Without creativity to boost our lives and capture our attention, life would be completely uneventful. In their article, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman state, “All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care”. This applies to school education as well. Modern kids are not creative, and we need to help them become creative. The solution to this problem is simple: boost the creativity of the teacher, and you will boost the creativity of the student. My opinion on this topic is that creativity means doing something you would normally do in a different way. Therefore, if the teacher does something that he or she could have done one way differently, that is being creative.
First of all, our subjects and the way our subjects are taught could become more interesting. For example, consider science. Instead of having students learn off of blackboards, videos, or textbooks, teachers should allow them to do experiments on their own. Allow them to discover for themselves (with additional help from textbooks) why something happens. Make science interesting for the students. Capture their attention. As George Washington Carver says, “When you can do a common thing in an uncommon way; you will command the attention of the world”. This means that if a teacher teaches creatively, in a way different from usual, he/she ‘will command the attention of the world’, or, in this case, his students.
Second, if a teacher teaches in a way that is creative, students will follow his example. It will teach them to be creative and nourish them for when they are older. Then, thanks to the teacher, they will accomplish something. The famous painter Vincent Van Gogh claimed: “Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together”. This means that if we help the kids think creatively, we will be preparing them for a more important day, the day they grow up. And when they are grown up, they will accomplish great things, not by impulse, but because we helped them when they are younger.
Third, there does not need to be a class teaching creativity. Students can learn to be creative on their own. By teaching a class on creativity, teachers are basically showing the kids how to be creative. However, that is something students should figure out for themselves. Teachers should let them be creative. Let them think up things to keep them from being bored. Let them be curious. Dorothy Parker asserts: “The key for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity”. Therefore, we do not need to teach creativity, we only need to teach creatively.
Many people, however, can argue against this statement and say, “We should teach a class in creativity”. This claim is simple to refute just by observing student behaviors. In a class that teaches creativity, how many people would actually learn? Not many. Most of the students would probably be bored waiting for the day to be over. It would just be an additional class that they have to get through before they can go home. On the other hand, in a class that teaches creatively, not one student would get bored. Why? They would be curious, they would be interested, and they would want to learn. And they would learn. Instead of not paying attention, they would listen to the teacher’s every word, until he/she has finished saying it.
We can conclude that creativity should become part of our daily life. In being creative while teaching, students will be interested in schoolwork. They will want to learn. Also, they will follow such an example, and perhaps accomplish something great in the future. Therefore, there is no need to teach creativity, only to teach creatively. Creativity is essential for life.
Now that we know that creativity is essential to life, it is the job of teachers to be role models, paving the way for students to become creative. It may not seem like it matters now, but in the future, being creative can make a big difference: in your home, at your job, and in the environment around you. Being creative is what helps the world progress. If everything happened the same way every single day, what progress would be made?