Is our education system designed to produce more human cogs in the corporate production line?
Are we just interested in churning out more graduates – never mind if they cannot analyse and think creatively and critically across disciplines? Does our education system kill off natural creativity and talent among the young, especially in the arts, drama, dance and literature?
Check out this Youtube clip featuring Ken Robinson. Wikipedia describes him as follows:
In 1998, he was invited by the UK Government to establish and lead a national commission on creativity, education and the economy. The Commission brought together leading business people, scientists, artists and educators. His report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to huge acclaim…. He was a central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, Unlocking Creativity, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural leaders across the Province.
Anil,
Creativity can not be learned.
And it can not be killed either.
No matter how suppressive a system may be, it can only temporarily suppress some forms of creativity but can never kill it outright.
Like the Chinese in ancient China.
The ancient Chinese society was a very depressive society. It discourages people to venture into science, or thinking of new form of ideology, or challenge the deeply entrenched Confucius philosophy.
Did the Chinese end up losing all their creativity?
Far from losing their creativity, the Chinese channeled their creativity into business dealings and perfecting the running of their businesses.
Those who claim that school system kill off creativity themselves do not have any creativity to begin with.
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I know I’m not supposed to say this, but you are wrong. I have been teaching creative thinking for 20 years and it CAN be learned, while trends in US and UK education show it CAN be killed.
Humans are creative by nature, but especially children need a fostering environment to bring it out.
I’d also like to remind you that creativity is MUCH, MUCH more than “arts training”: dance, music, painting, etc.
The world needs more and more creative people, it is necessary we go out and train our children for the creative future.
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Malaysia just need more factory workers. We need more robots. Why teach the students to be creative? We just need them to be obedient.
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A depressive environment destroy creativity. Did China come up with any great scientific inventions or discovery after inventing paper, gun powder, and others, when science is neglected but instead over-emphasizing the scholar education including the Confucius teaching of loyalty?
It led to years of misery for the Chinese people with their lives and minds controlled by both the rulers and their own closed visions.
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The Chinese (in China I mean) are imitation expert. They can produce faked eggs, faked clothes, faked handbags, faked paint, and so on. Luckily we don’t have all these creativity.
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The fact is where there is demand, there is supply. It is the same everywhere. Today, wherever you go, do not be surprised that the latest exports of China, women, can also be found anywhere on planet earth!
Do not be shocked to find ladies from China walking the streets of Dubai, along with those from Africa, CIS countries, Russia, etc. Dubai, truly a united nation, truly international!
Happy New Year bro, Cheers!
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In Malaysia, politics destroy creativity. It is made worst by politics-controlled educational systems.
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What education system? we have accredited diploma mills allegedly. Nobody fails (or almost nobody) and they know about it so why bother,
Hey teacher, leave those kids alone, all in all its just another paper (degree) on the wall.
And we wonder why we are not progressing up the value chain, why are we still so low in the value chain and hence are not competitive.
Anil, this is that type of question where the answers are written on the wall in bold, no need to discuss.
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Yes they do, that is why Thumbdrive was designed by Malaysian!
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And he had to go to Taiwan to do it
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Who says “Politics destroy creativity”?
Where else in the world fighter jet engines can go missing?
Where else in the world where something like PKFZ can ever happen?
Where else but in Malaysia?
That’s creativity, my man.
Creativity being used in the wrong way.
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Yeah, iron, I have to concede, some Malaysians can be VERY creative.
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“latest exports of China, women”
They’re not exports – they’re refugees from Chinese men! Thanks, guys ;-p
Creativity can be difficult to cultivate. I think a lot of students have their creativity handicapped at home before they even get to school. Personally, I think the old saying about “necessity is the mother of invention” is crucial. In Malaysia – on one levels – there’s no need: you can lie in the shade and wait for fruit to drop into your mouth.
On the other hand, we can look around and see that there are many, many, many aspects where Malaysia is not making the most out of its opportunities and suffering (comparatively) as a result. The problem here is that the opportunities to do something to improve matters are tied up in red tape, reserved for cronies, or complicated by “sensitivities”. I think teachers in an environment like this are very unlucky creatures – their work is much harder than it is for teachers in a more open environment.
