Is Mainstream Education Killing Our Creativity?

Ever since I can remember, books surrounded me. So much so that past the piles and piles of undiscovered stories, I could not hear the outside world.

Especially, when my Amma called for me.

I was deeply mesmerized by the beautiful mythological characters. But more so, I was in awe of how a few words can breathe life into a story. Of how the imagination of one person can be an escape for another or, in my case, a new dream. THE dream.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to study English Language and English Literature in my O’levels.

I was told of how studying these subjects would miraculously transform me into the writer I aspired to be. It really was a miracle. Because it never came true, like miracles rarely do. My examination answer sheets would be overflowing with stories of the valor of fire-breathing men, the terror of villains with poisoned thorns in their skin and far-fetched imagination. I poured out my heart, my mind, my soul onto those pages. Hoping, praying, that someone out there would recognize my creativity for what it was.

But what I got in return was: “You’re too imaginative”, “Cambridge does not want fantasy stories”, “This is too descriptive” and “That’s not the correct way to write a story, that’s utterly wrong!”

For 3 years I fought an inner battle: Should I write what’s “right” or what they label as “wrong”? Needless to say, my loss was inevitable.

Even the power of my creativity could not overcome the unbreakable domination of the education system.

An education system that has been, arguably, thoughtfully designed to enslave the youth. A system that has created a hierarchy of subjects: academics being on the top and arts being on the extreme bottom. By doing so, an invisible line has been created that defines science students as intelligent and art students as, well, not intelligent at all: “Bechari, damagh ki itni akal mund nahi hai na toh arts leni pari,” or “Sciences nahin li na, zindagi bhar zaleel ho gee”. Because a good job and an even greater pay are all that matters in life, right? This ranking has limited us in a way that we are only focused on enhancing the technical aspect of the diverse capabilities of our brain. It has trained us to do the opposite of what arts, books, stories urge us to do i.e., think outside the box.

And this is not all.

If my O’Levels and A’Levels have taught me anything about what I learned at school it is this one thing. Actually, three things:

Cram it
Test it
Forget it

Sadly, our intellect is determined by how effortlessly and effectively we can repeat this process. And if, as it happens in many cases, we fail to do so, shame is thrown down upon us to the point where we are ashamed of sharing our grades. And by we, I do not mean just us students but also our parents, our relatives, our friends. Because: “Log kiya kahein gay?!” The effect of this ‘result shaming’ runs so deep in the societies that we have conformed to it. We have, consciously, pushed ourselves to be a part of this endless rat race that has only one goal: grades. Whether what we are ‘ratta-fying’ will help us in life or not. Whether we are progressing in our pursuit of purpose, of meaning, of happiness, or not.

We have been blinded by the ‘illusion of knowledge’ and desperately need a reality check. A wake-up call that will make us question the whole educational system. Whether what we’re studying is really what we want to study or what society wants us to. Whether we’re moving closer to our dreams, or, unknowingly, drifting from them.

Educational rules, modules and structures have constricted us into a tiny box by stigmatizing mistakes and eccentricity and labeling anything that challenges its pecking order as “unacceptable”. This coupled with teachers screaming “Are you dumb?!” and “So many mistakes!” has instilled a fear in us. A fear of failing. A fear of making mistakes. A fear of being wrong. A fear of being different. A fear of being ourselves.

Yet, by the time we graduate from school, all we have is a certificate of meaningless A*s and the ashes of what used to be our inventiveness.

This teaching system has barred any form of creativity and originality. Our ‘freedom of expression’ and endless capabilities and aptitudes have been tossed aside as the result card determines whether we have failed or survived in life. While our untapped talents have been left, well, untapped, for the most part.

By ‘educating’ ourselves, we have mastered the art of walking on eggshells. Of being extra careful. Of taking the ‘safe’ way. A pre-destined path that our fathers, our grandfathers, and our great grandfathers walked upon. The “right” path that has led to countless professors and doctors and barely any creative thinkers.

But then, if we are so focused on being ‘right’ and ‘accepted’ all the time, how will we make mistakes? If we won’t make mistakes how will we fail? If we won’t fail, how will we learn? How will we challenge, inspire and motivate ourselves to do better? To be better? How will we grow? How will we be different? And the greatest and mind-numbing question of all…