It’s odd. We know too well that too much screen time scrambles brains, kids and adults alike. Yet here we are, with schools gleefully pushing coding and computer programs as the ultimate brain-boosters. Five-year-olds, who should be tangling their hands in clay or crayons, are glued to tablets, learning to read and count through pixelated screens instead of more hands-on, brain-sparking methods. The tech world might mean well with its flashy promises of educational revolution, but is this the way? Reform is overdue, but is the digital highway the only road we can take? Or could we perhaps rethink the entire system with a fresh set of values?

Arts and culture programs are being gutted, cast off as “extra,” “non-essential,” or, dare I say, “frivolous.” But that’s by design. The current system is designed to produce convenient adults who don’t question too much and aren’t overly curious or challenging.

A quote often attributed to John D. Rockefeller, the godfather of public education in America, states: “I don’t want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of workers.” Whether or not he said these words, his actions and policies supported this sentiment. Rockefeller’s advisor, Frederick Taylor Gates, who was involved with the General Education Board, expressed similar views in his 1916 book, The Country School of Tomorrow. He wrote, “We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning, or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, editors, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for […] great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have an ample supply… The task we set before ourselves is very simple as well as a very beautiful one, to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal life just where they are…” Translation: keep the masses compliant and keep the system in check.

Sound familiar? It should. These roots run deep. The system was not developed to encourage critical thought, creativity, or intellectual rebellion. Instead, it’s all about following the script of rote memorization, standardized tests, and compliance at every turn.

Creativity is part of our nature, and it feels like it’s being suffocated. It is an essential tool in building resilience for the future. A NASA study shows that at age five, a whopping 98% of children score at “creative genius” levels. By age ten, that number falls to 30%. And by 15? It nose-dives to a measly 12%. Adults? A sad 2%. How’s that for a creativity crisis?

Conversely, people like Noam Chomsky advocate for building “intellectual self-defense” and emphasizing the importance of robust thinking. He believes education should foster curiosity, critical thinking, and the ability to question and challenge. Contrast that with today’s emphasis on conformity and standardized testing. Creative thinking involves developing new ideas and solutions by looking at things differently. Examples include brainstorming, generating multiple possibilities, combining existing ideas in novel ways, and pushing boundaries. Encouraging creative thinking is one of the core values of a humanities curriculum. In his TEDxTucson talk, George Land split thinking into two camps: divergent (think wild imagination) and convergent (judgment and evaluation). Although both exist in the traditional school system, guess which one thrives in schools? Spoiler alert: it’s not the one that encourages original ideas.

No matter how trite it sounds: our kids are going to shape the future. So how we choose to educate them now matters. It should matter because it will affect them obviously, but ultimately, it will affect the course our world takes. Education should be a joyful, wild, expansive adventure, full of questioning and wonder, where ideas can originate rather than just be redeployed.

In the end, tech initiatives aren’t the enemy, but we need to think of what needs to be reformed. We can’t lose sight of the importance of creativity and the arts in fostering well-rounded, intelligent, and curious individuals. We need music, arts, and culture, not as “extras” but as essentials, because the Arts and Humanities ignite creativity the most, not in isolation but in collaboration with other subjects. It’s not about tossing out the tablets completely but balancing them with what makes us fully human: imagination, creativity, and curiosity. The ultimate goal? A full-blown educational overhaul, a mindful one with the goal of benefitting the children first. But in the meantime, let’s nurture our kids’ inner Philomaths while tending to our own neglected creative spirits. Let’s invite more divergent thinking into the mix!