[Woodcarver] Creativity in schools

[Ivan Whillock Studio]

> I think children are born with an instinctive desire to explore and to
> create. Watch a young boy or girl play in a sandbox, and they are very
> creative. One of the real problems, in my opinion of course, with our
> educational system, is that when they enter school, the process of
> suppressing all creativity begins. Educators want all of the children to
be
> good little robots, and do exactly what they are told, and nothing else.

This, according to George B. Leonard is exactly the function of the schools.
Society cannot use a lot of free-wheeling, exploring individuals.  We "say"
we want our schools to encourage creativity, but we act otherwise.  What
society predominantly wants is workers who show up on time, do the
prescribed tasks, stay at their work stations for the prescribed hours, and
take orders from an authority figure.  Recently a worker on an assembly line
left his position to go to the restroom and was fired because the whole
operation stopped until he got back.  They teach that lesson in
kindergarten--you can't go to the restroom any time you want to!

Children, in general, are born with untold capacities.  From the time they
leave the womb they are molded--fed at a certain time, put to bed at a
certain time.  Spoken to or ignored, propped up in front of the TV and left
to themselves or read to and sung to and given visual stimulus.  Certain
behaviors get rewarded, certain behaviors get punished and certain behaviors
get ignored.  Don't experts say that a child's personality is pretty much
formed by the time they are three?  By the time a child enters school,
habits both constructive and destructive are pretty much ingrained.  A child
that has been read to a lot, has learned to "mind" and was given many
sit-still games and activities at home is usually a successful student.  A
child that has seldom been read to and was allowed to "roam" is less likely
to struggle in school.

The educational system is faced with a huge struggle itself: their charge is
to educate everyone--bright kids, dull kids, kids born in rich environments,
kids born in impoverished ones, kids who grew up speaking English, kids who
can't speak English at all.  Then they must prepare this conglomeration of
abilities--in clusters of 25-35 kids in a class--for a myriad of
occupations, from the simplest menial job to a "rocket scientist."  In the
current educational model, there is not enough time and resources to do
"everything for everybody."  While I strongly feel changes should be
made--though not the ones currently tossed about--considering the impossible
task schools have been given, they have done a pretty good job.

Most creative persons have grown up in a creative environment and have been
successful in retaining that creativity against the pressures to "stay
within the lines," i.e. to conform.  They have survived society's "weeding
out" system.
Ivan Whillock Studio
122 NE 1st Avenue
Faribault, MN 55021
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