It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be… Experts say creativity is innate, so it can’t really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured.

via today.msnbc.msn.com

I remember when I was entering my first teaching position seven years ago, a colleague mentioned that “kids today lack creativity.” I totally disagreed and thought she was selling the students short. I did, in fact, find the students to be quite creative—I also made it a priority to build a classroom that fosters creativity and critical thinking and paid the state test little to no mind until the week before.

This article reports that scores on several tests of creativity have been decreasing, while SAT scores have been increasing. The writers conclude that the focus on testing throughout kids’ schooling, which teaches kids that there is only one right answer, is suppressing creativity and divergent thinking in Americans.

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Ariel Sacks

Ariel Sacks began her 13-year teaching career in New York City public schools after earning her master’s degree at Bank Street College and has taught and coached in grades 7-9. She is the author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach (Jossey-Bass, 2014) and writes a teaching column for Education Week Teacher.

Ariel’s work as a teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality involved her in co-authoring Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Public Schools – Now and in the Future. She was also featured in the CTQ book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead Without Leaving.

She is currently working on a book about the role of creative writing in equitable, 21st century schools, and she speaks and leads workshops on the whole novels approach.

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