People, who have received a formal education and those who did not, are equally creative.

Paola Vasquez

Yachay Tech University

Abstract

This project was made to prove that people who have received a formal education, as those who did not, have equally creativity. First by showing what does creativity and imagination means, and how things that are surrounding influence it. Then, proving that creativity is innate and it is for everybody no matter ages or education people have. Therefore showing that it can be developed no matter the education people have had, and how it can be developed with some examples. For last, explaining how poor people without education are as able as educated people to create and innovate using their imagination and creativity. Citing some articles, and videos, where there are some facts that help develop the topic, can prove it. It ends in the conclusion that all people have the equal opportunity to be creative, and it all depends in their desire to being it.

Introduction

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” (Pablo Picasso). One representative characteristic for why artists are known is their capacity of being creative, because without creativity they could never innovate or make new jobs. Children are artists as well, because nobody teaches them how to, but they have a lot of imagination. To begin, everybody should have a perception of what imagination means, and as an author said “We could defend our interest in imagination by pointing out the real-life value of role playing in the young child, of vocational decision-making by way of fantasizing in the adolescent, and of working through hostility by imaginary exploits and confrontations in the adult” (Lieberman, J. N. 2014 p. 1). So as she said everybody has imagination that is used for different purposes depending on the stage people are through. Now, there should be the relationship between imagination and creativity, so what does creativity means? As the same author said in the book “Playfulness: Its relationship to imagination and creativity” creativity is to discover new things for us, and to make things that we have never done before, and also our own way to see the world. Imagination and creativity are both developed in all people no matter ages, and they are also the most representative characteristic to be able to innovate, create, and to be original. It has been said always that children are the most creative people, but as a proof we can see that adults or also teens are those who have discovered or created the advances for the world. Therefore we can affirm not only children are benefited of creativity, but also not only people who have had a formal education. People that have been in high school, college or university are not the only who can be creative but those who have never receive that kind of education are too. Like for religion, in this case it does not matter the social classes, the races or any superficial aspect, because everybody can achieve what they desire. People, who received a formal education and those who did not, are equally creative, because creativity is innate and it must be cultivated, the necessity of solving problems develops creativity, and no matter the education level, there are different ways to develop creativity.

Creativity is innate

Innate

The article “Scientists are more creative than you imagine,” (Ossola. A. 2014) states that creativity is innate. Therefore, it proves that creativity comes in everybody’s mind; because based on Cambridge Dictionary; ‘innate’ means, “an ability that people were born with, and not something they have learned”. Learning is something people can do everywhere, not exactly a school, or with an education system. There are a lot of people that learns all they know in streets or like it is said “the school of life”. Anyway creativity is not something learned, so people do not need to have a formal education, or to have learned something about life. It also does not depend on the social groups, cultures, religion, or any kind of those characteristics; any of them are irrelevant to creativity, because people are already born with the ability or capacity to be creative.

Imagination and creativity.

So what does it mean to be creative? If it is about an international meaning, again Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the ability to produce original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginative”. That last point brings us to the other topic: imagination, a word that brings to our minds the face of a child. As creativity, everybody has it. Imagination and creativity are crucial to make and create new advances and technologies, and they are adults the people who innovate, so it cannot be stated that children are the most creative beings, because adults are too. It is also said that children have more imagination or creativity than adults and it is because they have lived less, because if creativity is innate they were born with it, so nothing has changed their minds yet. Instead adults have passed through many situations and maybe problems where creativity did not result as the best solution, so people begin to use other tools instead of their imagination. As everything in our society, if people do not use it, they lose it. As people grow up, they use less their imagination every time, so they begin to lose it: but when they really need it to create or innovate, it results difficult to them find their creativity. As a toy from their childhood, adults have to start looking in every corner of their minds until they find it, because it is still in their heads. Therefore, it all depends on the use people give to their imagination. Children enjoy imagining, but some adults prefer facts or information verified, and that need to have proves. However, children, adults, or everybody has creativity in their minds, because it is innate.

Creativity has to be cultivated.

Everything influences in creativity.

The article of Alessandra Ossola stated that creativity is innate, but the second part of her statement is that “it needs to be cultivated” (para.10). And what does cultivating creativity mean? Cultivate means to grow up something, and in this case it refers to creativity, so to cultivate creativity means to improve and develop creativity. Because nothing worth to have creativity, and do not use or do no try to improve it.

Since people are born, everything they hear, feel, or see, influences in their lives, as it does in creativity. Every single moment is important for creativity, because it captures every stimulus that happens around us. It captures it and it uses the information. It is like the immunological system, everything it happens to us, the system learns from it, so the next time it is difficult to a virus to hurt the body because the system already knows how to attack the it. Creativity also learns how to act in similar situations that have happened before. Therefore every problem people have, happiness, feeling, stress, anxiety, fear, or concern; it all influences in creativity. Also people that surround us influence, for example family, friends, neighbors, and of course teachers, because teachers pass a lot of time with children, while they are experiencing new things, and beginning to live. That means education does influences in creativity, not just for children, but also for everybody, because adults have also passed through school. It does not mean people who have not had a formal education do not have creativity, because the lack of education is also an influence, and education does not always influence in a good way. “Nowadays many schools in Latin America – and in the U.S. and around the world – continue to use antiquated models for education that do not serve 21st century students” (Segal. S. 2016). If people do not innovate or try new things, creativity does not flow, so if children receive an antiquated education they will not be able to develop their creativity. Education is a good way to teach children mathematics, languages, and many other subjects, but it is not always the best influence in creativity.

