In order to pursue this argument, one must first understand what the definitions of the terms, “correctness” and “creativity” as defined by the author.
“Correctness” could be either understood as a moral "correctness" derived from the social consensus, or used in this case, a set of rules governing over a subject, generally held in wide belief as the correct way in doing something. “Creativity” could be understood as the expression of one’s free will; imagination in a new manner which innovates and inspires. I personally agree with the statement that schools mostly promote “correctness” over “creativity” in the normal curriculum of work.
A school must have rules for the students to abide to ensure a degree of control, thus a suitable educational environment. An examination also has its rubrics and guidelines, to award the student marks or deduct them as said by the guidelines.
What does this all subtly nudges us by following a set of guidelines and values the educational system had defined for us? Conformity. Uniformity. Ultimately leads to a subtle erosion of our individualism from which all imagination stems. This all inspires “correctness”, as defined by the system into the student. I dare not say that the current education system is trying to brainwash us to follow a social norm, but instead I am trying to say that the education system inspires people to do exactly that.
In a Psychology research organised by the Harvard involving 150 participants, to find out their thinking capacity is greater when after a government education, or a home-school education. The results were groundbreaking. Out of the 75 government-schooled test subjects, only 19 showed satisfactory creativeness and problem solving skills. On the other hand, 38 of the home-schooled had satisfactory results. This shows that a strictly governed syllabus will lead to a decrease in the students' thinking ability.*1
The education system’s way of promoting “correctness” over “creativity” could be justified. Creativity could come in both ways. Too much creativity and order crumbles and chaos will ensue. Restrain creativity and you might produce students unable to brainstorm and think out of the text. To get a healthy balance of both, schools have to compromise. For order, they must promote “correctness”, but also promote moderate “creativity” among its curriculum by laxing the rules somewhat. That is how our current school curriculum is like, promoting creativity within guidelines.
The true question is, does it really promote “creativity”? True “creativity” does not come from guidelines; it comes from the rich pastures of the human mind.
Creativity could not and should not be limited by human imposed guidelines. If we impose the guidelines on a subject matter, then would it be creative? Had we not thought of it already and so impose the guidelines to set the boundaries? The students’ imagination will be very limited, and if carefully scrutinized, “creativity” could be even said as not even involved in the process. The grading and the importance of our grades further reinforces the guidelines, the "correctness" held in belief by the system.
In an interview with 10'000 secondary students islandwide, 98% of the respondents say that the schools promote creativity less, but instead enforces stricter rules. 76% of the 98% of those who said so, said once more that it was too stifling for creative expressions. This clearly show the opinions of the students about this issue, most rather preferring much more free rein than now.*2
*1 This source is entirely fictional and only for this essay's use only. Please do not quote this as an actual source to be used in research. This results is partly based on the opinions of educational experts and the answers of the 10 persons surveyed.
*2 This source is entirely fictional and only for this essay's use only. Please do not quote this as an actual source to be used in research. This results is partly based on the opinions of educational experts and the answers of the 10 persons surveyed, and also my personal opinion as part of the education system.
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