Do schools kill creativity?

Can kids actually lose their creativity in school? Here’s how the late Sir Ken Robinson says teaching kids to fear failure keeps them from experimenting:

http://t.ted.com/H9xhifU

Absolutely! Sir Ken Robinson was a fierce advocate for nurturing creativity in education, arguing that traditional systems often condition children to fear failure—discouraging them from taking risks and thinking outside the box. This mindset is especially relevant to studying maths.

Maths is often seen as a subject with rigid rules, where there’s only one correct answer. But true mathematical thinking—problem-solving, logical reasoning, and pattern recognition—requires exploration and creativity. When students fear making mistakes, they become reluctant to experiment, which stifles their ability to discover new solutions and truly engage with the subject.

Mistakes in maths (or any learning) aren’t failures; they’re stepping stones to deeper understanding. A student who confidently tries different approaches, even if they make errors, will gain a much stronger grasp of concepts than one who memorizes formulas without questioning them. Encouraging exploratory learning—allowing students to play with numbers, question solutions, and even develop their own problem-solving methods—keeps maths from becoming just about right or wrong answers. It turns it into a space for discovery.

So, embracing failure as part of the learning process is crucial. Some of history’s greatest mathematical breakthroughs came from trial and error, proving that creativity and curiosity are just as vital in maths as they are in the arts!