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Math, science, language arts, and social studies: four subjects at the core of the American education system. From my earliest years of schooling, it’s always been these four disciplines. Until Mr. Leet’s Honors Psychology class, I didn’t stop and think about whether American education benefits or disadvantages children as they become adults.

While reading the Myers’ Psychology textbook, an excerpt about convergent and divergent thinking caught my eye. Convergent thinking narrows in on a single solution to a problem, whereas divergent thinking encourages multiple creative solutions. At school, conventional testing methods like multiple choice questions are considered convergent, as it forces students to focus on a single answer rather than think outside the box. This begs the natural question: does our education system kill creativity? 

Well, it depends. 

Creativity is the ability to think of original ideas or alternate possibilities. For one, students can only think critically and creatively if they first learn the basics and build a foundation of knowledge.

On the other hand, however, we’re creatures of habit. When taught one method, we stick with it. Why come up with a new procedure if the existing one works? Imposing ideas onto students is detrimental, as it doesn’t allow them creative liberty to explore. Similarly, expecting all students to understand the same explanation or score highly on the same multiple choice test is unrealistic; if we force everyone’s solution into the same box, we’re not only stifling creativity, but we’re also cultivating a society in which no one is unique. In short, education doesn’t look the same for everyone.

Though teachers may combat these issues by engaging students in creative ways, we’re met with another problem: a lack of time. We’re in a continuous cycle of digesting old information as we simultaneously learn new material, making it hard to even begin thinking deeper. Deadlined assignments and tests with scores and comments generate stress that makes us fearful of making mistakes. In a low-time, high-pressure environment, the first thing to go is creativity.

For me, this lack of time led me to drop my art electives, eliminating the classes that specialize in creative learning. When I took fine and performing arts classes, I only had three 45-minute free blocks over a six-day rotation. I found myself checking the clock constantly, hoping classes would release early so I could squeeze in a few minutes of work or ask teachers for help. Bouncing from subject to subject, I was tired and impatient each day, lacking balance in my rigorous schedule. In junior year, my new free time was a game-changer: I could relax, socialize, or complete homework, making school days more manageable and enjoyable. 

However, just because I don’t take art, that doesn’t mean I’m not creative. At a school like Academy, we have opportunities at our fingertips and faculty who care about each student’s experience. From classes like Mr. Feinberg’s Honors Computer Science, we’re encouraged to think outside the box. They don’t provide immediate solutions nor expect us to complete projects in a single way; instead, after teaching us the basic knowledge, we’re given freedom to explore topics and showcase our findings through cultural presentations or programmed games.