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Can Creativity Be Taught? Lyrics by David Best

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There is a quotation from Immanuel Kant, which aptly expresses the main theme of my argument:
"The light dove, cleaving the air in her free flight,
and feeling its resistance, might imagine that her
flight would be still easier in empty space."
I shall argue that there are similar misconceptions about creativity which have harmful, or at least confusing, educational consequences.
The challenge of tackling this problem was presented by the following dilemma. Can I reconcile my conviction of the overwhelming educational importance of creativity, with my equally strong conviction that there must be objective criteria and assessment for any activity which has a legitimate place in education? It will be obvious that this issue has important implications for accountability, which is being increasingly demanded of all aspects of education in many countries.
To put the point another way, it is not immediately obvious that or how teachers can progressively develop in their students the creative attitudes which are increasingly recognized as of crucial importance. For instance, the title of a recent article in a British newspaper stated bluntly: 'Creativity cannot be taught' - a view which, one suspects, is shared by the great majority of people, including many teachers.
The crucial question, then, which covers almost if not every part of the curriculum, is: Can creativity be taught? The term 'creative' and its cognates are often used very loosely, so that anything one does is sometimes regarded as creative. So let me say at once that, to put it roughly, I shall be concerned with the concept of creativity as it is related to originality and imagination. Moreover, my thesis applies equally to the creator and the spectator, for it requires imagination to understand a work of creative imagination.
Summary
The light dove, in my opening quotation, craves an impossible ideal.
The resistant air is not a handicap to but the precondition of free flight.
Similarly, one cannot be creative in a vacuum. The possibility of creativity requires the learning of techniques, of objective criteria, and of a foundation from which to be original. These constitute the medium which alone gives creative potential the freedom to fly.
To summarize, I have tried to outline the following five points:
1. The process is necessarily identified by the product.
2. Creativity is not a mental state or activity distinct from the forms
in which it could be expressed.
3. Creativity grows out of and therefore depends upon cultural traditions.
4. A necessary condition for creativity is to have acquired the requisite techniques.
5. There are objective criteria for creativity
In a recent radio interview, the extraordinarily original jazz trumpeter Dizzie Gillespie was asked whether it was his lack of any tuition which had allowed him to develop his highly individual style. He replied, most emphatically, 'No, I should say not. A teacher is a short cut.' The interviewer pressed the point and asked 'But wouldn't a teacher, at least to some extent, have limited the development of your own particular style?' To which Dizzie Gillespie replied: 'Not a good teacher.' As I hope is clear from my argument, it is my conviction that good teaching consists in the creation of those conditions which are most conducive to the students' learning.
We can now appreciate how the original question can be answered, for in that sense we certainly can teach creativity.
Credits
David Best

David Best

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