Comments on: Notes on Schooling and Creativity

By: Ben Curtis

Ben Curtis — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:17:10 +0000

HI Emma, nice to see you here! I agree about the TV / Ads etc – just watched tv myself for the first time in 6 months, and after 5 mins switched off, so happy not to have those horrendous ads in my life these days!

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:25:43 +0000

So bizarre seeing this here .. I listened to this some time ago – just came to look at your site after a convo with Tom about Ivozi and found it beautifully coincidental to see this here. Anyway I love this TED talk, have recommeded it to others and am similiarly disillusioned with education in the UK .. thoughts are too long to type here. I simply maintain that I will be taking my children “out of the system” (think carefully about those words!)for a year minimum.. and I think the same applies to the media to which they are exposed to TV/ Ads/ Computer Games. Where and How do children learn to think? Education as we know it has become glorified Child Care.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:13:02 +0000

The focus on “formacion del grupo” rather than creativity is a bit frustrating here. My guess is that places that have more international influence is likely to have more innovative educational options.

Who knows though… eg I would never have guessed that A Coruna would be a center for Reggio Emilia.

The Spanish system isn’t bad (there was a recent study that showed that when correcting for parental education levels, Spain actually does quite well compared to other European countries).

The school day is very long here, so you really have to think about what your kids are doing for 8 hours a day.

If you want your kids to live here, going to the right school to get the right “enchufe” is sadly critical as well.

By: Colemar

Colemar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:33:48 +0000

My daughter has been in schools in spain and in Britain and i think that there is no doubt that the spanish system is good on teaching basics and the British system, even with sats etc, is much more focussed on creativity. I would say that the creative industries are much stronger in the UK than spain and that conformity is not prized in the UK in the way it is in Spain.

By: Hollis

Hollis — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:53:56 +0000

I guess funcionario is similar to US teachers / professors who have tenure and something may be lost in translation here but funcionario sounds dire compared to tenure which connotes achievement. Fascinating post Ben … thanks for sharing!

By: Pippa

Pippa — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:29:57 +0000

I agree wigh LAH. You cannot have the perfect education. I went to a school which I suppose is what they call it “colegio concertado”, had a traditional “learn things by heart”, but that did not stop me looking for other interests. I studied some music, sang in a choir, played the guitar a bit, my father introduced me to photography, studied English and German outside school, and later on, I have taken ceramics, bookbinding, basketry, patchwork, and anything I can get the hands on to be creative. So if you only do what you are tought at school, yes, you will not be very creative, but there are other ways. And I consider that I had a very good education, and it was not either in Madrid or Barcelona.

By: Freddy Rivers

Freddy Rivers — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:39:53 +0000

Ultimately, perhaps, it’s all down to the teacher/pupil relationship, at least in the early years. But in Spain, the funcionario system (i.e. it’s well-nigh impossible to fire state system teachers) means that there are many who are simply information providers, doing little more than providing materials for short-term memorization (like Londoner A-H’s teachers) and for exams. There ain’t much happening in the way of new methodologies, as far as I can see. Some children feel comfortable with that and respond to it. Others don’t. Whether they actually *learn* much is open to debate. But then what is learning? Answers on a postcard to the Spanish Ministry of Education

By: Londoner_at_heart

Londoner_at_heart — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:01:35 +0000

Very interesting debate indeed.

I don’t think there’s a perfect system anywhere in the world, simply because of the huge variety of kids’ personalities and talents and teachers’ styles and level of motivation. Looking back at my own childhood, i remember having very strong opinions about my teachers- those i liked and those i couldn’t stand or bored me to tears, as I’m sure we all do. I knew in some cases it didn’t mean they were bad teachers, but the wrong ones for me instead. If i didn’t trust the teacher i just ignored them and did the minimum to survive them. If i luked them, i listened -and i can still remember those teachers!

Same can be said about the system. I was lucky enough to have very good short term memory and being able to (most of the times) pay attention to what was going on in class. So i got good marks without much effort on my side. Which maybe didn’t do much for my creatuvity but gave me great confidence. However my very smart, very hard working sister had to work harder to get the same results, just because she was restless (one of those that need to move or do something with their hands to think) and didn’t have a photograpic memory. So i think any system that doesn’t take into accoubt different personalities and learning styles is going to be an imperfect one. But maybe the perfect one is just too expensive and complicated to be feasible?

By: bill (Legazpi)

bill (Legazpi) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:36:57 +0000

Ben – I’m not sure what you mean by “real creativity”. In terms of creative thought, I don’t think you can be more creative than carrying out academic research. The whole idea behind a PhD is that you come up with something new. Photography and writing are also creative of course, but I don’t think you can say that they involve “real creativity” and imply that more academic disciplines don’t.

Having said that, I don’t think the development of a child’s academic skills are that important up until the age of 11 or so, not because they are not creative, but because during those years there is other more important development taking place (character, confidence, inter-social skills, etc).

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:33:24 +0000

I think that living in a metroploitan area maybe more beneficial for alot of career paths, but living in the country may instill a different self- confidence and life experiences that is even more valuable than those of the city.
I’ve seen that ‘Learning: The Human Brian and the School for Life’ by Manfred Spitzer maybe a good read for you Ben.