Mini Movies

The first speach, "School Kills Creativity" was one of the best speaches I have heard in a while. Sir Ken makes many valid and interesting points pertaining to creativity being "killed" in school systems. Schools have definitely started to break down creativity, as I have witnessed, especially the first few times a child hears, "No, your point is wrong" in an English class, or when they are in Art class in second grade and the teacher is telling them they are not drawing correctly. This, obviously, affects them, and they start to form a mindset that Sir Ken mentioned as being scared to take chances or to be wrong - as if making a mistake in school is one of the worst things to happen. Then, as we get older, we need to use our creativity for school projects, and then at work, but we are terrified of being "wrong"; we hold ourselves back from our creative potential. I know that I have written and re-written multiple essays, where the teacher wanted the class to write our opinions about a book. Instead, I noticed I was writing what I thought she wanted me to write about, not what I truly thought. Another great point he made during his speach was when he talked about the girl in the 1930's who could not sit still in class, and if I remember correctly he said, "Now-a-days doctors would say she has ADHD, but that disease was not available at that time. Now, kids are being put on medication and told to calm down." The fact that he said the disease was not available back then is a bit risky to say, but he makes a great point. If that had happened now, she would have been put on medication and not working to her full potential to become a great dancer. I also loved when he said literacy in schools should coincide with creativity. I think that could greatly change people's outlooks on education, for the better.

Last year I was a business major, and this year I recently changed to English. I started with Business because, as Elizabeth Gilbert said, "ceative careers makes people nervous, but 'normal' jobs are understandable." I also noticed a difference in the way people reacted when I tell them I am an English major, as opposed to when I was Business. Last year, especially at family events, I would say that I go to Saint Joseph's University and I am currently a Business major. I would receive a proud look and then get "advice" on what I can do with a great Business major. Now, when I tell the same people that I changed my major to English, I was expecting the same look, but with a question as to why I changed. Instead, 99% of the time, people will say, "English? What can you do with that? Become a writer? Can you write interesting stories?" I understand where people are coming from, and with my English degree I want to become a lawyer, but just the fact that the major is a form of art, people are more skeptical to believe great things can come out of it.