Education, modern life and creativity

Education, modern life and creativity
-  I really want this post to be a discussion, so please comment!                                                                                                                                      

The chief object of education is not to learn things, but to unlearn things-GK Chesterton

Creativity is being willing to make mistakes, art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
I worked in Public Education as an art teacher, and observed a shift happening that concerned me very much- Kindergartners come in with so much natural creativity and curiosity, that blooms throughout the Kindergarten year. Then between 1st and 5th grade this dissipates at a rate I found alarming. 

Let's look at what is done right in Kindergarten, and consider bringing these practices into the next few years.
Kindergarten teachers have fewer students to teacher ratio, A strong focus on social skill teaching and safe community!!!
Kindergartners stay with the teacher for longer uninterrupted amounts of time (we force 1-5th grade teachers to split the days between too many subjects).
Kindergartners are allowed more freedom to move around- move their bodies.
Kindergartners sit in a circle on the floor facing each-other and teacher.  Are you seeing the community and relationship in this?

 They incorporate songs and movements and making stuff into the day. Project learning & art, music and dance!  

Kindergarten is focused more on fun to inspire real interest and learning, 

This is rather than focus on  testing, schedules, and paperwork - though all teachers have excessive paperwork- What other job do you have to have 2 page written plan and justification for every hour of your day?  

The teachers, who are great at all this left brain activity, rarely are also highly creative, and highly creative teachers are often drained from these requirements. No one is supported for success. 

 

I'm talking about dedicated, caring and highly intelligent teachers -who in a setting that supported it would be super-creative. 

 The public education system is limiting teacher’s potential and then blaming them. All the great research and brilliant minds in education have been saying for decades; Teachers given time to collaborate with each other are more effective. Yet, there is  so little opportunity for true collaboration, that many teachers are lacking this skill because they don’t get to practice it enough. And anyone who has ever spent time in a public classroom knows how the larger class size is another huge issue- 25-30 kid- the gifted pulled out, the children who are learning disabled and the children with behavioral issues are included in. This forces teaching to a low common denominator, unless it is in small multi age classes, so older peers can be leaders (another concept supported by years of research and rarely practiced).
The thing that really puts the strain on teachers is the responsibility to RAISE, yes I am saying raise so many children.  Think about it- they are spending more time ,7 hours 5 days a week than both parents combined in most modern homes.  Parents are the Primary Educators of their children, yet many are not taking this responsibility and positively contributing to educating and raising their own children.  The Military trains grown men in groups of 9 because that is an optimum number! Yet teachers are expected to train children in multiple subjects and appropriate behavior in groups of 25-30? 
  It is no wonder that 50%, YES 50% of all teachers leave teaching in the FIRST 3 YEARS!! These are people who invested 4 or more years and a fair sum of money to work at a relatively low paying job! And then, sadly, there are those who stay long after they burn out and do as much as or more harm than good.   I heard a great and well respected teach, say as she was retiring “I would not encourage anyone I love to become a teacher in Public education the way things are now”  This sad statement says more than all the rest of my rambling.    
About the use of fine-motor skills combined with concepts. I was shocked to discover the even at the 5^th grade level, very many students did not know how to tie a knot or two pieces of string together, and struggled with weaving and working in the real world with other patterns. The word weave has very little meaning to someone who has never experienced it, particularly when used as metaphor. 

Now think about just kinesthetic learning, at first grade  students begin sitting in desks for most of the school day. little or no body movement!! In a culture were children rarely walk to school and don’t run around neighborhoods as much as they did in the past. How can  culture and education better serve our children.  just look at the rise in childhood obesity, diabetics.  
Teaching K-5^th grade, I observed that movement and using imagination is the primarily way these younger (K-4 to 5th) learners grasp concepts and learn, thus, keeping the mind alert, receptive and curious for optimal learning. Are we training them to sit in a cubicle all day? Come on!!!- the brain needs fresh blood and oxygen for optimal learning! 

PE should be half gardening and nutrition. the gardening would also be hands on learning and could be experiential learning of the science standards 

 Currently the  movement that does happen  at PE and recess, is in an enlarged multi-class crowd, and playground crowds with a few hundred kids watched by a couple teachers and/or aids. This is were  bullying can run rampant. 

All children are creative, consider these attributes of creative people, you can see how many children most of the time do not fit-in well in situations such as public school has become.