Ever since I was in elementary school, I have never thought of myself as a creative person. As the years have gone by, I only seem to be losing more and more of my creativity. To me, this didn't ever seem like a problem; I never saw myself as someone who would go into anything art related, so why would I need to be creative? This is where I was all wrong.
Ken Robinson completely changed my mind in his book Out of Our Minds. Throughout his book, Robinson tries to convince the reader that to succeed in today's ever-changing world, we all need to be creative. Robinson takes a new look at the true meaning of creativity, and proves that it is essential for everyone living in the world today. Multiple examples are given throughout the book, and Robinson explains how we could completely change the world.
We all need to learn to be creative to keep up with the constant changes in the world we live in, and to create new changes to get ahead. I think Robinson's best example of this is our need for new technology because of the world's constantly growing population. At this point in time, we only have enough of the necessities (space, food, water, etc) to provide for a certain amount of people. As we all know, the world's population has been rising dramatically for years, and we need to find something to do with these people, because there's no stopping them from coming into the world. If we learn to be creative, we will be able to create new ways and technology to keep an even larger amount of people comfortable on this earth.
The need for creativity is apparent, but how are we going to teach the whole world to become creative? Robinson thinks that the first step is to begin in schools. Ever since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, schools have almost completely cut out anything that allows their students to be creative. The only thing that holds any importance in schools today are the STEM classes, which include Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. While all these subjects are very important, we can't just forget about the classes that form the other parts of the brain.
The United States needs to make sure that they are still stressing the importance of classes in the arts, such as painting, theater, and dance. The world is changing, and getting all A's in the STEM classes isn't going to promise you anything later in life. Employers today need people who are strong in these classes, and are creative. They need people who can use their creativity and lead to innovation. They need people who can think of new things that will get them ahead of their competitors, and work better with their customers. People like this are not going to be available if we continue to teach students the way they are currently being taught.
Not only the classes that students are taking should be changed, but the way teachers are teaching needs to be changed as well. Today, most teachers are still wasting their time doing everything the way they've always done it. Why not make use of all the technology that's available, and engage your students even more at the same time! There are plenty of ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, and it won't even cost you a dime. Twitter is a great website for this. Samantha Miller gives 50 ways to use twitter in the classroom in her article for teachhub.com. Twitter is only the beginning. Teachers need to open their minds, think like their students would, and find creative ways to help their students learn.
After finishing Robinson's book, I have completely changed my views on creativity. Before reading his book, I thought creativity was just a waste of time, something for little kids and future artists. I now realize that being creative can help anyone, no matter what they do in life.
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