an answer for our collective need for a break, for their need to hear social rules from other people, and for their need to be independent of me.
I evaluated all the private and public schools in three towns near us before choosing public in the best district. I still would have preferred one private school that based all their learning on a critical thinking model and that let them have input in the curriculum without worrying at all about tests or homework until 5th grade. But $40,000 a year to keep two kids in private school is untenable.
Our school is way too academic way too early for my taste. They try to appease those of us who know students need to work things out for themselves to really learn by having a visual arts class once a week taught by a local children’s museum. But even those artists tell the kids specifically what to draw on their hometown maps rather than giving basic instructions and letting creativity take over. [Coloring handouts is not art. Filling out worksheets is not learning.] The school has two recess breaks (20 minutes each), PE once a week, music once a week, dance once a week, and frames all writing in terms of art (the kids write a story by starting with a sketch and a few words, then they develop the sentences, and then develop the sketch into a picture.)
It still feels like too little creativity, freedom, childhood. We don’t do any organized classes or team sports outside the classroom because my son wants freedom. We hike and bike and scooter and do as much art as the few remaining hours allow. The kids have a whole room of paper and paints and glue and scissors and glitter and tape and markers and pencils and…obviously I’m trying too hard. But I don’t know how to balance the school flashcard approach to learning with the way kids are supposed to learn.
And I just can’t homeschool. Maybe when they’re older, but not now. Toddler plus first grader = constant supervision. And near insanity.
I wish teachers set their curriculum together. I wish there were basic national standards (all school have to have science, for instance…ahem) and that teachers had to stay current with continuing ed in all fields. I wish we paid them more and gave them more autonomy. I wish they were paid based on their proficiency. I wish politicians would realize that successful students (creative, well adjusted, critical thinking students) will make a successful economy. And I wish more people would read “NurtureShock” and “Drive,” which address some of the failures of the carrot-and-stick assembly-line schooling we’ve had for more than 100 years.
Phew. Commentastrophe.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Nodding my head at every single word. (And adding those books to my must-read list.)
I heard this story many years ago, when I was in college. A career counselor came to a high school to speak to the senior class. He asked that all the A students line up on one side of the room, the C students on the other. This is what he said: “Take a good look at each other. I want the A students to take an especially good look at the C students since these are the people you’re going to be working for. Because they’re not afraid of risk.”
This is a great post. Freedom for my kids is scary, but essential. We just started school so I’m not sure about all of this but I hope our school fosters creativity.
Well, you know I’ve blogged plenty about the lack of room for creativity in the school system. And yet, only creative people can really be successful in life (and happy) since it gives them the flexibility to go through the ups and downs and find solutions to move on. Unfortunately our society tends to portray creative careers are flakes and looneys, even though 90% of what we look at is created by these people, including all objects, cars, TV shows, books, music, etc.
When my son was in kindergarten last year, his teacher said he wasn’t allowed to draw when he was done with all his work, because it wasn’t “academic” enough. She never wondered why he had one of the best handwritings in the class… When he started to write better, he would be allowed to write a story and illustrate it. Today in first grade, it’s still his favorite activity and he wants to be a writer/illustrator when he grows up. That’s what I wanted to do too and I was repeatedly told by family and teachers that was not a career. And today I still want to get there, having suffered from a 35-year delay… My son’s first grade teacher also commented she has quite a number of kids who have no curiosity or imagination. If 6-year olds are already losing these skills, what hope do we have for college graduates???
On my end, I let my kids do free play every single day after school. I don’t get involved in their activities unless they ask for my help. I might suggest something for them to do if they run out of ideas, but that’s it. They come up with great adventures and stories and there’s no sweeter music to my ear! I have never heard my kids say they were bored. Knock on wood!
This makes me feel all the more blessed my kids are in a Waldorf School! Great post, Kristen!
Totally see how kids’ creativity is falling, even comparing them to my boring self of childhood. I must say that I have to give a big hug to my local school. They kids are outside three times a day, they use the field/woods beside them for science and social studies, there’s choir and two different dance clubs that preform at special events, plus drama in the classroom. Boy! I should go bake that Administration some cookies. ;-)
One thing that I see (in my own home!) is the positive effects of kicking kids outdoors, (or in the basement when it’s too cold) without a pre-defined game and say “Go Play.” Today, the entire team was running around playing Medieval Times, with joisting, princesses, dragons — the works. The kids were ages 17 months to 11 years — and everyone was enthusiastically participating and making sure that everyone could participate. Way better than what they were doing: Staring at Phineas and Ferb have fun.
Your local school sounds great, Liz. I know nothing about the differences between American and Canadian schools in general. I wonder if our tiny samples are emblematic of greater trends…
Two years of public school under our belt (and a full K-12 for me), leaves me a bit unsure what to say… (oh my goodness, this got long)
First. I fight for playtime. I insist on boredom (mostly in the summer and on weekends). We have art stuff out all the time and outside is the best place. Sticks and dirt are fun.. Classrooms are rigid places. I hate that the ‘wonderful’ new technology in place of a chalkboard allows easy access to tv and movies. I abhor homework. (But tonight, doing a horrid subtraction worksheet with my second grader let me see just how confused she is.) I find so much that they do questionable. And yet… They have recess daily (mandated by the district just this year!), PE twice a week, music twice a week and art once a week. They have a science lab. Though I’m not sure if the science is open ended enough for true discoveries. Still, I think too often creativity is squelched in the name of discipline.
I just watched a show on PBS about Sharpstown high school (here in Houston), one of the Apollo 20 schools. I know little about the program, but I watched with so much hurt in my chest. Too many kids just don’t have the support. There is a line between fostering creativity with wonderful freedom and the chaos that distroys an ability to take direction.
