The average student goes to school from kindergarten through twelfth grade. That's approximately thirteen years of our lives devoted to schooling. Therefore, shouldn't we get the most out of those thirteen years? Shouldn't every student get a quality education? A quality education is an education that is meaningful, worthwhile, responsive to individuals and social needs (Pirotta). In order to reach a quality education it is necessary to have proper funding and adequate teachers who let their students be creative and shine through their work. The effects on society and individuals that either do not do well in school or drop out are very overwhelming. A lack of funding, creativity and adequate teachers are negatively affecting our students and society in life after high school. .
In preschool, we learn through finger painting and making macaroni necklaces. This also teaches us the concept of creativity. However, as we work our way up through grade school, our lessons and displays of creativity slowly decrease. In high school, most projects have strict guidelines that restrict our creative side. So why does this creativity vanish? Ken Robinson says, "We get educated out of creativity." This meaning that the strict rules of schools erase the creative aspect out of us. Linquist says that we are running an education system where making a mistake is the worst thing you can do. Therefore, students become frightened to be wrong, so they don't think outside the box to answer creatively. She also makes a very valid point, "There aren't state test to judge creativity." Even research shows that IQ scores are up, but creativity is down. This could be due to the fact that if there are kids in public schools, that emphasize standardized testing, not much is being done to encourage creativity and problem solving compared to the efforts put into routine memorization (Botches). .
Also, if a teacher is bland or monotone in their teaching habits, students are not going to pay attention as closely as they would to an enthusiastic and creative teacher.
