Education kills creativity
Author – Ms. Deepti Maithil
Affirmative Essay
Education plays a significant role in shaping any country’s future. It must not be confined to textbooks or rote learning as it is essential that it contributes to all round development of an individual.
Exploration of creative skills forms a very essential part of a child’s development. Sadly, these skills do not find a very respectable place in the education system.
‘Arts’ always finds place at the bottom in the hierarchy of subjects with Maths, and Science occupying top place followed by languages and social sciences.
Though as children it’s an instinct to dance, sing and paint but amidst all the schooling we are forced to shift our focus to ‘serious’ academic subjects. Little wonder then that the statement ‘Education kills creativity’ holds true.
Schools are failing to recognise individual talent and pushing youngsters to be like the other.
It is important to allow our children to express themselves creatively. The traditional ‘textbook’ approach has to make way for fearless learning. The fear of making mistakes paralyses a young mind from trying something new or being oneself.
The constant fear of not matching the benchmark of an ‘academically bright’ student instils an inferiority complex in many.
We have seen examples of geniuses like Einstein and Bill Gates to name a few who chose to opt out of the system to find their own path. And interestingly made their way back to academies through their pathbreaking inventions and ideas which made great learning for all.
The education system ensures that academic subjects are given so much importance so that children become good workers when they grow up, the type who obey and abide the same way they did in school which explains the curfew on creative thinking.
The race which begins for marks while studying then transforms into a race for money in the ‘real world’ leaving creativity far behind.
It is considered normal for one to lose one’s identity in order to earn a living or to be accepted as a ‘successful’ individual.
In the wake of consumerism, one’s net worth is calculated only by his materialistic possessions. No wonder then why one’s love for creative arts is killed in the nascent stages itself.
And it is justified by saying that investing time in pursuit of the same will not fetch good financial returns in the future.
In my opinion, there is no difference between a factory that manufactures typical goods and a school that produces impassioned prototypes.
The onus lies heavily on policy makers more than ever before to devise an education system that produces creative thinkers who are not afraid to be original.
It is also the need of the hour to re-design our curriculum to accommodate arts holistically giving it as much importance as academic subjects.
Schools need to equip their pupils with knowledge in creative subjects in such a manner that the student feels empowered and not ashamed to make a living out of it in the future if he so aspires.
Only when every child feels free to express himself and cultivate his true inner calling even if it is ‘creative’ will the education system be truly successful in its purpose for all.