Do public schools kill creativity?
Yes, I think they do. I watched Captain Science’s ability to think outside the box be slowly crushed during the course of his 3rd grade year, until he was afraid to think creatively (at least within the context of education) out of concern of chastisement by a disapproving authority figure. I saw the traits that made him unique treated as character flaws or manifestations of a disorder. I even went along with it at first, worried that I had simply been misinterpreting aberrant behavior as creativity.
Our story isn’t that unusual. It should be unusual. It should be completely off the wall, but it isn’t.
A friend recently shared some examples of class rules sent home by her daughter’s third grade teacher. The packet contained fifty rules that the children must follow. Not simple, two or three word rules, either, but fifty rules that meticulously spell out the exact behavior students were to exhibit under nearly every imaginable circumstance. Some examples:
Rule #3 of 50 — If someone in the class wins a game or does something well, we will congratulate that person. Claps should be at least three seconds in length with the full part of both hands meeting in a manner that will give the appropriate clap volume.
Rule #17 of 50 — We should be consistently be able to turn from one book to another, complete with all homework and necessary materials, as quickly as possible. The opportune amount of time to spend in transition should be less than ten seconds, and we will work toward a goal of seven seconds.
Rule #23 of 50 — Quickly learn the names of other teachers in the school and greet them by saying things like, “Good morning, Mrs. Graham,” or “Good afternoon, Ms. Ortiz. That is a very pretty dress.” Note: If you are in line with the rest of the class, you are not allowed to speak to the teachers at that time because the no talking rule is in effect.
Imagine your eight-year-old children receiving a list of fifty such rules. Do you see a lot of room for expressions of individuality within those rules? Would your child come out of that classroom more creative or less? Is this classroom, and the others like it, helping mold a generation of independent and abstract thinkers?
Sir Ken Robinson thinks public schools are killing, rather than nurturing, creativity, and speaks eloquently about it:
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[...] a link to more interesting commentary from SmrtMama. She writes about some Behavior Rules a friend’s third grader brought home – one of which details exactly how to clap [...]
Oh my god. that is not a real list? That is heartbreaking, disgusting and wrong! Children should be free to move about and not be treated like cattle. I am so glad that my sons go to schools that encourage their creativity with active play and help them learn at a pace most suited for each child.
Yep, it came from a local midwife friend, so this teacher is not only for real (the list is 100% serious!), but nearby! It’s not Mrs. Scales, either, which means there are at least TWO horrible teachers like this locally.
You hit the nail on the head as to top reason we homeschool. Lack of freedom, creativity and harassment of children who are not in the mold. Love your blog and all its sarcastic beauty.
Thank you for that lovely complement. “Sarcastic beauty.” I think I’ll get that tattooed on something. Flowing calligraphy across my ankle or tramp stamp with a rose?
OMG, what a horrible list of rules! I can’t imagine a third grader even comprehending anything that had 50 rules to it. What a freaking nightmare.
I asked if it was Mrs. Scales, but it wasn’t.
Those are… horrific.
Those rules make my brain hurt >.<
This is definitely one of the reasons I intend to homeschool my children. When I was in school as a child, I found that anything outside of the standard was punished, sometimes severely. I spent most of second grade recess inside recopying my homework from cursive to print. My father had taught me cursive at home, but my teacher told me I wasn’t supposed to learn that until the third grade, so she would not accept it. I remember friends, and even myself, finding errors in textbooks, worksheets and tests, but losing points for not finding the “correct” answer the teacher’s guide had listed. Writing papers on subjects outside the expected (not the instructed, but the unspoken expectations) in high school was all but an automatic fail. Curiosity as to why things were done the way they were was not rewarded with answers, but with dirty looks. How does that foster innovation in the next generation?
An approach of speak only when spoken to, sit or stand where you are assigned,and know as much as you are supposed to, but no more is no way to raise our children.
Captain Science’s 3rd grade teacher had frequent spelling and grammatical errors in her assignments and notes home. After she started marking down Captain S’s assignments in non-language arts areas (math, science) for spelling and grammar, I started copyediting her notes and assignments in red pen and returning them to her.
Wow! That list is something else. I agree, creativity is not encouraged.
Did you see the article in Newsweek about creativity that came out earlier this summer? One of the things they talked about was how our school system was moving away from facilitating creativity while the Asian school systems (in China in particular) were moving toward it and actually looking at the research and incorporating it. Depressing. So depressing.
In regards to school rules, when I was teaching, there was another small private school (not the more enlightened place I taught) that was infamous for having a rule book that was hundreds of pages long. As a friend said, it contained the history of the school in rule form. Every time a kid had done something wrong, they’d made up a rule for it. Kid brings a hamster and it gets loose. No hamsters for show and tell. Kid hits another kid with a backpack. No slinging backpacks around. You get the idea. Only 25 years worth of that. I think some people just don’t understand the whole idea of well written, appropriate rules.
