Dec 18, 2010, Saturday
No template for creativity
WEDNESDAY'S commentary ('True measure of a student') suggested we benchmark our education system against the Torrance tests of creative thinking.
Measuring creativity and divergent thinking using a standardised test is ironic.
Creativity can be informally defined as 'thinking outside the box', but a standardised test will simply measure how much the test-takers' thinking can diverge from one box into another, which is not a meaningful exercise.
While the lack of creativity can be best tackled while a person is young, doing this through the education system alone is not enough. The lack of creativity among Singaporeans is due largely to the need to conform, and the fear of failure.
Our material comfort and relative wealth today, compared with the previous generation, represent the huge opportunity cost of not conforming, of not striving to do well in the education system; of not picking the safest careers in traditionally popular sectors such as banking, finance or the civil service.
Our obsession with standardised tests from such international benchmarks to national exams magnifies the pressure as this conformity to the national formula becomes objectively measurable.
As the have-nots envy the haves, families and society pressure individuals to conform. This deeply ingrained culture of the pursuit of materially better lives is the bugbear of creative thinking and free enterprise.
To have creative individuals, we must first have a creative society that eschews standardised tests and embraces more than just the material and tangible.
We need a more open society that accepts differences, before any educational initiatives can be effective.
Let us look beyond standardised tests and beyond the education system, and be be more accepting of differences.
Tan Jiaqi
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