Things that come to my mind about school Secondary School  (EDIT: High School in North America): Force fed knowledge, cramming numbers and historical information, depression, pressure and anxiety. Was I taught to think otherwise? Nope.

Don’t get me wrong. General knowledge is extremely important for a growing person. But destroying the love of learning and education in a budding adult looks to me like a problem.

School taught me one thing about life: Fear. Fear of the future, fear of not being accepted, fear of making mistakes. Might as well give up, no?

Creativity, which is something I feel really strongly about, was never really fostered at my school. Any unique thought was quashed in class and in the school yard as well. Conformity was the rule, no exceptions. The better you conform the more accepted you are socially and probably even by teachers.

I never really felt inspired enough to pick up a book on a class related topic and learn. Instead I sought out the knowledge I wanted and had to scavenge on my own. Would it be music or digital arts, coding or programming, graffiti, I had to go out into the wilderness, find it myself then devour it. I spent more time working on things I loved than on homework, which in turn gets me into more trouble.

I loved those days and wished that I could do it all over again. Unfortunately the rent needs to be paid and bread has to be put on the table…

I can hear educators mumbling already, blaming me for the lack of interest and laziness. But oddly enough thanks to my schooling, I’m pretty much used to it already.

There are exceptions

If you happen to be as lucky as myself to have a music teacher who actually let me experiment with various instruments and the complete spectrum of music, I most likely never would have developed a love for the art of music at all. Learning lessons suddenly wasn’t learning at all. I just picked up the instrument and played along. It simply was. Learning happened so organically.

Today, although being primarily an interface and graphic designer I still think that music shapes my everyday life would it be at work or in life.

Final Thoughts

I can’t help but imagine how life would have been if all classes were as hands on and inspiring as my music class was at the time. Instead I find myself absolutely uninspired by general schooling. I fear there is still no solution in sight, in fact I have the growing feeling that the addiction to academic achievement has become greater and the need to teach and nurture creativity is fading away. So on that note, I give Creativity in Schools the illustrious WTF seal of approval.

Related Links

Sir Ken Robinson says school kills creativity @ TED 2006