Kubat 1

Aaron Kubat
Mrs. Pettay
ENG 111
21 January 2016

Do Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson, in his TED talk Do Schools Kill Creativity, made an important
impression on me as I watched him speak and later went back and looked at what he said through
his transcript. His thesis for the talk was simply that creativity now is as important in education
as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status. This is a belief that I subscribe to. I n
believe that supporting and encouraging young people to think creatively will bring about
societal and technological change that will make the world become more and more like the
utopia found in Star Trek.
Technical knowledge is very important. It allows people to understand the natural world
and the technology that others have created, possibly paving the way for new inventions or
improvements made upon already existing technology. However, without creativity, these
inventions would never have been made in the first place. Creativity, it would seem, is the fule
for innovation, invention, and major scientific breakthroughs.
The Star Trek Multiverse is the prominent example of such a concept in the world of
fiction ( fiction being, in many cases, social commentary). If one watches an episode from any
series of Star Trek, especially after the Original Series, one will undoubtedly come across a
problem that causes the main characters to not only have to have the technical prowess to

Kubat 2
understand the science or the math behind the problem, but the creativity to effectively use their
knowledge. If knowledge is the car itself (or in the case of Star Trek, a space ship), creativity is
the engine.
Creativity also gives children the guts to do something different or unique and not worry
about getting it wrong. According to Robinson, Theyre not frightened of being wrong. He
goes on to explain that in the current education system, there are major, and in the eyes of overachievers, dire consequences that come with making even the simplest mistakes. The fact of the
matter however is that if one want to be creative, one is going to be wrong, most likely, more
often than not. Its like when Edison talks about his mistakes as ways to rule out possibilities.
In Star Trek, people are encouraged to go out and try new things and make mistakes.
There is a clear understanding that this is how people learn. Fancy book learning may help you
on a test but mistakes build instinct. It is only through experience that someone can get the little
voice in their head guiding them, and it is only through making mistakes that someone gains
experience.
Whether one needs to solve a complex problem or getting real world experience, young
people need to learn to be creative. Placing emphasis on creativity, the same way that the powers
that be have placed an emphasis on technical learning will cause society to grow on intellectual,
moral, and yes, even technical levels, eventually causing a chain reaction making todays society
closer to the Star Trek Utopia.

Kubat 3