My mom always says you take it one year at a time. And we will. The deep and wonderful benefit I got, and I see my daughter getting, is connecting with people from vastly different backgrounds and means.
My high school was a fascinating mix – a city wide magnet for math and science , drawing brilliant minds located in a poverty stricken area. Two blocks from the corner where the most murders happened in the city, I was taught by PhDs in organic chemistry, biology, and calculus. My classmates are engineers with NASA, mathematics professors, petroleum scientists, teachers, doctors lawyers. And roughly 40% of my class did not graduate on time. If at all.
Every educational choice has good and bad. I don’t know what choices we’ll make as the years pile on. I can’t see what our middle schools will be like in even four years. The state is changing our standardized tests, our funding is continuing to be slashed, but parents are opting into public schools, and involved parents change things tremendously.
Thanks so much for sharing your perspectives, Kate, as a public school parent and former student. I love your mom’s advice to take it one year at a time. I wonder what it says about me that I’m already worrying and none of my kids is even in kindergarten yet. One of my specialties, I’m afraid: worrying in advance.
This right here is one of the main reasons we are homeschooling (for now). After studying many different models of education, we felt that the Classical, with its focus on the humanities, was going to be the best for fostering creativity and teaching our children how to think for themselves instead of spewing back facts without knowing how they fit together. I have utmost respect for most teachers in the public school system as doing the best they can within a limited system, but they just aren’t given the tools to encourage creative thinking in their students.
I know homeschooling isn’t for everyone (so many days I think I’m overreaching myself in thinking it’s for me, honestly), but it is the path so far that’s working best for us. And when I see my almost-five year old happily covering page after page with drawings, or watch the two girls concoct some elaborate imaginative narrative and then act it out, I know it’s worth all my frustrations. For us, for right now, this is the best path for us.
Wow. This post has elicited some big-time responses! I haven’t read them all, but I will say that these kinds of data points scare me. The educational system seems so established. How on earth will we uproot the educational culture has been growing for the past 30 to 40 years? I’ve just started Levine’s book and I’m eager to see what she has to say on the matter. In the meantime, what is there to do other than educate ourselves?
We are fortunate to be zoned for a school that is a Magnet for the Humanities. K-5 students have, in addition to regular music and art, one studio art session every year, visual or performing arts. Even though the school has such a strong focus on the arts, at a recent meet-the-teacher night most parents had questions about the common core standards for English and Math, and what the children would be learning to meet all the requirements. In my mind, meeting those standards should be kind of a given, and we should be pursuing more for our children. Homework just started this week, and there’s not very much to encourage creativity. Sure, first graders need to be proficient readers by the end of the year, but I would think that at 6 years old their creativity should be fostered at every opportunity. A lot of it falls on us parents. We are lucky to have the knowledge and means to pursue museum memberships, dance and music lessons, shelves filled with art supplies. A lot of families don’t have the time or money to fill the gaps.
“A lot of it falls on us parents. We are lucky to have the knowledge and means to pursue museum memberships, dance and music lessons, shelves filled with art supplies. A lot of families don’t have the time or money to fill the gaps.”
Yes! I hear so much talk about the “achievement gap,” but this gap concerns me just as much.
I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but this is one of the reasons I homeschool. It seems a bit nutty to take these wild, creative, active, open creatures and script their lives for them, indoors, 35 hours/week.
Oh, I totally get this! I hate the limits school puts on my kid. But she is a ridiculously social creature and I cannot find a non- religious homeschool community here. I love reading about your homeschool community.
The idea of homeschooling definitely intrigues me, but, like Kate, I worry about getting my kids enough social interaction. (The homeschool coops around here have a strong evangelical bent and that wouldn’t work for us.) Maybe we’ll just move to Rachel’s mountain.
But, if I’m really honest, I worry that I’m too selfish to do it. Then again if it’s a choice between problematic schools and homeschooling, I might just have to get over it. I have a tremendous amount of respect to you moms who do it; I just don’t know if I could live up to your example.
Oh my goodness, this is quite alarming. Recess once a week! That just made my stomach turn. I’m not quite in that stage yet were I have to worry about school, though my girl is in preschool there is an awful lot of free-play time and creative play. Still, it’s almost enough to make this mama consider homeschool. Almost. Don’t know if I could stomach it.
We’ll have a lot of tough decisions to make about schooling soon, though. Here in Jakarta there are many international school, and most are quite far away from the downtown center where we live, and though some might not be the best fit with our educational values, we might have to make some tough choices with regard to where we send our girl.
Generally in Asia, the stereotype of rigorous schooling holds true. Lots of homework, lots of repetition, and not much creative freedom. In fact, I remember that when we lived in Japan, kids were even taught how to draw certain things during art class. This is the ONE WAY to draw a cat, okay, kids, let’s all draw a cat that looks exactly the same!!!
Yikes.
I agree. Our country is not the best in many things (that many Americans think we are the best at), but it’s phenomenal in cultivating a spirit of creativity.
I came from the kind of education system in Malaysia that “prioritizes rote memorization and teaching to the test over curiosity and genuine understanding”, and I couldn’t wait to get out of it.
I was hoping it would be different for me here, and it was when I was in college for my undergrad and graduate degrees. But having never been through K-12 in the US, I am honestly hoping my girls would have it better than I did, so the findings here are a little disconcerting. Even then, I have no doubt it would still be a step up for them, as far as nurturing curiosity and genuine understanding of the material. Small comfort, but that’ll do for now. At least until they start going to school. :)