AUREET'S ESSAYS AND STORIES
Of Creativity and Change, 1977
I believe that one of the underlying problems in society today is the lack of individual creativity and creative accomplishment. Modern civilization has removed man from fundamental personal productivity. We no longer make things we need, we buy them.
Through mass production we have lost contact with the individual and the concept of one's own creative production. We no longer see the cobbler making shoes; we buy mass produced shoes in department stores. The proud cobbler displaying his finished work becomes perceptually non-existent. Factories assemble objects to make finished products. But the factory worker who screws in a peg day after day never makes a finished object. He doesn't feel a sense of accomplishment; he can't say proudly 'I made this'. He himself becomes another peg in the assembly line.
In this way we have lost the joys of accomplishment, of making something we can be proud of. We lose touch with ourselves as productive individuals, and become passive members of a technologically developed world. Frustrated by lack of accomplishment, many people, instead of trying to change society, turn to alcohol, drugs, crime and other outlets for frustration and unhappiness.
Where does all this begin? In my opinion it begins with suppression of creativity in the educational system. The educational system discourages creative individuality and originality. It teaches only conventional thought, just one answer or one way to do things. You are taught the skills and "right" answers that the teachers want. There is no room in the classroom for questioning, evaluative judgment, or development of individual opinions. For instance, the teachers question might be 'What color is the sky?' The answer she wants of course is 'Blue'. The child that answers 'orange, gold and crimson' regardless of being correct though slightly unconventional, in the teachers opinion is a trouble maker and must be suppressed.
Instead of giving the boy who likes baseball a book about the subject which he would enthusiastically want to learn to read, the teacher gives him a "Dick and Jane." With much effort and difficulty due to "lack of motivation" she tries to teach him to read. He is not interested in a boy, girl and dog all chasing each other across the pages, but the teacher does not ask him. She "knows" what all the children should learn and the best way to do it.
In writing, a child is discouraged from creative expression, instead he is given a formula he must follow. As long as he follows the formula he receives an A.
In the fifth grade I once had to write a report on Pueblo Indians. The idea was to search out facts from encyclopedias and compile them in a report. Since I found listing facts boring, I decided to write a story about a group of children visiting a Pueblo Indian village. In the story the children find out through exploring the village all the things I learned from the encyclopedias.
Very proud of my amusing, exciting, and interesting presentation; I handed it in. The teacher angrily returned it and told me to rewrite it as a dry list of facts. She wasn't interested in different approaches from her own, she just wanted facts. Thus, my own creativity and self-expression was suppressed and discouraged. Only years later at the age of 17, when I found out I could express myself through painting, did I begin to redevelop my individuality. My own creative discovery was a vital part of self realization because it allowed me to express myself and my personal creativity. This important discovery made me aware that creative expression had no place in the educational system.
Even in art classes, where I should think development of individual creative style would be encouraged, it is not. Instead, students are taught how to duplicate accomplished artists' styles.
I saw the epitome of this pedagogic brain-washing when I visited Bennington College in Vermont. I visited the art department and saw students' art work displayed all along the corridors. I stopped at the first display of 30 to 40 drawings. They were all exactly alike in technique, style, theme, and in every other way. Wondering why someone would draw so many drawings of the same thing I looked at the signatures. I couldn't believe my eyes, they were all made by different people! Somehow this school had managed to suppress and mechanically process one of the most creative means of self expression. What really amazed me was that they were proudly displaying this, calling it good art education.
I think this must change. In my opinion creative accomplishment, tangible self expression, in short, self realization should all be incorporated into the educational system. That's why I want to become an educator. I want to help and encourage children, through development of creativity and self expression, to become happy, creative, productive people. Perhaps eventually I may influence change in the entire system's attitude towards individuality and originality.
I believe that creativity is one of the most important sources of man's enrichment and happiness. Creative thinking is what challenges society, questioning conventional attitudes and inspiring change.
