Why is innovation no longer encouraged at school?
Posted on May 29th, 2008 | by Nick Grinberg |Why is employment the MAIN GOAL?
In my experiences of the education system in Australia, from a very young age I was put down a predetermined career path. Here is my view of ‘the process’. You start off in school going through the education system where you may or may not go to a tertiary level. The logical next step is to get a job out of university - that will ultimately pay the bills, hopefully buy you a house and a couple of holidays.
Along the way, most people are constantly fed mantras like “ a good education gives you a good job which means you will be successful“. This put a long held belief in my head that I needed a good job to be successful (recently dis-proven :-)).
Now I got no bone to pick with getting a good education. Hell, I can count just as good as the next man. But my beef is with the JOB (As in Employment = Success). This mantra is harped upon more then anything.
And yes, a lot of people are comfortable in jobs and I’m not having a go at them. Jobs can provide a great income, as well as a wealth of experience.
Its just that being paid for your services nearly ALWAYS means someone else is getting MORE VALUE out of them. It’s as if we are naturally predisposed to think we must work for someone else. In my opinion, the education system does not teach us enough about how to use our own resources to create maximum value for OURSELVES.
I never remember being encouraged in my schooling system to go out and try something for my own. University mostly teaches you to get good grades so that you can ’stand-out’ amongst the class, and be picked up for a good employment opportunity. Well what about taking the knowledge you earned from getting those grades…and really doing something new?
The counter-intuitive part
Are people that afraid of experimentation? Considering that evolution is based on difference isn’t it a bad thing try squash it? Well this goes with the whole ‘resistance-to-change’ thing that most of us are guilty of. It is a very, very counter-intuitive thing to encourage it.
‘Difference’ is often viewed as a bad thing, and when your young, an unproven success formula is seen as too risky, bound to fail, not normal (insert dream squashing phrase here!).
Yes…of course…ANY new unproven venture is risky (that’s why its new and unproven). But do you go for it when you’re young and have nothing to lose - or when you have a mortgage and a wife and kids? Being experimental allows us to be creative, spontaneous and make a better contribution (even for a future potential employer).
So…be experimental…be bold (how appropriate!)…and NEVER be afraid to take a different path and stand out!
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5 Responses to “Why is innovation no longer encouraged at school?”
By Dean on May 31, 2008 | Reply
A nice read….but is it benificial for everyone to be innovative and creative? Maybe natural selection should determine who becomes sand entrepreneur and who become an employee
By Dima on Jun 1, 2008 | Reply
good question..
from the perspective of society as a whole I believe innovation and creativity should be encouraged wholeheartedly.
All progress stems from creativity and as such it is the basis for the evolution and improvement of all the systems and frameworks on which society is based.
However before we can have creativity we must first instill curiosity and hence awareness. Which i believe is one the faults of our current society.. Much of a persons natural curiosity is repressed by rigid standards in our eduction systems and society in general.
Viewed from a different perspective it’s the whole nature vs nurture argument coming into play. If we nurture curiosity and creativity, there would be more of it and hence more entrepreneurialy minded people, which from my perspective could only be a great thing.
Great article Nick!
By Lesley on Jun 4, 2008 | Reply
I think one of the main problems with our educational system is that there is considered to be a right and a wrong answer in our markng systems - therefore we are taught that there is only one right answer, that it already exists and that we just need to figure out what it is. OR that we need to learn what it is and merely regurgigate that, such as in HSC exams. Creativity is very rarely encouraged in mainstream subjects, and hence our creativity is stifled fromt he very beginning.
By Nick Grinberg on Jun 4, 2008 | Reply
I agree completely with Dima and Lesley. It extends past our education system to some jobs as well.
Some workplaces have cultures that almost ’scare’ an employee to be creative or admit a mistake he has made. Its all about giving someone the tools to allow themselves to be creative and not be afraid of making mistakes!
Great to see input!
By Helena on Jun 8, 2008 | Reply
I definately agree that being creative should be encouraged whole heartedly in our education system but what our system aims to do is not to create entrepreneurs but rather workers. Education aims to teach us hard work rather than creative thinking. I do believe that hard work is crucial in every part of life but coupling this with more open minded teaching methods could prove to be a more effective formula.