A Teacher’s Take on How Schools Kill Creativity (No, Not Sir Ken’s)

by Maya on February 16, 2009

You know I love Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk about schools killing creativity. And as much as we want to stand and cheer about his refreshing take on the value of doing what we love to do and igniting the imagination of each child, it’s not that easy to spark creativity in a typical US classroom setting.

Bill Ferriter is a sixth grade language arts teacher in North Carolina (and a former Teacher of the Year) and he offers a fascinating (and troubling) description of why creativity is dead in schools. Check it out here.

Tagged as: Bill Ferriter, creativity, creativity in schools, creativity is dead, creativity training, education reform, innovation, Sir Ken Robinson, Teacher of the Year, TED, US education

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Education Futures - Is it too late to bring creativity back to schools?: February 17, 2009 at 2:23 pm

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Bill Ferriter February 17, 2009 at 9:22 am: Hey Maya,

Glad you found my post and that it resonated with you. I’m like everyone in education, really: Robinson’s ideas resonate deeply with me. Unfortunately, I’ve just found the barriers to creativity in schools to be too high for me to hurdle alone.

It’s funny because I’m getting fried by commenters on my blog for being too moderate and being unwilling to “take on the system.” They like throwing the “you’re too tempered, Mr. Radical” line at me, suggesting that if I were only willing to “take back” my classroom, then creativity would thrive.

While all of that rhetoric probably makes us feel good, I’m not sure that it’s a viable reform strategy for schools!

So the question becomes what should teachers interested in seeing creativity return to classrooms do: burn their professional bras and start the revolution or hold decision-makers accountable for providing the conditions necessary for change to thrive?

That’s a question I haven’t found an answer to yet.

Bill