« Every child is born
an artist » said Picasso. Hence the problem is to remain one as we grow
up. Yet isn’t it one of the purposes of education? In the last decade, there
have been increasing criticisms towards our educational system. Among the protesters, Sir Ken Robinson, an English international advisor on
education, is one of the most vocal. Indeed, his conferences are followed
worldwide and have got millions of hits so far. He bases his speech upon a very
inspiring report: « All Our futures: Creativity, Culture and
Education » published in 1999 by the National Advisory Committee on Creative
and Cultural Education in Britain. (Continues below the fold…)
by
AA
His major argument is that
our current system was conceived for the age of « enlightment » when an
« industrial education » was to be implemented due to the economic imperatives
of the time. Hence, a hierarchy of subjects was set up in order to serve the
needs of industrialization, stigmatizing certain fields, like the arts. As a
consequence, many people would have left the academic system because their
ability was not enough acknowledged or rewarded. In other words, we are unconsciously
getting rid of creative minds that do not find their place in school. In that
sense, school would « destroy creativity ».
However, what is creativity
and how can one promote it? It can be defined as the ability to have original
and valuable ideas. We are all born
creative, and the role of education is to maintain this ability as long as
possible, by stimulating people and creating interactions.
Hence the proposing and
opposing team will be facing a major issue: Does current education support
the process of creativity among people?
Let’s keep in mind that, with
the current demographic growth and the skyrocketing access to education, our
system is no longer sustainable. Nowadays, more and more people are graduating
from college, creating what Robinson calls an « academic inflation ».
In the past, one had to get a degree to eventually find a job. This once
ordinary scheme is no longer systematic. Therefore, should education be
reformed to adapt to the needs of the 21rst century?
For example, France have some
of the strongest and most powerful companies in the world (L’Oréal, Total,
LVMH,…). If they are strong, they are necessarily innovative; otherwise they
would not survive the current tough market. Yet these companies are led by
people who graduated from the top French institutions. Can we conclude that
everything is working well? The answer is not that trivial as almost no
international company has been created in France since 1970 (contrary to Google,
Microsoft or Facebook in the USA)!
Does it reflect the lack of
creativity in French elite schools? Is
our teaching method questionable?
If one considers the
« classes préparatoire aux grandes écoles », do they trigger or inhibit
the power of creativity? Indeed these formations are very intensive and quantitative;
the students are bound to master a large amount of knowledge in very little
time (equivalent of 3 B.A in 2 years), in order to prepare the very competitive
exams. Furthermore this stream focuses heavily on math and has the advantage of
shaping very rational and analytical minds. Yet is that large assimilation of
knowledge a relevant way to develop people’s creativity?
To solve this question,
both parties will have to identify the key factors that lead to inventiveness
and innovation. Among them, one notes the importance of collaboration between people.
Indeed, as intelligence is diverse, one truly learns from others. Secondly, one has to demystify the seriousness
of failure. I don’t say that creativeness and failure are equivalent, but as
stated in Robinson’s report, if one is not prepared to be wrong, one will never
come up with something original! An education that promotes creativity is an
education where mistakes are not stigmatized. Errors allow people to pick
themselves up. As a matter a fact, many medicines like penicillin, Viagra, were
created by errors of experiments.
The stakes raised by
education are high. As engineering students, will both teams be able to
highlight the pros and cons as well as the major factors that make creativity
live inside people?
AA
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