Schools Kill Creativity

By Donny Merrill

Donny Merrill is currently the Creative Director at STEDI.org. He has been a graphic designer for ten years, and has won a Telly award in 2004 for a documentary movie he filmed. He is working on getting a BFA in both Graphic Design and Secondary Art Education from Utah State University. He hopes to teach art in the public high schools of Utah.

This movie from TED.com with Sir Ken Robinson will be an inspiration for me when I become a teacher. I only hope that I will be able to see and help students to become the leaders of tomorrow, and do the things that they love.

He said a few things of note that I really appreciated; he told us that we don't grow into creativity but we grow out of creativity. Pablo Picasso said that "children are born artists," I believe that. My children love to experiment and create art and projects. Most of the good artists that I have met in my college career (that isn't over yet) you would say suffer from ADHD. We have a very hard time sitting still and paying attention in classes, but we create wonderful works of art.

I hope that the way education is run in America can change. I hope that there can be a better balance between the arts and the so called core elements in education. Creativity, it plays a very important role in life, we wouldn't have the products that make our lives easier without creativity.

Keep the arts in schools.