“Creativity is as important as literacy…”

In one of my favorite TED talk videos, Ken Robinson discusses how the education system affects our creativity. He challenges us to rethink our educational focus on creativity and intelligence.

“Creativity is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” – Sir Ken Robinson

This is a great presentation! Robinson is entertaining and makes a strong case. For example, he points out that children’s minds are filled with innovation and talent. As we get older, we tend to lose our creativity. Think about it–in Kindergarten we spend time in art class or drawing pictures, but in college we rarely use glue or scissors.

Robinson shares the insight that kids are willing to take a chance and they aren’t afraid to because they haven’t learned the stigma about mistakes. As they continue through school the focus switches from creativity to math and reading eventually losing sense of their imagination.