What Do Schools Do To Our Children’s Creativity?

What role does creativity play in schools? Do schools nourish our children’s creative sides? Or is creativity killed in schools?

Why Society Needs Creative People

Society needs creative people.

Creative people break down barriers. They are the people behind new inventions. Creative beings solve problems. The creative among us are responsible for finding new ways to do things; they look at situations through different eyes.

They make the world a more beautiful place too. Music. Art. Photography. Crafts.

And creative people make the world more magical. Technology. Inventions.

Does School Harness Creativity?

When we start school we are guided into conforming to standard rules and practices. A child must meet the expectations that teachers have for them.

Teachers require children to sit still. And listen. Order in a classroom is needed for learning.

A child starts the formal learning process at a young age. Too young perhaps.

Maths and language become the most important subjects.

Children are rarely allowed to make their own decisions in a classroom. Even older children.

Creative people are often more productive and comfortable creating alone but school often requires group work.

Is any of this conducive to harnessing the creativity that children naturally display when they are young? Do children feel that they have a voice in the classroom? Do they feel they can share their view of the world?

The Curious Nature of Children

Creativity starts with imagination. And imagination is something that pre-school children have an abundance of.

It’s how they interact with the world around them. Through imaginative play.

Young children follow their curiosity – that is how they learn. Until they go to school. And then the curriculum is set for them. Whether they like it or not.

Multicoloured Sheep

My youngest son has always used colours in a fascinating, expressive way. I have always been amazed by how creative he is when handed coloured pencils or pens. He’s now eight and he still displays this tendency. Despite his years in school, and not because of.

When he was four, in group one, he coloured in some animals on a worksheet. He decided that his sheep were all the colours of the rainbow.

That worksheet came home to me with a note on the bottom that the teacher wrote stating that sheep are not purple and green. And that she had discussed it with my four-year-old son.

Obviously, I told him to colour the sheep in any colour he wanted. And horses and cows too. And to never stop colouring and drawing in any damn colour he chooses.

Is School Preparing Children for the Future?

When you were in school were you ever told: You’ll never make a career out of (insert as appropriate) writing, music, dancing or as an artist. This is something that Elizabeth Gilbert touches upon in her book Big Magic (a must-read for all creatives out there).

Much of school life is about tests. About right and wrong. There’s no room for middle ground. And that doesn’t reflect real life, does it?

Our children increasingly have a fear of failure. Is it any wonder when tests dominate their school lives and the importance attached to test results is all-encompassing?

Creativity is a vital life skill. It doesn’t just enrich day-to-day life; it is key to job-readiness in the broadest sense. As Warner notes, “Sixty percent of the jobs of the future haven’t been invented yet.”

How Schools Can Stop Killing Creativity – The Walrus

Children are often unable to be independent and unique in their thinking in school. There’s not much room for risk-taking in school. Not without negative consequences in any case. And yet when they enter the job market these skills are required.

It’s Not All Bad Though Is It?

Of course it isn’t. Some schools have methodologies that allow children to follow their interests. Some schools have a creative curriculum. There are schools which lead the way in creative programs.

But let’s face it, they are not the norm.

Why Does This Matter For Parents of Highly Sensitive Children?

Highly sensitive people tend to be creative. Our highly sensitive children tend to see and experience the world creatively.

But if traditional school systems do little to harness that creativity then it impacts our highly sensitive children in a big way.

Deep thinking and an awareness of the subtleties around us are often the traits that feed a creative mind. There needs to be an outlet for this creativity. If a school cannot provide that creative outlet then find a way to provide that outlet in the home environment, or outside of school.

Ignoring our creativity impacts our mental health. Creativity is an outlet for our emotions. It is a way of letting others see who we are.

Suppressing our creativity means suppressing our emotions and who we are.

And that will never end well.