Are Our Schools Destroying The Creative Minds Of Our Children?

By Author: Mark Virkler
Total Articles: 9
Comment this article

Certainly, western teachers want the best for our children. They want to give our children knowledge and prepare them for the rest of their lives. But, consider this. At age five, about 92% of all children rank high in creativity. After being in school for two years, only 10% of children still score high in creativity. And, only 2% of adults demonstrate high creativity.

It is the creative stream which is the heartbeat of the artist, the composer, the musician, the singer, the performer, the author, and the inventor. The creative river within is to be the foundation of the Christian Arts. However, it appears clear that the western approach to education is destroying the creative flow within the individual.

This river, or creative flow, does not begin in the heart of the believer. According to the Bible, the River of God begins in heaven, at the throne of God, flows down the streets of heaven

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the ...
... tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” - Rev. 22:1,2.

and out through the heart of the Christian believer.

Jesus said:

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38,39

So creativity for the Christian artist is an overflow of the river of God within his heart. This river is experienced as the Holy Spirit quickening the heart of the believer, allowing him to hear and see and feel the movements of God. Handel’s Messiah would be an outstanding example of this phenomenon. Handel said that he heard the music within him and wrote furiously for 21 days. What was he hearing? The worship that takes place in the throne room of God. The Holy Spirit within him was giving him access before the throne of God (Eph. 2:18) and revealing to him the worship that was taking place there. Handel became a composer who released to the world a small piece of the glory taking place in the throne room of God. This demonstrates perfectly the role of the Christian artist in the world today.

Yet, western education stiffles creativity. We focus almost exclusively on left-brained thinking and all but ignore the right-brain, the side of the brain most responsible for creative thought such as art, music and drama. When taught, these functions of the right-brain are electives and given less importance.

We need to examine the way we teach in western society, learn how to better engage the whole brain in the educational process. I’ll examine this idea in greater detail in some other articles I’ll release soon. Look for the article, “The Damage to Creativity by the Western Educational System.”

Mark Virkler is with Christian Leadership University. CLU is a Christian University and Online Bible College offering Christian education including Christian counseling and Christian theology seminaries and offers certificates, undergrad, Masters, and Doctorates in the various Christian colleges of CLU. http://www.cluonline.com