How (and why) our education system crushes creativity

[iago]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Sorry for the long title, but eh? This is a pretty good video. It's 20 minutes long, with lots of jokes (many of them lame), but basically revolves around one of the problems with our education system: we are discouraged from making mistakes and trying new things. Watch the full video and come to your own conclusions -- I enjoyed it.

[Chavo]

What is this our business? Damn Canadians

[while1]

What is this our business? Damn Canadians

Because as demonstrated by your reply, our education system fails as much as the Canadian education system! kekeke

[iago]

What is this our business? Damn Canadians

Because as demonstrated by your reply, our education system fails as much as the Canadian education system! kekeke

Exactly. The video is about the American system, but in reality they're all based on the same European system (German, iirc), which was essentially designed to prepare people to work in factories and stuff.

[Chavo]

I was clearly going for the cheap jab :P

I know a number of people that home school their kids and while I'm not sure I would do it because of the missed opportunity for developing social skills, they are almost always very well educated and agreeable (if introverted) people.  I can't really recall whether I've found them more creative or not.

[Ender]

Well I agree that K-12 education sucks, but college is good.

[iago]

I was clearly going for the cheap jab :P

I know a number of people that home school their kids and while I'm not sure I would do it because of the missed opportunity for developing social skills, they are almost always very well educated and agreeable (if introverted) people.  I can't really recall whether I've found them more creative or not.

Homeschooling seems to have a lot of potential. A friend of mine (not coincidentally, the one that sent me that link) homeschools his kids. But there are multiple families that do it together, so you don't lose the social interaction (as much). It's definitely an interesting idea.

I found it interesting in that video when they described the dancer, because it reminds me of his daughter -- she likes to run around and dance and stuff. The typical reaction of people is to stifle it ("control your children!"), but is that the best thing for her? Dunno. :)

[deadly7]

I know a number of people that home school their kids and while I'm not sure I would do it because of the missed opportunity for developing social skills, they are almost always very well educated and agreeable (if introverted) people.  I can't really recall whether I've found them more creative or not.

You seem to have a highly misrepresented idea of what homeschooling is actually like. Yeah, if it's done wrong, you have easily introverted people. But those people woudl be introverted anyway.

[Chavo]

Homeschooling seems to have a lot of potential. A friend of mine (not coincidentally, the one that sent me that link) homeschools his kids. But there are multiple families that do it together, so you don't lose the social interaction (as much). It's definitely an interesting idea.

That's a good idea.  Now that you mention it I think I'd heard of it before but don't know anyone who participates.

I found it interesting in that video when they described the dancer, because it reminds me of his daughter -- she likes to run around and dance and stuff. The typical reaction of people is to stifle it ("control your children!"), but is that the best thing for her? Dunno. :)

I found that example to be more indicative of problems with the psychology "industry" than education models.  I have a cousin who is legitimately ADHD and isn't able to hold a job of any kind when he is off his meds.  In his case, the drug is necessary.  I suppose you could argue that he could have had some career-worthy talent that was missed and not developed because of the drugs/education model but based on my experience with him I can't say that I find that to be likely. The dancer was an example outside the norm but effective for illustrating his point (which I agree has merit).

You seem to have a highly misrepresented idea of what homeschooling is actually like. Yeah, if it's done wrong, you have easily introverted people. But those people woudl be introverted anyway.

Probably :) Most of the home-schooled people I know are either people I met at academic events such as Science Olympiad or children of coworkers.

[iago]

I found that example to be more indicative of problems with the psychology "industry" than education models.  I have a cousin who is legitimately ADHD and isn't able to hold a job of any kind when he is off his meds.  In his case, the drug is necessary.  I suppose you could argue that he could have had some career-worthy talent that was missed and not developed because of the drugs/education model but based on my experience with him I can't say that I find that to be likely. The dancer was an example outside the norm but effective for illustrating his point (which I agree has merit).

Yeah, it's really hard to say. Getting a "job" in our world is pretty narrow -- most talents/interests won't lead to sustainable jobs, so people end up doing something they hate.

[deadly7]

Probably :) Most of the home-schooled people I know are either people I met at academic events such as Science Olympiad or children of coworkers.

Makes sense. I get into this debate a lot with friends of mine and, since I'm very much so in support of homeschooling for the majority [if not all of] K-12, I've educated myself. Most, if not all, school districts also allow students living in their region to play sports with them; if not, there are also citywide sports for most things. So really, the child is like any other child: he can be as social or as unsocial as he wants to be. If he doesn't want to deal with people in a team because he hates people, he'll hate people whether or not he's in public school. The hardest thing seems to be if parents want to educate their own children as opposed to paying for a professional tutor. I would want to teach my own kids as much as I could, but obviously that may or may not be a viable option.

[Sidoh]

In many cases, I object to home schooling because parents have enough freedom to teach their kids from nonsense like Of Pandas and People.