Standardized Curriculum and Loss of Creativity

The current emphasis on national standards in core content areas works against 3 laudable goals of 21st-century education: cooperation, critical thinking, and creativity. I focus on creativity as a critical 21st-century skill and argue that the preoccupation with curriculum standards that are overly prescriptive undermines efforts at facilitating creative processes and outcomes. I propose that, rather than abandoning standards, policy makers must embrace their role and purposes in more creative ways. I also argue that to inspire creativity in curriculum, it is important that society foster creativity among teachers and their teaching practice. Teachers do not need to find a method or theory that they will follow slavishly. Rather, they need to analyze a multiplicity of ideas and put their creative powers to work in answering questions such as: Where could I use this? For what purpose? With whom? In what context? If people want to promote creativity in students, they should also encourage it in teachers.