Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity ??

"If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”"

(Ken Robinson)

 
At first, this whole idea of schools killing creativity sounds way too critical and hard to relate to. But if we keep an open mind and try to relate to where Sir Ken Robinson is coming from, all of a sudden his ideas do make sense in terms of thinking critically and thinking "outside the box".

I definitely agree with his constructive criticism towards the pressure or fear of making mistakes not only in schools, but also in our everyday lives. Not only the educational systems but also political systems contribute to this.

The times we were raised in or where we grew up play tremendous roles in who we are today and how we think. So it would be safe to assume that political systems do shape the mass psychology of a current society, and educational systems therefore are shaped by that current political system. It is a chain of interactions between systems that lead us to the smallest particle in this chain of action/reaction, and the smallest particles are -> individuals.
 
For example, from my own personal experiences I can tell that in Russia we had "must" courses such as vocal training, piano, dancing, drama...From my generation it is hard to come across someone who doesn't know how to play the piano, or can't read notes, or isn't familiar with the art forms of impressionism or expressionism, who doesn't have a basic knowledge of world literature classics, skating, skiing, etc. The reason of this is the previous political system, mentality of which still exists in today's Russia. When we go deeper into the social motivation of "being able to do everything or knowing everything at a decent level" mentality, we can see that underlying urge or even ambition is to represent Russia by being successful in world events, competitions and draw a politically strong, proud image of an average individual who grew up there.

But why have such social pressure of succeeding and being "the best" in everything you compete as a nation? The answer to this question is again pressure. For example when Russia wins a Gold Medal in the Olympics, what kind of image of a nation or of an individual who grew up in Russia does it impose? Or it is not a coincidence that Russia is one of the most successful nations when it comes to the Olympics or fields of Classical Music, Ice-Skating, Dancing, Literature, Arts, Space, Mathematics, etc. All of these winnings, I'm not even counting the popularity that it brings, based on an international platform add into the national image of Russia being "strong" or is enough to cause fear on a political level.

Ken Robinson mentions one of the Picasso's quotes:
"All children are born artists". And yes, as we grow up we also grow out of our childhood, creativity and so forth, but the reason of this is not only educational systems, but also political systems, history and social psychology of a nation.

Click here to watch Ken Robinson's speech of schools killing creativity.