How School Crushes Creativity

By Karma Peters

HAS TRADITIONAL EDUCATION BECOME AN UNHAPPY AND IRREPARABLY UNPRODUCTIVE PASSAGE FOR MOST CHILDREN?

The answer is not clear-cut, but the question’s social and economic overtones are.

At a time when policymakers, social commentators and parents burst beyond the public-education system’s boundaries to make topics of teacher accountability, school performance and federal subsidies a source of unending socioeconomic debate, traditional education is gradually denying students a key ingredient for existential fulfillment: creativity.

The book explains why creativity and imagination are as momentous as math, reading and science, excavating new ground in the debate for a better school and supplying a theoretical foundation for the solving of some of the most vexing problems faced by modern-day educators, policymakers, social scientists and businesspeople.

>>> The book contains a helpful Discussion Guide. Through burning questions, the book gives extensive advice on how to use the discussion guide, how to inform decisions related to the topics at hand, and how to best read it – alone, in reading groups, with your partner, or as part of learning activities, among others.

>>> After reading this book, you will understand:
* Why schools kill creativity;
* Why experts think that creatively oriented curricula can help balance the current didactic gap;
* The upsetting detriments that children – and society as a whole – bear as a result of this gap; and
* The comprehensive yet feasible solutions that policymakers can implement to fix the creativity quandary and align academic objectives with the goals of businesses and society as a whole.

>>> Who will benefit from this book?
* Federal education officials, including policymakers and specialists at the Department of Education;
* State and local policymakers;
* Teachers;
* Teacher unions;
* Education support professionals;
* District and school leaders;
* Students;
* Families; and
* Business and community leaders

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karma Peters
• Release date: Jan 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310781995

Karma Peters

I wish to remain anonymous because the ideas I convey in my books are far more momentous than my humble person. Consider me nonexistent – a myth, a modicum of human folklore, a thinking iota in our collective wisdom.Just delve into my books, learn a thing or two...and, if you like the content, try to improve your life (and others’ lives). I don't aim to be a personal-growth guru, a healer, a celebrated self-help pundit, an attention-hungry author. In our publicity-obsessed culture, we don't need another such figure.I see life through the lens of passion and compassion; promise and compromise; happiness; and unwearied altruism, the kind you project when you stare at a newborn and know right away that only you can help him or her fulfill the untapped, God-given potential each of us has.We have that inner passion – so why not use it, enhance it, modify it, channel it while we are here on Earth? As an author, philosopher and life coach, I write books that inspire, motivate and teach you how to reconnect with your inner energy and ignite your outer potential.In an earlier life, I learned the ropes of financial management, organizational effectiveness, strategy, marketing and investment banking, first earning an MBA in Finance at Rutgers University and then working in various roles in the financial-services industry in New York and New Jersey. These positions ultimately enabled me to see how infinite goodness manifests itself in humans, producing pure bliss in unexpected moments and places – and how, unfortunately, sometimes our worst angels lead us to blaze unfortunate and troublesome paths for ourselves and others.These days, I wake up each morning to the sweet, hopeful music of life, and sleep to the adorable, buoyant melody of tomorrow – living one day at the time, enjoying simple moments, appreciating the chance to exist, and feeling grateful for the serendipity of human love.

Book preview

HAS TRADITIONAL EDUCATION BECOME AN UNHAPPY AND IRREPARABLY UNPRODUCTIVE PASSAGE FOR MOST CHILDREN?

The answer is not clear-cut, but the question’s social and economic overtones are.

At a time when policymakers, social commentators and parents burst beyond the public-education system’s boundaries to make topics of teacher accountability, school performance and federal subsidies a source of unending socioeconomic debate, traditional education is gradually denying students a key ingredient for existential fulfillment: creativity.

The book explains why creativity and imagination are as momentous as math, reading and science, excavating new ground in the debate for a better school and supplying a theoretical foundation for the solving of some of the most vexing problems faced by modern-day educators, policymakers, social scientists and businesspeople.

>>> The book contains a helpful Discussion Guide. Through burning questions, the book gives extensive advice on how to use the discussion guide, how to inform decisions related to the topics at hand, and how to best read it – alone, in reading groups, with your partner, or as part of learning activities, among others.

>>> After reading this book, you will understand:

* Why schools kill creativity;

* Why experts think that creatively oriented curricula can help balance the current didactic gap;

* The upsetting detriments that children – and society as a whole – bear as a result of this gap; and

* The comprehensive yet feasible solutions that policymakers can implement to fix the creativity quandary and align academic objectives with the goals of businesses and society as a whole.

>>> Who will benefit from this book?

* Federal education officials, including policymakers and specialists at the Department of Education;

* State and local policymakers;

* Teachers;

* Teacher unions;

* Education support professionals;

* District and school leaders;

* Students;

* Families; and

* Business and community leaders

Résumé

This book is not a full-volume dismissal of the public-education system in the United States – and other industrialized nations.

It simply unearths the scientific bias currently championed by policymakers and school boards across the country.

Math, science and reading are given pedagogic prominence, whereas the humanities are relegated into budgetary and curricular oblivion.

These political and educational arrangements have ushered in a creativity gap in schools, depriving students with the tools necessary for innovation, creativity, imagination, and the necessary intellectual experiment of trial and error so useful for proper adult living.

The creativity problem has many sources, starting with the lack of understanding of intelligence, a subject the book covers in its first section.

Next, the book explains how schools kill creativity, and then shows, in a third chapter, why this state of academic affairs has negative repercussions for not only students, but society at large.

In the fourth chapter, the book makes the case of shared responsibility, ascribing guilt to every constituency from politicians and parents to businesspeople, teachers and school board leaders.

Society so far has come up with many alternatives to fill the creativity gap, one of which is self-education, a subject the book explores in its fifth chapter.

Autodidactism, the other name for self-education, is gaining in popularity but has not yet become a fixture in American education.

It may soon be, judging by the feedback given by children when asked about the state of education and ways to improve it.

Chapters 6 and 7 cover opinions of two important constituencies in the debate over creativity in schools: students and parents.

The final chapter of the book provides a series of practical guidelines to fix the creativity conundrum, attempting to reconcile all the competing notions of education currently present in the public’s imagination.

This book is part of a series, "The Wheel of Wisdom," in which I explore topics as varied as love and romance, self-esteem, occupational success, personal bliss, effective communication, fear management, human relationships and spirituality.

The Wheel of Wisdom reflects knowledge I accumulated through personal research, wisdom literature, everyday observation and the testimonies of hundreds of people encountered on my life journey – young and old, novice and experienced, religious and agnostic, optimistic and gloomy.

Like each book in the Series, I’ve made this tome a quick read, easy to understand and filled with as many inspirational jewels as possible.

I hope you will find it as pleasurable to read as it was for me to write.

*Important*

Readers have sent me considerable correspondence lately – most of which revolved around a few recurrent themes – so I thought it was more effective to write a quick note to clear up lots of queries about Karma Peters’ books.

The vast majority of the emails and letters is inquisitive and supportive – thank you, beloved readers! – but a few are outright condemnatory.

Time permitting, I’ll continue to personally answer each email or letter I receive from a reader.

However, this little recap aims to address some of