ARMA B1, Blog 1

When I first watched Ken Robinson’s presentation, I did not know what to expect. As many can attest, when I am not stimulated in whatever the subject material may be in class, I tend to lose interest. Once Robinson began, I expected him to ramble on about how schools were turning students into “conforming soldiers” or something of that nature but that was not the main point of focus. He provided many stories to back up his points and that’s what I liked the most about his presentation. The story I liked the most was about an amazing dancer (I can’t recall her name) that was very hyper-active in her youth and doctors did not know what to do with her. Robinson joked that this was before they were able to diagnose children with ADD. She was moved to another school with students who, like her, were very active and all over the place. As so got older, she became more involved in dance and became a multi-billionaire. He notes that in another situation, she may have been given drugs and never able to realize her true talent.

I believe that us as Americans in the school system, we live in constant fear. We are afraid to “think outside the box” and that there has to be one true answer to everything. As we grow older, we also get into competition with eachother and other counties. We do not want to be “passed up” but others and that can stunt our creative thinking. My aunt went to a private school growing up and she would always tell me that although they were strict, they would embrace creativity and creative thinking. In a majority of the schools today, this is not often a luxury but at the end of the day, it depends on the teacher and their teaching style. With that said, how are we to mold/craft a student’s creativity without letting them get too “out of bounds”? How do we nurture and not damage?