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The idea of teaching students to be compliant suffocating their creativity is of interest to me. It was questioned in discussion today whether or not our constant demands of compliance on our students is causing them to loose their creativity … I don’t think that this is the case, in addition I think that the different perspectives on this depend largely on the student population you’re working with.

For instance, the students I work with are primarily grade levels behind where they should be, come from rough neighborhoods and low-income households with little to no parental involvement. These students need to be taught to conform to rules or they will not survive in the ‘real’ world and unfortunately the only place they are receiving this lesson on compliance is at school… Their creativity is not being stifled by this lesson in compliance, they are being given tools to compete with the students they will be up in classes with when they reach college. Which brings me to the point I mentioned concerning people’s opinions on this matter depending on what population you are working with. I have worked in suburban schools where students receive lessons in compliance at home and when they come to school (generally) they demonstrate respect and cooperation. Perhaps in these cases, student’s creativity is being stifled when they are taught compliance in school…