Creativity by Kinsley

Creativity by Kinsley - October 2014 Scholarship Essay

Four walls, a closed door, one teacher and many students, you sit in a chair behind a desk, with no distractions other than the bland posters hanging on the walls. School has always been a place where you should be on your best behavior and if you’re not, detention is where you belong. If that isn’t extreme enough for your consequence, you are kicked out of school for a week as a “punishment” (I’d call it vacation).

To me, that process sounds like a hassle and nothing about it sounds inviting other than the week vacation for being a troublemaker. Four walls and a closed door makes me feel claustrophobic and isolated. One teacher to many students, restricts students to only learn one way. A chair behind a desk makes sense but the bland posters and no distractions makes learning feel forceful. This is the exact process most schools use, and from my understanding, don’t plan on changing any time soon.

Learning should be encouraged but most importantly have an inviting environment. My imagination of this would start with big class rooms that have colorful walls and huge windows. Two to three teachers per class, with about 25 students per teacher to create more interaction. Work that is hands on yet educational, such as learning to count with grains of rice, or painting the map of America on the walls.

Such learning would imbed creativity into students and allow them to grow up to express themselves, instead of limiting their imaginations. With an environment like the one I explained, bad behaviors would decrease greatly. When students are in a place where their emotions can be shown the way they choose to show them, they are less likely to have emotions come out the way they shouldn’t.

This type of schooling would help me and others succeed by teaching us to learn in different ways instead of just on paper. It teaches how to apply learning to real life by applying it in school before we truly need it. Such learning would create a wider variety of creativity and push students towards a wider variety of careers in their life, helping our nation grow as a whole also.