Subject: Creativity

Posted by Heather Blau on 10/11/2010
In Reply To:Creativity Posted by Jay Forrester on 10/10/2010

Message:

Jay/ George- I'm interested in this connection between business leaders and education. Why do you think so many in the business world are supporting test driven education? Why are those who has clearly been innovative in their own work (ex: Bill Gates) so heavily funding projects that are so closely tied to high stakes testing?

There seems to be some confusion between "accountability" (aka tests as the primary benchmark for success/failure) and "responsibility" (in the sense that Connie uses it, as a motivator toward innovation vs. motivation to conform to preset concepts of right or wrong). Could we further develop George's powerful words to sift through and directly illustrate ways that high stakes testing as a tool might inadvertently undermine the larger goals of learning (creativity, innovation) in a way that those in power (Bloomberg/Klien, Duncan/Obama, ed. philanthropists such as Gates Foundation) might see the error of their ways?

Let's be careful about what we're labeling good/bad here- innovation can happen in any field/content area (science/math or the humanities), also "public/private schools" tells us very little about the learning process/environment; it describes the funding stream which fuels the organization. Many varied experiences fall under these umbrellas (though that variety seems to be narrowing under high stakes testing).

I absolutely love this Malcolm Gladwell article. Though it's particular scope (racial profiling) seems peripheral, it has broader implications for noticing how generalizations impact our decision making.: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/06/060206fa_fact He talks about stable (generalizations which remain true over time, beyond culture/ context) and unstable generalizations (generalizations that are time/place/culture specific, changeable). It might be worthwhile to dig deeper, beyond George's discovery that these exceptional innovators grew up in small towns and had school teacher mothers and ask: What types of experiences might these innovators have had in their small towns and with their teacher mothers that fostered their capacity to innovate? Those there is likely some degree of stability in George's generalizations (which generation(s) are they from?), I doubt any of us are ready to buy into the idea that a kid growing up in a big city, w/ a mother who works in any field other than education is doomed to conformity/ lack of creativity. (And I'm sure we can find many innovators whose bios don't fit this description.)

Charles- If you're on this list serv- I'd guess your kids are more likely than not to end up to develop into creative beings. If you're asking the question- what can I do better?- you're already modeling innovative thinking!

Heather

Follow Ups:

Creativity - Andrew Beesley 10/11/2010 
Creativity - Cal 10/11/2010
Creativity - Sharon Villines 10/11/2010
Creativity - Philip Skolmoski 10/11/2010
Creativity - Janice Hansel 10/12/2010
Creativity - Warren Farr 10/11/2010 
Creativity - Warren Farr 10/11/2010
Creativity - Kathy Arizmendi 10/11/2010