Brenes 1 Anthony Brenes Exploratory Essay: Creativity and Problem Solving in Public Education Education is a creature of its own,

continually adapting and fighting for survival in an ever changing world. Its goal is to produce the most qualified students to enter the future work force and ultimately become productive citizens. The question that has haunted educators for years is how this can be done to maximize results. Professionals have analyzed educational techniques and school systems for generations and have developed an array of strategies. One main argument is that school systems should be restructured in order to embrace creativity and problem solving in students rather than strictly developing a limited structured skill set. If students know how to use their brains to think through a situation, they can adapt and overcome any obstacle when there is no standard approach. Once a year 1000 remarkable people gather in Monterey California to share something of incalculable value, their ideas (Sir Ken Robinson). At the annual Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in 2006, Sir Ken Robinson stated his opinions on the future of education and the direction it must go. He states that currently all education systems have a hierarchy of education with core subjects such as math and the humanities placed at the top, trailed by the arts. Currently if students excel in an area that is not valued by society their skills are often taken for granted and they are pushed to narrow their focus to a core subject. He states Education is meant to take us to a future that we cant grasp (Sir Ken Robinson). His point is that at the rate society is advancing and changing now by the time students just beginning their education complete it the World will be a different place. This idea is important to Robinson because he questions how societys education system is structured in order to best prepare students for a future that can not be predicted. (Sir Ken Robinson).

Brenes 2 Robinson argues that we must rethink intelligence and the current fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. To restructure education in order to prepare students for the future, we must place emphasis on creativity and value what students are naturally good at. He defines creativity as The process of developing an original idea that has value (Sir Ken Robinson). His point is that if we teach students to use their natural abilities to generate original ideas they can adapt to an ever-changing environment and continue advancing (Sir Ken Robinson). How might other educators respond to Sir Ken Robinsons opinion that creativit y should be embraced and incorporated in school systems? Jean Anyon the author of Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work would strongly agree. She completed a study that analyzed schools within districts whose demographics represented distinct economic classes of society ranging from working class schools to executive elite schools. She found it shocking how different the schools educational systems were not so much in resources as in teaching methods and philosophies of education (Anyon, Jean). She found that in working class schools education is taught through following steps and procedures and evaluated as to whether they were followed correctly, in middle class schools education was focused around making decisions about a situations approach and getting the right answer, and in affluent or executive professional schools work is centered around creativity, problem solving, deriving solutions, and reason. In the upper class schools education is more of a collaborative discussion (Anyon, Jean). The results of this study brings one to question that if schools can be structured in a way that promotes problem solving and creativity without the need of additional resources then why arent they?

Brenes 3 Sir Ken Robinson would further agree with this statement. He argues that current school systems teach students to fear reaching an incorrect conclusion. He states If you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original (Sir Ken Robinson). Working class and middle class schools teach students to fear reaching a wrong conclusion, and upper class schools teach them to embrace the methods they used to reach them in order to problem solve (Anyon, Jean). Both educators would agree that structuring schools similarly to that of the upper class schools in the study gives students the ability to logically think through situations where a set standard procedure cannot be applied. This is an essential skill set to have when preparing students for a future society that cant possibly be predicted. Another study completed by Earl Shorris assessed the impact that studying the humanities could have on underprivileged adult students facing hardship. When the students reached him most were in a state of desperation, several were homeless, had been to prison, were suffering from disease and facing death, or were pregnant and uneducated with limited options. He predicted that the study would empower them giving them the ability to think through situations rather than just reacting to them. He stated Will the humanities make you rich? Yes. Absolutely. But not in terms of money. In terms of life. (Shorris, Earl). He further explains to the students that the humanities can give you the tools one needs to analyze a situation and solve it not by force but through negotiation and politics. He argues that this is the way to gain and reach power in society. He supports his claims through the results of his experiment (Shorris, Earl). A prime example of how the humanities improved the lives of Shorris students was when one student with a quick temper and history of violence used the philosophy of Socrates to think through a situation. When having a conflict with a co-worker the student restrained himself

Brenes 4 from violence and instead thought through the situation using logic. One year after the completion of the study all sixteen participants were in school or working full time. The positive results of this experiment and the impact it has had is irrefutable and has changed lives. This portrays the message that at any age problem solving skills and creativity developed through education can be used to improve ones quality of life and success (Shorris, Earl). The common point amongst these three educators is that embracing problem solving and creativity must be a focus of American school systems in order to prepare students for a successful future. In todays fast paced world the only way to be successful is to be adaptive to changing situations. All three educators may have a different approach but each reach the same conclusion. Now citizens with a vested interest in Americas educations system are just left with one question. If the need of a restructured education system that focuses on problem solving and creativity has been identified, how can we begin this restructuring effort and why is it not already in the process of taking place in order to make the countrys students more locally and globally competitive?

Brenes 5 Works Cited Anyon, Jean. "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work." Journal of Education 162.1 (1980): Print. Shorris, Earl. On the Uses of A Liberal Education: II. As a Weapon in the Hands of the Poor. Considering Literacy: Reading and Writing The Educational Experience. Ed. Linda Adler-Kasser. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 187-200. Print. Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? . Dir. Ted Talks. 2006. youtube.com. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&playnext=1&list=PL8900F18C09C 1011C&feature=results_video>.