It’s easy to point the finger of blame at education establishments, but we should also be asking ourselves: does our home / family life / social attitude kill creativity? What was the last creative activity we engaged our children in? I write that question, and I’m wondering myself! I think can remember a few instances, but also I think there’s room for more!
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I suppose creativity is linked to problem-solving? A creative person can think of more ways to tackle a problem than someone who isn’t? Does a creative person have more ideas? Is creativity and resourcefulness the same?
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“creativity is linked to problem-solving?”
I wonder. Perhaps a purist might link creativity with error or noise – small defects in reproducing observed or acquired behaviours. I think William Calvin might have said something similar in ‘How Brains Think’, comparing the generation of ideas with evolution, so that many slightly mutated versions of a young idea might ‘compete’ for limited brain resources and finally the ‘fittest’ one wins our attention (at which point we can ‘see’ the idea). I might not have remembered that quite right. The book is very readable and contains a lot of interesting ideas.
A professor I worked for not so long ago linked creativity with playfulness – a willingness to experiment, try new things, not reject ‘silly’ ideas out of hand, but check first how they fit the problem at hand. If you enforce some common rules for brainstorming sessions, normally quite sensible people can come up with some silly stuff – but the interplay of all those contributions can often lead to a far better – and earlier – solution than the same group of people straining silently on the same problem.
I suspect creative people might have no more ideas than someone you might consider as uncreative – they may just ‘prune’ their branches, to preserve the trunk, before the branches can bear fruit!
I think resourcefulness might be something very different, something which more pedantic teaching methods might be suited to. It’s certainly useful to have a great many well-learned ‘tools’ at your disposal when you start thinking – like a mental repertoire. It would be marvellous to be able to create great new ideas without first doing any ground work, but I suspect that’s a very rare gift indeed. Who was it that said “genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”? Was it Edison?
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Creativity and resourcefulness are cousins.
They are not exactly the same, but they do share similarities.
People often have this misconception that one has to have education before one can be resourceful / creative.
That can’t be more wrong.
The only that education offers a creative / resourceful person is to widen the worldview of that person, hence a certain amount of amplification to the effect of creativity / resourcefulness of that person.
Most people also have the notion that society / education can kill creativity.
No. It can’t.
Nothing can kill creativity, nothing, except that individual him/herself.
“If there is a will, there is a way ” remember this saying?
The only thing that can effectively kill creativity is the complete loss of willingness to find new venue to tackle a problem.
In conclusion, creativity has nothing to do with education / society whatsoever.
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Keep your peasants stupid lest they revolt against you.
Obedient numbskulls is what UMNO/BN wants. We command, you obey.
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The creative endeavour is always dynamic and it is intricately linked with the destructive impulses. You cannot have creativity without destruction. The new cannot be borned when the old do not die. The tendencies of the mind to fixate, to accept without examination, to classify(pigeon-hole), to leap to conclusion without the possibility of evaluation, mental complacency etc. are tendencies that will kill off the creative spirit.
All formal education came from, encourages and developed fixed pattern of behaviour. It is such mental laziness and inertia that made us opened to manipulation by others.
The chinese word for happiness – kai xin – can be loosely translated as open-heartedness. The heart is part of the mind. When the heart is opened the creative and destructive spirit can flow and as such new forms, arrangements, thoughts, ideas etc. can arise. Those who had deep insights in their thoughts, work and creative can identify with the state of being of blissful flow. A mental and heart ease that is characterised by an easy acceptance and non-judgement. Mental discrimination and discourses end and only then the creative-destructive interplay can flow.
An education system – indeed any fixed system – will prevent such open-heartedness.
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New arises from the old, and it doesn’t mean that the old has to die before the new can arise.
While there is such thing as destructive innovation, their adoption is still not that widespread.
The old ideas and the new can co-exist side by side, and often they do.