Instead of rules as a framework for people to exercise common sense and develop maturity, they’re just creating a situation where people don’t have to think, just obey. Is this really the main life lesson we want our children to glean from 12 years of schooling?
That rule #3 really got me, that’s just ridiculous. I don’t think I’d handle a list of 50 rules to follow especially if they all looked like that. I’m still stuck on the three second rule of clapping, that just really messes with my head.
These rules are just terrible.
Five to ten rules should do it for any classroom, and none of those rules should be longer than five or six words. Treat others with respect. Remain quiet during lessons. Keep hands and feet to yourself. A teacher who needs 50 multi-sentence rules is a teacher incapable of commanding respect and maintaining order.
Wow! I didn’t know that Dear Leader Kim Jong-il had time to teach elemary school!
In Soviet Russia, school goes to YOU.
That’s awful. But honestly, I would say that sounds like just a horrible decision by that particular teacher. First of all, they aren’t even rules. They’re goals. I’m fine with her having a list of fifty goals for her class to achieve (now, those goals themselves are a whole other issue. . .), but it wasn’t at all appropriate to send that list home and say it’s the kids’/parents’ responsibility to achieve these.
It seems to me that if she’d taken one classroom management class she’d understand the difference between rules and goals and send home a list of 3-5 clear, concise rules. I’m gonna blame administration on this one, because they do teach you the right way to create classroom rules. But if the teacher slept through that day in class, well the administration should have a copy of each teachers’ policies and should have stepped in on this one.
While this specific packet of rules might be a one-teacher thing, the mentality isn’t. Micromanaging individual children’s behaviors is normal for public school, and especially in third grade, where (as my mom, a former 10-year public school employee says) they send the teachers who really can’t handle any other age group. This is a teacher problem, an administration problem, and a basic educational philosophy problem.
Those rules are just horrid! And yes, public school does crush the living soul of a child. How do you handle a child who thinks outside of the box? Tell their mother something’s wrong, make them go to a psychologist, and then give them Ritalin. Yep. This is one of the main reasons I want to hs my children. I do not want them to go through that. Yes, my older DD’s creativity errors on the side of eagles kidnapping her so the chicks can eat her brains (we do watch a lot of nature shows), but to me it shows she’s retaining and synthesizing. Plus it makes for some crazy stories. Sorry for the rant. The crushing of creativity (and vivaciousness) makes me grr. Just grr.
That’s what happened with Captain Science. His 3rd grade teacher was convinced that he had a syndrome or disorder; she kept talking about Asperger’s, insisted he needed OT, speech therapy, and regular therapy. We obliged her, got him assessed for everything and it turned out the only thing “wrong” with him was her — the therapist said he was a very well adjusted child with one exception: when she brought up school, he completely closed off, turned his back on her, and wouldn’t talk about it. Gee, I wonder why?
Non-conformists obviously have something wrong w/them so we must drug and therapy them into submission! From reading back through your posts, Captain Sciences has blossomed since coming home.
My older DD recently turned 4, so I have one year to figure out the logistics of hs’ing her when I work full-time and DH goes to school.
The change in him was amazing and rapid! He really blossomed in a short period of time.
The Seconds of the Clapping shall be Three; Not Two, nor Four. Five is Right Out.
Monty Python FTW!
Every time I think that the public schools can’t be THAT bad (as bad as the ones I was in as an ed student…as bad as the ones I was in as a kid), I read something like your post and realize: Yes. Yes, they can be THAT bad.
I haven’t made my mind up about homeschooling, but if my child came home with a list like that, s/he would not be returning to that classroom.
It’s like a friend I had as a kid, she went to a different elementary from me and her second grade teacher wouldn’t let her color things the “wrong” colors. Flowers must be red, grass green, sky blue. She had a freakin’ RULE about it.
I’m sure that teacher’s classes every year are just chock full of rule-breakers, which goes to show you how necessary her rules are.
Holy cow. I just… those poor kids.
Totally preposterous.
My hubby’s classroom rules.
1. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.
2. Be respectful of those around you and their property.
3. The teacher is the boss of you.
LOL.
Those are about the same as my personal home classroom rules:
1. Keep your hands and your feet and your mouth off your brother and sister.
2. Treat your stuff and my stuff with respect.
3. Your Mama is the boss of you.
Covers just about everything. Though Jon did add he has to frequently mention that nose picking is NOT appropriate classroom behavior.
These are my two rules:
1) Treat each person with respect.
2) Work to the best of your ability.