I couldn't help it when I read Yong Zhao's post entitled, "Doublethink: The Creativity-Testing Conflict". All I could think of was Seinfeld's Soup Nazi screaming, "No creativity for you!"
I am going to post a portion of the blog below (apologies to Edweek for posting it in its entirety previously, apparently breaking a number of copyright laws!) but here are the words I simply HAD to pen in response the Zhao's question, "I
don't know how policymakers can hold, simultaneously, these two ideas,
creative entrepreneurship and test-driven curriculum standardization,
that both research and common sense recognize as contradictory..."?
It's called Cognitive Dissonance...welcome to the Republican Party.
As an education researcher from OKLAHOMA I truly appreciate your post!
The minute our governor stepped out to make a glowing comment on the sham of "testing to creativity", I knew I was going to have to find some specific research to point her bloodhound nose - so keen on sniffing out further little nuggets for her 'education reform' agenda - in another direction.
You have exceeded my expectations here. If she and her 'reformer' pack can't digest the specificity and truth here...well...she's only got 'til 2014!
Doublethink: The Creativity-Testing Conflict
Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.
...California, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma have begun exploring the development of measures to gauge the extent to which schools foster creative and entrepreneurial qualities in their students, according to a Feb. 1, 2012, article in Education Week. "What brings great test scores may hamper entrepreneurial qualities.".........
Standardized testing rewards the ability to find the "correct answer" and thus discourages creativity, which is about asking questions and challenging the status quo. A narrow and uniform curriculum deprives children of opportunities to explore and experiment with their interest and passion, which is the foundation of entrepreneurship. Constantly testing children and telling them they are not good enough depletes their confidence, which is the fuel of innovation. So, by any account, what policymakers have put in place in American schools is precisely what is needed to cancel out their desire for creative and entrepreneurial talents......
I don't know how policymakers can hold, simultaneously, these two ideas, creative entrepreneurship and test-driven curriculum standardization, that both research and common sense recognize as contradictory unless they change the slogans of 1984's Oceania, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength" into "Standardization is Innovation, Uniformity is Creativity, and Testing is Enterprising" for education today.
So, just to follow up here, I thought it might be fun to pull some of the articles I've been saving in my "Creativity Nonsense" folder. The ones below are all those generated just in Bible-belt, Red-state, Conservative OKLAHOMA! How's that for cognitive dissonance?
First of all, did you know that Oklahoma has not only has a CREATIVITY website, but an annual Creativity Forum? Here is the picture of the website... VERY CREATIVE!!! Black and white is very artsy! Please note, lucky us, we can make a donation (for what?), become a member or even "like" them on Facebook!
This, is more troubling...Did you know that we have a South Korean researcher who will develop an Oklahoma Innovation Index?
Yup! Here's what you can't read from the screenshot of the article...
Flora Hyunjung Cho has joined the Creative Oklahoma team as an intern for the summer of 2012. She is a M. Ed. student in interdisciplinary studies in Educational Administration and Early Childhood Education at Idaho State University. Cho is originally from Ulsan, South Korea and researches creativity in education around the globe with the goal to make a difference in education as an education consultant in a world organization.
Cho is helping to develop the Oklahoma Innovation Index that will create a public measurement of the number of opportunities for creative work in schools.
The Oklahoma Innovation Index will be created by a Task Force, a public/private partnership established by the Oklahoma Governor’s Office in partnership with Creative Oklahoma. The Task Force will include teachers, business and community leaders. Through the Oklahoma Innovation Index, in addition to the standardized tests, the ability to measure schools by how many opportunities they create for creative and critical thinking will be available. Currently, Oklahoma uses individual achievement (measured by the standardized test) to determine school-wide success. Through a creative opportunity index, the overall environment of a school will be measured.
What? WHAT??? Our tax dollars are going to support an effort that will attempt to assess the CREATIVE INDEX of a school - through further testing, DONE ON STUDENTS?