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Creativity you ask? Yes, we have… Lots & lots of distructive creativity from school.
Back to school today for my (Grace Ho Hwee Ling)) daughter’s Darjah 5 in the same Sekolah Kebangsaan school she had studied since the past 4 years, I had a rude shock when her teacher’s recorded her name as Grace A/P Hweeling!!!!!!! My family name Ho is gone and missing and the teacher says she simplified it with A/P. A/P mean anak perempuan. While Ho has 2 characters, A/P are 3 characters so her reasoning she simplified it is not valid. Yes, her name tag for the school uniform did print Grace Ho, and she is very famous being the only 2 Chinese girls in Darjah 5 of about 110 pupils. Famous too being a Pengawas & me being an Ahli Jawatan Kuasa in the Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru where I attended the monthly meetings with the entire Guru.
After paying for all the fees, the receipt was hand written Grace Hweeling!!!!#$%^&#$%^&!!
We do know the Indians uses A/P; the Muslim uses Binti; but the Chinese family can never be Grace, right?
Just about 2 months ago, a Certification of participation was given as “Grace Ho A/P Patrick Ho”. Was I hopping mad? This certificate would be useless being not the same as in the birth certificate or in the school’s register.
Previously I wrote about a nurse in a Government Hospital calling out Ho Hwee repeatedly while we were standing just about 5 feet away. Took us a few seconds to scan our heads around if that is some one else’s name. Besides we used to call her Grace. After several shouts calling out Ho Hwee, we finally responded and was met with a scolding for not responding fast. Hei, in the first place no chinese called their child’s family name and middle name like Ho Hwee..
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Serve you right, Angry Parents.
Who ask you to enroll your child into Sekolah Kebangsaan…?
Serve you right !
…the “A/P” thing, is (it) part of their attempt to brain wash your daughter in believing that she is no longer a Chinese(?)
…(is it) a way to distancing your daughter from her Chinese root(?)
Serve you right ! Tai sei !
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Anil, congrats !
Now even that toh you tin guy agrees with you
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/48744-how-not-to-widen-the-allah-dispute–the-straits-times
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I don’t quite follow… who is toh you tin?
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In the business world, creativity = innovation. Business Week last month had a article discussing how companies with formal innovation processes or reward programs had fewer innovations or patents than companies that did not. Of course, the article is probably biased towards larger companies that have thousands of complacent, risk-averse employees and the resources to build a corporate innovation program. Smaller companies, trying to differentiate, may have a better hand at innovation.
I do see similar parallels between schools and businesses as far as creativity/innovation is concerned.
John
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Creativity? You must be kidding. They want obedient workers who do the job at low wages, and don’t make any demands. That is all. They don’t want workers who wonder why they are working more and making less money. They don’t want workers who want to spend more time with their families. No no no… They want workers busey to make just anaugh money to pay the groceries.
It was not always like that. We used to have time to relax and do some activities at a relaxed pase,but now for many people, it’t alway how can I make more money to pay the bills. Soon there won’t be a middle class, but who cares, right? Those who control the economy think they don’t nead you. You are surplus population anyway. They forgot that it is the middle class that pays for higher education that produces doctors, engineers, etc and the working middle class is the one producing the wealth of the country. Eh! but that’s not a problem because now everything called production is made in Asia. They don’t nead american workers,period.
Creativity cannot occur when you have no freedom of thinking. In highschools now, the kids thinks of what to right so the teacher will agree with what they write on the paper. He knows he cannot desagree in anyway with the so called teacher. He cannot express an opinion in his work that differs from the teach. That would give him a bad mark on his report card. They say what the teach want’s to ear even if they know it is nonsens. You do what you have do, to get a passing mark. Where it gets more complicated is when the teacher is a total idiot, and there are many of them, and in this case the poor kid has a hard time to figure out what the teacher wants to ear , or read on the exam or essay,whatever.
The school system is now producing mass failure. 55% of american students do not graduate highschool and that is a conservative estimate, because it does not include students who don’t bother showing up at final exams.
Creativity in those conditions is something for the birds.
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