Educational tyranny kills creativity

By Ahn Young-sop

When Aidan Dwyer was out strolling in some woods, an idea popped into his head. “My design is like a tree,” the then 13-year-old boy told CNN in late 2011. “But instead of having leaves it has solar panels at the ends (of the branches).” The teenager inventor was one of 24 recipients of the 2011 Young Naturalist Award from the American Museum of Natural History. His idea on revolutionizing the solar power industry was widely acclaimed. Although critics challenged Dwyer’s power calculation which they argued was flawed, most, including even some of the critics, admired his creative imagination. At a recent conference of PopTech, an authoritative nonprofit organization focused on innovation, Dwyer was confident that he could change the world. He has had friend requests on Facebook from venture capitalists.

Thomas Suarez, another boy inventor, told ABC News in April, 2012, “I’ve made a lot of money for a kid.” The youngest iPhone app developer, now 14, is CEO of CarrotCorp, which he founded at the tender age of 12. He won a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, along with notables like Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey and filmmaker Edward Burns.

Jack Andraka, a 16-year-old “boy wonder” scientist, has made a breakthrough in detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages when survival rates are at their highest. This disease is so deadly that by the time it’s normally diagnosed it’s already spread to other parts of the body. Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late, when someone has less than 2 percent chance of survival. He won the 2012 grand prize at the Intel International Science Fair. In 2013 alone, U.S. President Barack Obama invited him to the White House four times. His idea has made him a star speaker at medical conferences and institutes all over the world, including the renowned Royal Society of Medicine in England.

Have these kids only surprised the world in the 21st century? Of course not, there is a long list of other teen legends. For example, news about entrepreneur teenagers who’ve made millions is becoming too numerous to list here. Are they child prodigies? Wikipedia shows none of them belongs in this category. The number of these incredible teen scientists, inventors and social innovators is rising at an amazing pace in the United States. Most world-class thinkers of global trends note the worry that the United States may lose its technological leadership in the future is unfounded. Why is this trend so conspicuous in America?

Despite various problems with formal education, the United States still enjoys a creative educational climate, which can produce extraordinary kids. Such an environment tolerates and encourages curiosity, ventures running the risk of failure, courage to let go of certainties, and freedom to choose and explore. From this American example may well derive the 3C’s principle that “The Creative Creates the Creative,” that is, “A creative educational climate creates creative humans.”

Parents, teachers and friends of Aidan, Thomas and Jack have all encouraged their curiosity, freaky ideas and entrepreneurial spirit. Aidan’s parents backed up his research when he wondered why tree branches look alike. Thomas decided to make an app when he was only 9 years old, and has since received generous help from his parents, friends, teachers and even the people at the Apple store.

Jack’s parents wanted him to be well prepared for getting into a college, but still tolerated and supported his seemingly impossible research. During an interview with veteran journalist Morley Safer, 82, for the eminent news magazine 60 Minutes of CBS, Jack said his parents had him use home basement for his “lab,” which always remains so jumbled that they are reluctant to know about what goes on down there. When Jack finally prepared a test protocol for his theory and sent it out to 200 top cancer specialists, all but one turned it down. Dr. Anirban Maitra, then professor at Johns Hopkins University, got Jack a corner in his lab. Maitra now heads pancreatic cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. An educational climate that can have such a curious, liberal teacher could make a huge creative difference.

How about the educational climate in Seoul? Korean parents would go to the ends of the earth only to have their children get into prestigious colleges at home or abroad. They coerce their kids into doing anything possible to that end. To cut to the chase, such educational tyranny over potential whiz kids has for decades stifled their creativity. Sir Kenneth Robinson, a world-famous expert on education, warns flat-out. “School education kills creativity.” Jack Andraka also emphasizes knowledge you get in school is one thing, and creativity is another. Education, formal or informal, matters only when it works as the key to change the world for the better.

The days when impressive college diplomas monopolized the bulk of power, wealth, honor and other privileges in our society are coming to an end. Playing out before our eyes is an incredibly challenging era in which young students are teaching their teachers, and topnotch Ph.D.s are learning expertise from imaginative autodidacts with no formal degrees. Most will bet dollars to donuts Seoul will hardly break new ground in science, technology and the arts unless it brings about the 3C’s principle which would enable everybody to express their creative potential.

Ahn Young-sop is a perennial researcher of global trends and teaches at Chung-Ang University. Contact him at anthonysyoung@gmail.com.