Schools Kill Creativity

Ken Robinson's TED talk hit a nerve when it came out, and for good reason. His central argument ... that schools systematically kill creativity ... challenges one of our most sacred institutions.

Kids will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go. Am I right? They're not frightened of being wrong. I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know, is that if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.

This distinction matters: being wrong isn't the same as being creative, but willingness to be wrong is prerequisite for creativity. Children naturally have this fearlessness, but school systematically trains it out of them.

Robinson's humor makes the medicine go down easier, but the underlying critique is serious. Our education systems prioritise conformity and correctness over curiosity and risk-taking. We teach kids that there's always one right answer, that mistakes are failures, that colouring outside the lines is wrong.

The irony is that in a rapidly changing world, the very skills schools de-emphasise ... creativity, adaptability, comfort with ambiguity ... are becoming the most valuable. We're preparing students for a world of predictable, repeatable tasks just as that world disappears.

The question isn't whether Robinson is right (he largely is), but what we do about it. How do we preserve that natural willingness to "have a go" while still teaching discipline and rigor? How do we balance structure with spontaneity?