Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Creativity

This is a bit of a follow-on from my comments in the extended school year thread.

Has anyone seen this piece in Newsweek about declining creativity in American children?

I'm not sure about everything in the article, but the basic point about declining creative abilities seems reasonable, and it's definitely something I've been wondering about.

The article cites a few possible reasons. One is the way our schools operate today (rote learning, nationalized testing, too little time for classes like art). Another is too much TV and too many video games; I have my doubts about the TV part, as people were complaining about kids watching too much TV in 1975.

I've often wondered about the potential negative effects of too much homework and too many scheduled/structured activities. Both take time that could be spent playing freely. Kids today just don't seem to be able to play a lot. I don't know fully what causes this.

As an example, I have a friend who lives in a townhouse complex. There's a lot of open space there, and it's relatively protected from busy streets. Lots of kids live there, but I never see them out playing on all that grass. There are people across the street from us with a child, and we never, ever see her outside.

Val

I heard a story, I forgot when and where I heard it. An art teacher divided his pottery class in half. He told one half of the class to make as many different pots as the possibly could in one week. Just whatever comes to mind, your goal is quantity. The other half of the class he told to just make sculpt perfect, unusual, creative pot to turn in at the end of the week. According to this allegory, the way I heard it was that the side that was assigned quantity over quality produced more creative pots because they had more practice, more experience, and tried a wider variety of ideas.

If this is true, and I'm not sure that it is, do you think that a decline in creativity could be due to school budget cuts and less time spent actively practing creating stuff in art class? I mean doodling new perspectives comes from "I can already draw it this way, let me turn it around that way, or mix it up with this other thing to make it more interesting.". And that comes from spending time doing it.

Thanks for posting this article. I thought this was great:
There was also some research that came out recently linking TV to children's psychological problems:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/11/children-computer-television-psychological-problems
I can see how children would spend less time in creative play if they're watching lots of TV and not developing their abilities to find creative solutions.

I can't speak to what happens when they get to real school since DS is in pre-k but I think the tv is significant. From my experience watching the little ones is that for those without a lot of other input from books or adult interactions, their play becomes proscribed by the tv characters. Even my kid with his incredible imagination and voracious reading when he used to watch more or watched certain contentless programming I noticed that it filled his play - now he would incorporate their info into his stories but I would if others kids have more difficulty doing it. So they get used to being told what play characters are and what their backstories are etc. Just a thought.

DeHe

Val, I read the article. Gives new meaning to why schools should rethink how they are educating children. Why the ARTS are important in every school. People who are capable of generating creative ideas, generate a lot of MONEY. Invent, design, and change the world because of their vision and imagination.

Yes, I agree completely.

I think the schools also need to rethink the wisdom of relying on multiple choice tests. These tests encourage memorization and little else. They also don't encourage students to synthesize knowledge or look at what they're learning in new or different ways.

Val (who is on a small campaign to reduce the use of these tests!)

I love this, kcab!

Groucho (7) spent one whole afternoon this week making armour out of linoleum and twine.

Thank you for starting the thread, Val, it's very interesting.

peace
minnie

I love this! My eight-year-old is into boxes right now. They become dinosaurs, space suits, armor, time machines...you name it.

And you are most welcome. I'm really happy to see the responses.

Val

Just got a new dish washer - oh, what a wonderful box!
It's kept my 3 kids busy for 3 days now! (and one of them is nine!)

I remember our living room with these boxes. Other parents would say that they could not believe that boxes took over my my living room. We took advantage of other boxes in the neighborhood. When a neighbor was receiving a new appliance, we asked for the box.

Those days are long gone and I am glad that I "sacrificed" my living room.

Enjoy!