Education kills creativity.

Finland is a country in Europe, which is well known for its education system. The video “The Finland Phenomenon” tells about its famous education system; how is seemed as the best in the world, even better than The United States, and how children are. Finland is in the top of the list of countries that have been tested by PISA exams, which are the most difficult in the world. Children in Finland have more vacation, less homework, and schools have the best technology. Students are not forced to stay quite and sit, also they do not need someone to tell them to study, because they enjoy doing it, and they know they have to (Compton. R. 2011). The film also shows how some students have created mini businesses, how in their free time they practice playing an instrument, and that kind of facts are those that make a difference or an influence in their creativity, because they enjoy learning and studying, so it actually is a good influence to children and students to be creative. “Education in Finland relies very little on testing” (Compton. R. 2011), which proves that it lets imagination develops, because based on an article “schools place greater emphasis on learning material and taking tests; so opportunities for thoughts to flow freely are fewer now than in the past” (Ossola. A. 2014). Finland education system does not emphasis on students memorizing everything, instead they want them to think for themselves and have their own thoughts. It has a great influence in creativity, but it does not mean education will definitely make students be creative. Finland has an amazing education system, but all around the world other education systems just kill creativity. It is stated in the article “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” that people focus on teaching children mathematics because they are known as the most difficult subjects, and they do not care too much about subjects like art which are the ones that helps to develop creativity. Teachers care just about brains and memorization. It is like they just care about their heads (Robinson. K. para. 2). It proves that people that receive a formal education are not more creative than those who did not, because even education can be the one influence that destroys their imagination to make people like machines, to do not think out of what they have learned.

Everyone can develop creativity.

For now, we assume that creativity is an ability, is innate, is like being imaginative, and it has to be cultivated. As it was mentioned, cultivating creativity is improving it, and making it grow; but how can people cultivate creativity? An experiment described in “Scientists are more creative than you imagine” states that when rap artists improvise for songs, their mind do not cares about errors, because their ideas just flow (Ossola. A. 2014), and letting their ideas flow; make them develop more imagination every time. Also it tells about the ability to imagine; it can be done when people center their attention in doing things that do not need a lot of effort: as examples are brushing the teeth, the hair, or cooking, also some actions that make people relax like taking a shower or a bath, going to walk, meditating, exercising, reading, or just staying at bed. The purpose is to stop thinking consciously and let the ideas, imagination and creativity flow (para. 16). For doing these things is not necessary to have a formal education, it is just needed the desire to be creative; as it is said by an author “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” (Dr. Seuss). Summing up, there are no exceptions to people to be creative or to cultivate creativity; everybody can do it if they want.

Creativity for solving problems.

As creativity can be developed in different ways, a way to do it for people who do not receive a formal education is the influence of solving their daily live problems, so they have also a high level of creativity as educated people do.

The lack of money

People, who pass through several times, may have not been benefited by the opportunity of studying. Poverty has provoked many children and teenagers to work earlier than when they should, because they need to help their families to get money to pay for their home, to buy food and first necessity things. Even if in some countries it is banned to children to work, there are some children still working around the cities because of the necessity to have what to eat. There are also many adults that obligate their kids to work instead of them. Most children work buying and selling things. Children working earlier than normal, do not let them have a formal education, as they should, because working does not leave them the time they need to study. Furthermore, there are children that do not go to school because their families do not have enough money to give them that education. Many children and teens are left with no education so they have to continue working and learning about it. Working or having to help in some things in their houses is also another big influence in children’s lives, so it is also for their creativity.

Necessities or problems to people.

Poor people because of their lack of money do not just have the problem of not being able to have a formal education. They have to handle with the pressure of not having what to eat, where to live, what to wear, and specially the fact to afford their families. Those problems are which most influences in people imagination, sometimes in bad or good ways. Most part of them influences to people to try to solve them and use and develop their creativity. The article “A Young Tinkerer Builds a Windmill, Electrifying a Nation” tells about the story of a man of 20 years who because of the lack of energy for his electrical appliances at his house, begun to think what he could do to solve the problem. He decided to build a windmill after he saw a picture of one in a textbook. He began to design it ant then he finally built it whit bubble gum trees and parts of bicycles. He has the dream of building many other windmills around the country, and there is a group of investors that trust him and send him to school (Childress. S. 2007). The idea and the creativity came before he went to school, because there is no necessity of having a formal education to be creative or to innovate, be imaginative and create something that can change maybe not the world but someone’s life; because “you have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out” (Jobs. S).

Conclusion

Creativity is important in everybody, because it is what helps people to innovate, create and discover new things. As all that happens around us influences creativity, it is said that schools kill creativity, and also that it improves it. The fact is that creativity cannot be taught or leaned just in one place; it depends in every single moment that we live. Education does not define people’s creativity. It is a gift given to everyone, and people is who decide if they take advantage of it or if the do not. People who have received a formal education have creativity. Those who did not received education have creativity as well. All people are creative. The level of creativity developed by each person depends in how they cultivate or improve it, by ways that everybody can do. The irrelevance of social classes, money, religions, cultures and ages to creativity, proves that everybody have creativity, because it is innate, it can be cultivated by any person, and many other facts than education are which influence in creativity.