Being creative in school today is a real challenge. Students have to worry about meeting the expectations of their parents, peers, and teachers. Students today are pressured to get good grades, make honor role, go off to college, and even be number one in their class. But, what if school is focused too much on grades, and not enough on the students themselves? Grades are important, but being creative and expressing yourself is important too. “The educational system encourages us to be their robots,” said Ashia Brown (’13) “I feel like they don’t let us be creative.”

Think about it: when people think of succeeding in school, they think of grades. They don’t think of excelling in art class, going to all county for chorus, making the marching band, learning a new a dance for ballet, or even getting the lead in the school play. All that matters to people today are grades. But, school is not all about the grades that you get. “School is about finding out who you are, and what you want to do,” said Nick Essing (’14). Schools focus too much on getting their test scores up, and don’t focus enough on helping students with their creativity. “In my core classes all we ever do is work, we hardly have any projects,” commented Samantha Corsey (’13) “But, in my theatre class we get to loosen up and have fun. If I’m having a bad day, I get to get all of my energy out in theatre. It’s a way to release your energy and still learn something.”

Some teachers even agree that schools today don’t have enough creative diversity “If you give a student a rubric for a project, they will do everything by the guidelines to get an A,” said Mr. LaBelle “But, there’s no creativity, all students care about are their grades.” Again, grades are more important than having fun with a project, or really enjoying something in school. To be creative, kids have to sign up for an art class, or stay after school to sing for a choir concert. Why are math and english classes required, and arts classes not? Both are important subjects for students to be exposed to in school, but the focus is always on the more “important classes.”

While schools don’t discourage creativity, they don’t necessarily put a major importance on them. The arts are important for students to have fun, and really find who they are through being creative. Whether it’s band, choir, theatre, pottery, or dancing, “Being creative is important,” said Nick Pecosh (’12). “Schools don’t seem to understand that.”