Sparks Fly: Can Imagination Be Taught?

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/marapr/features/dschool.html

by rafaelc • 15 years ago

18 3 15 years ago

bane2• 15 years ago

My wife grew up in South Korea, she's brilliant. One thing that she's brought up over and over again is how the educational system she grew up in does a fantastic job of squashing creativity.

I usually argue that it also produces an extremely high level of student, while the American system produces so-so output. She always responds that American kids also seem to be more creative, that the U.S. system may not build creativity, but it doesn't kill it off.

There must be some kind of middle ground.

kmgroove• 15 years ago

How much does exterior culture play in to this? What do South Korean kids do when they get off school? Wasn't Starcraft at first more of a rebellious act, and somewhat counter culture?

It seems to me that creativity is best built by providing multiple releases for it, and then allowing complete freedom over were one spends his free time. Certainly education plays a huge role in this as it defines to a large extent what a student does in his or her free time.

I would go so far as to say that the ideal education system would do away completely with homework, and instead focus on in class interaction based entirely around projects that are more meaningful then "due in two weeks, test after that". The classes I remember most at all levels of education where those which were either primarily open discussions or those which had large semester spanning group projects. Most people I know feel the same. A students free time should be their own, how they spend it should be inspired by education not framed around it.

Granted that seems slightly utopian, and I'm not really aware of a lot of the research that surely has been done around this subject.

It is a fascinating subject in my opinion, and one which has so many variables to it.

bane2• 15 years ago

"How much does exterior culture play in to this? What do South Korean kids do when they get off school?"

Usually they go and study more. There are after school programs there you wouldn't believe, and as students get closer and closer to their college entrance exam, the amount of time spent doing nothing but studying expands to basically consume all. There are even private "libraries" parents pay a fee to so their kid can go and study in a tiny distraction free room (closet) of a desk and a light and not much else. Weekends are consumed with study.

Here in the states, Korean kids will go to public school, then after school study programs and on weekends language school and SAT prep. Other East Asian kids do something similar. It's perhaps the main reason East Asian kids tend to excel so much in school here.

"I would go so far as to say that the ideal education system would do away completely with homework, and instead focus on in class interaction based entirely around projects that are more meaningful then "due in two weeks, test after that"."

What you describe sounds a bit like the Montessori method. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method

One counter point might be the "Star Wars" effect. Quite often, creativity happens in a slightly constrained environment. "Necessity is the mother of invention" and all that. The reason I've heard it called the "Star Wars" effect comes from the reasoning that the original Star Wars movie was produced on a rather thin budget, yet they managed to be incredibly creative in nearly all aspects of the movie from sound production to special effects...so much so that that single movie more or less revolutionized the entire movie industry.

They had some resources, but because they weren't vast, they had to be creative to make the best use of them they could. But if they had had too few resources, it would have turned into an expensive home movie. There's some kind of balance point I'm sure.

One counter point (not that I disagree with your premise) would be the

Sparks Fly: Can Imagination Be Taught?

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