Creativity...Again

I've been trying to put this particular blog post off for as long as I can, but after spotting other posts on creativity sprouting out of other blogs I feel it's about time I do something.

I think the main reason for not getting to work is how difficult pinning down the exact meaning of creativity is. I could write down lines upon lines of definitions of the term but that's not particularly ‘creative’ now is it?

After racking my brains on how to talk about creativity I entered into a conversation with Martin, in which he said he talked about his a-level art course in his blog. This reminded me of a previous conversation with Slaney when I talked about what my foundation art teachers told us all about a-levels.
The course leader told us that anyone who had previously done an a-level in art should forget all that they have learned there. He explained that a-level art saps out the creativity of artists as they're kind of 'guided' whereas a foundation course gives the student a free-reign over what they want to do.
Admittedly, with a lack of direction I often found myself drifting off my work or doing something else entirely...but I blame that I hadn't really been allowed to do whatever I wanted to do in education before this point, it was kind of...fun.

The only point in which I was REALLY allowed to do what I liked creatively (in education anyway) before my foundation course was much earlier on, back in the day when teachers actually just gave kids a pieces of paper, some crayons and an hour in which they could do whatever they liked with their 'canvas'

I’m basically saying that I agree with Ken, at a certain point education has a way of trying to focus on the ‘important’ stuff like maths and science while smothering the more creative subjects. It’s a real shame because I think that I was actually MORE creative as a child. Maybe it was a natural loss of creativity (omg, creativity loss!!!) or maybe education really did knock it out of me, who knows.