Astronomer

^ Doesn't mean you weren't smart nor creative... it means the teachers you had weren't able to engage you or facilitate your learning and your creativity.

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The Monkey

No, all of the most creative people I know are educated at least to some degree in university.

boo boo

Good schools.

I gotta admit, that was funny. I am of course talking from a strictly American viewpoint.

I dropped out of school in 3rd grade, and I can tell you for a fact that I'm smarter than most people I know with a high school education.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

The Unfan

Did you at least go back and get your G.E.D.? I "dropped out" at during 8th grade and when I tested for my GED I scored within the 99th percentile for the state on everything but math, and within 90+ on everything but math nation wide,

Thel problem with America's school system is that it teaches memorization skills but not real world, problem solving or logic based skills.

boo boo

Nope. I do hope to work on getting a G.E.D. though.

Schools nowadays are less about education and more about simply earning status and credibility. And like you said, it's all memorization and trial and error stuff. It dosen't encourage problem solving and creative thinking like it should.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Janszoon

Let's rephrase that to "strictly Tennessee" viewpoint rather than "strictly American".

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

NumberNineDream

creativity cannot be taught, it can only be expanded with the right knowledge. But it's either there or not. The technique on the other hand can be taught, but it shouldn't be the base. If we stick to technique there wouldn't be any experimentation, thus reducing the imaginary.

School and university tend to strictly teach technique, because it is in a way objective, and for everyone. However, teaching subjects that are restricted to imagination can be even more dangerous, as it is purely subjective. Teachers tend to define the good project following their own taste, thus undermining any project somehow different.

I feel teachers shouldn't teach theory, cause anything these days can just be googled. On the other hand it's better to have an experienced person telling us where and how to wander in our research without telling what's right and wrong. The teacher should expand our horizons, show us a different way of thinking. Unfortunately, teachers always have the urge to transform all students into their little clones.

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storymilo

I'm still stuck in middle school so I can probably identify with a lot of this more than you guys.

I go to public school which unfortunately enforces these fucking "CMTs" (Connecticut Mastery Test) which teach us nothing and have been basically the same since 5th grade. But luckily, while some teachers make us cram and study for these things there are also ones who don't really give a shit.

So basically in my opinion it's the teacher that matters, not the school. If the teacher is willing to let us be creative and actually teach us useful things, then it doesn't matter if there are also stupid tests that we have to take.

OceanAndSilence

i agree with this. many teachers (and sadly, parents) enforce attributes of themselves to their children, some inadvertently, some not. i remember talking to a stranger who believed that intelligence was hereditary, in a genetic fashion. i think it a ridiculous notion. people may argue nature vs. nurture, but i believe there is a place for both. it cannot be denied that each individual has natural talent, but those talents must be nurtured, and it takes great teachers to foster such talent.

the problem with schooling and strict education is that it has grown archaic, and is disregarding the main proponent for its cause: the people affected by the system.

my schooling experiences weren't terrible, but the one thing i do know for a fact is that the teachers had a massive impact upon my learning. in year 8, for example, i had an ineffective math teacher. he wasn't necessarily unqualified, he just had the social ability and interpersonal skills of an old shoe. he couldn't control the class. it badly affected all of our learning. he got fired the year after. now i cannot easily perform the simplest of maths. that one experience degraded my ability and interest in maths. i'm just lucky that i had good art and english teachers.

i'm actually glad i'm out of school now; i hated it. then i went to university to study music, where i thought i'd encounter like-minded individuals; i hated that too. the worst part of compulsory schooling is that many children don't necessarily need it. the best parts of school are the personal relationships that are formed... because i'd just appropriate my level of work to which subjects i like the most. by the end i had pretty much given up.

Classof75

My daughter was artistic before she started school. We have always supplied her with lots of materials to create whatever she wished. She has alot of natural talent. Parents are the best "educators". If you wait for schools to teach your kids, they will already be behind when they start.