Creativity is the Engine for Success by Taylor

Creativity is the Engine for Success by Taylor - July 2020 Scholarship Essay

It’s 12:15 on a stressful Friday afternoon. My eyes scan my AP Biology textbook frivolously inducing a migraine. The loud roar from the cafeteria crowd causes the words on the page to have less and less meaning. The concepts about photosystems flow in through one ear and out the other, leaving my brain scrambling for some sort of comprehension.

The high school experience is encompassed by numerous daily assignments and study cram sessions moments before the upcoming test. For most people, this strategy has been proven to be ineffective. Sadly, today’s education system is more focused on repetition and memorization rather than the students being able to encode the materials so that they can apply them to the world around them. My dream classroom would have students use more creative approaches to prove an understanding of concepts rather than standardized testing.

As senior year approaches, the best memories in the classroom were when the teacher assigned projects that allowed students to showcase their creativity. Being able to create something with your own two hands not only gives students a sense of accomplishment when finishing a project but more importantly, allows them to have a better understanding of the main ideas of the concept. Instead of my AP Biology teacher giving us another long detailed exam, he decided to assign us a motion picture project to describe the different stages of cell division. Using playdoh, different pictures, and music, I was able to capture the different stages of mitosis and cytokinesis in an engaging way while using a theme of Frozen. Not only did I enjoy the process of creating an entertaining video to showcase to my classmates, but we as a class were able to encode the information at a much deeper level in the long run leading to higher grades in the future.

One of the world’s greatest debates in education is whether standardized testing is a true reflection of a student’s capabilities of success and personally I believe that it is not. Having one test to determine whether you understand multiple concepts is not a true indicator of whether a person will be capable of great things. If the education system continues to enforce standardized testing, they would actually be encouraging students to only memorize information rather than processing and analyzing it. This will not be beneficial to them in the long run. However, if the education system could incorporate values that are used by adults, such as creativity and adaptability, students will be more successful throughout college and into their prospective careers.

I am not saying that using creativity to demonstrate proficiency in a skill is going to be easier than memorizing information to pass an exam (because it’s not). However, the world needs more creative people in their workforce, in their classrooms, and in research facilities. Creativity is the engine that causes our country to be one of the most admired destinations in the world, so by ingraining this principle in our classrooms, the world will be better for it.