Comments on: Update: Can Creativity Be Taught?

By: Roy Jacobsen

Roy Jacobsen — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:20:00 +0000

“Can creativity be taught” is the wrong question.

“Can ‘I’m not creative’ be unlearned?” That is the right question.

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:38:58 +0000

Creativity can NOT be taught. It is innate.

Sidney’s points of courage to try is not teachable. You can not teach motivation. You can teach someone to force upon themselves a course of action. Critical assessment is not a required component of creativity.

You can inspire, guide, and exemplify methods to these goals. One can only provide paths to help make it foster and grow. The horse knows how to drink the water, you can only lead them to it.

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:30:56 +0000

Pretty lame poem…not only in terms of meter, structure or rhyme. Genius and creativity are not necessarily linked. Suggesting impotent efforts results in genius inertia is a weak proposition.

By: smartstorming

smartstorming — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:26:13 +0000

One of the big “debates” among those who responded to the question was whether creativity is something everyone possesses, but in some has been repressed. So rather than “teaching” creativity, it is more a matter of unleashing or releasing it. I think this is largely a matter of interpretation in that, in either case, learning and applying new skills will result in increased ability to think creatively. In fairness, I must add that there were some who believe creativity is either there or not, and in varying degrees, and cannot be taught or enhanced in those who are limited in their ability to think creatively.

By: Sidney Blank

Sidney Blank — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:58:16 +0000

Certainly there are aptitudes, proclivities, strengths. However, I completely believe creativity can be taught. Learning how to do anything consists primarily of two things: the courage to try and the critical assessment required to improve. Desire is the spark that lights the fire but the fuel is iterative improvement. You’ll come to the same conclusion whether you read Giacometti’s biography by James Lord or Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of the 10,000 hours in his latest book Outliers.