Is the move to using tech impacting creativity in our children? In our efforts to be perfect are we getting so rigid and structured that creativity goes by the wayside?
Kyung Hee Kim, a professor of creativity and innovation at the College of William & Mary, has conducted extensive research indicating a significant decline in creativity among school-aged children in the United States since the early 1990s. Her analysis of over 300,000 creativity test scores—primarily from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)—reveals that children have become less emotionally expressive, less imaginative, less humorous, and less capable of elaborating on ideas. The most pronounced drops occurred in kindergarten through third grade, with further declines in fourth through sixth grades.
This trend is particularly concerning because creativity is not static—it develops over time, and early childhood is a critical window for its growth. Kim attributes the decline to systemic factors within education, including the emphasis on standardized testing, rigid curricula, and a focus on finding single “right answers” rather than fostering divergent thinking. As a result, creative subjects like art, music, and drama are often reduced or eliminated, and children’s natural curiosity is suppressed by structured, high-stakes learning environments.
However, not all children follow the same trajectory. Recent studies suggest that creativity development is not uniform—some children show steady growth, while others experience temporary slumps, possibly linked to developmental shifts like increased social conformity during early adolescence. Neuroscientific research also indicates that brain development, particularly in the frontal regions, may influence creative thinking patterns.
While some researchers argue that the idea of “school killing creativity” may be overstated, the evidence strongly supports that current educational practices—especially those driven by accountability systems like No Child Left Behind—constrain creative expression. To reverse the trend, experts recommend prioritizing open-ended learning, unscheduled playtime, process-based evaluation, and environments that value experimentation over perfection.
Other articles addressing the decline of creativity:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6559841/
https://www.childcreativitylab.org/the-creativity-crisis
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.