Creative Environments
In his book Imagine, Jonah Lehrer presents several ideas about how creativity works. Among these ideas is the theory that the most important factor in developing a person’s creativity is their culture and environment.
For example, Lehrer suggests that this theory explains why Ancient Greece had so many great creative minds clustered together in such a small geographical and temporal location. It was a relatively open-minded culture where information and ideas were easily shareable. This led to many individuals being inspired and having an opportunity to explore and develop their ideas — something they would not have had an opportunity to do in a more orthodox environment.
Why Schools Fail at Creativity
However, this theory also applies to the modern world. In his book, Lehrer brings up the eye-opening flaws of the education system that exists today. He does not believe it fundamentally promotes creativity at all.
Lehrer explains that especially in America, the vast majority of schools serve only one purpose: to teach students how to pass standardized tests. The problem with this is that standardized tests only have one set of solutions so there is no creativity involved in passing, only memorization.
On the other hand, real life does not have one set of solutions for every situation. Creativity is required to overcome adversity and schools are failing to prepare students in this regard.
In spite of this, some schools are trying to make a change. The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) is one of these schools. Although technically a public school, NOCCA requires freshmen to go through auditions for their respective departments. These auditions are not very strict, since most of the applicants are self-taught. Rather, they are there for instructors to gauge raw talent and potential.
Once students are accepted, the new school experience begins. Instead of listening to lectures and carrying around textbooks, students are given the opportunity to create. Most of the classrooms don’t even have chairs. Instructors do not “instruct” at NOCCA — they simply provide guidance for each student’s own individual creative journey.
When asked about the purpose of his school, the CEO of NOCCA, Kyle Wedberg, says, “We’ve become so obsessed with rote learning, with making sure that kids memorize the year of some old battle. But in this day and age that’s the least valuable kind of learning. That’s the stuff you can look up on your phone! If our graduates are going to succeed in the real world, then they have to be able to make stuff.”
Wedberg and NOCCA are certainly onto something. An astounding 98% of NOCCA’s seniors go to college, with over 80% receiving financial aid to universities such as NYU and UCLA.
The video below shows one of NOCCA’s many exemplary students and what NOCCA has done for him.
Lehrer, J. (2012). Imagine: the science of creativity. Melbourne: Text Pub.
