I don't think creativity can be created or destroyed. We all have it. They have done studies about creativity and what they found was fascinating. Looking at 5 year olds, they found that 95% of them tested out as being creative. By the time they are 18, the number that test out as creative drops to 10%. It finally levels out by age 30 at approximately 3% of the population that test out as creative.
My wife when she got her Ph.D. was required to do a study. One of her classmates set up a study in which a group of 5 year olds, a group of teenagers and a group of adults were required to plan a party and they were given 30 minutes to do it. This classmate video taped the subjects doing their task. The adults did a very business like activity to plan the party. Committees were set up for decorations, foods, etc. They were successful. The teenagers were actually quite interesting. As one would make a suggestion, there were others who would shoot it down. It was as if when one person tried to get it started the others would ask metaphorically, "who died and made you God." They did not successfully complete their tasks. But the 5 year olds were amazing. One would say, "let's have a birthday party!" And all the kids would cheer and say, "Yes, let's have a birthday party." Then a second child would say, "Let's have a costume party," and the kids would cheer and say "Yes, let's have a costume party." A third kid would then say, "Let's have a Halloween Party." You get the jist of it. In their 30 minutes they planned 5 parties. They didn't do them as good as the adults, but their enthusiasm and support of one another let their creativity run free. This is what I see is the problem and why we lose so much creativity. When we send children to school, we are sending them there to learn and be socialized. Creativity is unruly and is not well accepted. And by the age of 18 we have stamped the creativity out of 85% of the kids. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "English Learner's Cafe" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/english_learners?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