Let's put this into context even OUTSIDE Dr. Zhao's article (which is, in itself a massive indictment of a Creative Index). Did you know that
"If we could identify a gene for creativity, let's call it the "creativity gene", you would be hard pressed to find very many people who would consider it a "negative gene" or a hazard to possess or carry, but the very traits that make someone creative, passionate, and likely to achieve a high degree of success in their domain, are the same traits that define psychological disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and ADHD."
Wow! So we are allowing our Governor - using our tax dollars through yet another TASK FORCE - to determine the Creative Index of schools, while the traits of human "creativity" in and of itself could mirror PSYCHOSIS? Does that make anyone a bit CRAZY (sorry) but me?
Apparently, this is nothing new here in Oklahoma. Yup, last year (2011) we had TWO, count 'em TWO Creativity Conferences here in the state. One took place at the illustrious Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture (Democracy being the new progressive code word for "new world order"*) held the "Creativity Summit". There was quite the gathering there. The other, was the aforementioned Creativity Forum. Here is part of a GLOWING review of last year's event:
Oklahoma has followed on from its wildly successful 2010 World Creativity Forum with a one-day creativity forum this past November 1, 2011 in Norman, Oklahoma. Over 1200 participants attended, dominantly from Oklahoma (great turnout from lots of students) but good representation from around North America. Thank Creative Oklahoma for their membership in the International Districts of Creativity, uniting 14 creative and innovative regions around the world, and their dedication to fostering creativity in education, commerce and culture.
What? INTERNATIONAL DISTRICTS OF CREATIVITY!?? How Agenda 21 does this sound?
Not only that, but we are implementing this tripe in our classrooms apparently - though we can't get our kids to even master the basics of READING AND MATH! Get a load of the HP Catalyst Project Showcase! Please note the video of the 5 year-olds banging away on a computer while the voice over talks about how we're creating DEEPER LEARNING apparently one can only reach this Nirvana while on an Ipad or Iphone! Hooray!!!! Just what kids need! More useless nonsense in lieu of actual learning promulgated by actual teachers! Here's what they said about the program:
MindLink is a digital learning environment designed to promote and assess creativity and other higher order thinking skills in Oklahoma classrooms. The digital tools are currently being piloted in 12 Oklahoma A+ Schools in Oklahoma and will be used to help assess student problem solving, collaboration, communication skills, and creative and critical thinking. Through our participation in the Catalyst Network, we have developed a set of digital tools to identify, track, and assess creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and other 21st century skills. The tools allow students to work as teams on projects created by teachers, program administrators, or students themselves.
Hello! This is CLASSIC progressive socialism in the educational form we call Constructivism. If you don't know about Constructivism, it's basically John Dewey's approach to education in which the child learns everything for themselves together in groups performing endless group projects. Constructivism has been shown over and over and over again NOT to work - yet we keep 'reworking' it and vomiting it back up to unsuspecting politicians and parents!
Here's the most hilarious thing of the ENTIRE HP Catalyst Showcase's MindLink dealio...
Our first finding: creativity can be measured using online technologies, supporting seminal research into creativity assessments
DUH! You're HP! You SELL technology solutions! How HANDY for you!
Truly, this creativity crap needs to STOP! Especially when ANYONE even sort of thinks they are going to ASSESS something as absolutely nebulous as CREATIVITY. Think about it, one of the definitions of ASSESS is to determine the importance, size, or value of. So, if you ASSESS my child to have creativity, he is VALUABLE? What if he is ASSESSED not to have the coveted creativity? Does he cease to be VALUABLE?
Let's not forget the movie Logan's Run... probably a good foreshadowing of exactly what America will get from this kind of creativity/test/assessment model. Don't forget, once the crystal in your hand indicated you were over 21 - you lost your VALUE to society and you were sent to the SleepShop for your dirt nap. Assessing ANY form of unassessable, GOD GIVEN, human attribute is bound to turn out badly for everyone involved...mainly, because none of us are God.
"Tulsa is experiencing a resurgence of creative energy ...and experts tell us that 21st Century cities will succeed or fail based on the dynamic quality of their creative environments. This summit is intended to begin a community dialog about how we can further strengthen the climate for creativity in Tulsa."
Those of us plugged into Agenda 21 will recognize ALL the buzzwords!
No comments:
Post a Comment