In 1968, a researcher and general systems scientist by the name of George Land conducted a study of 1600 children ages 3-5 years old. This was the same creative genius capacity study he developed for NASA to select the innovative engineers and scientists. The test given to its subjects required them to look at a problem and then come up with new, different and innovative ideas for the solution. This test essential looked at person’s creative genius capacity.
What Dr. Land found was that creative genius among 5-year-olds was 98%. However, over time, that creative genius rapidly declined:
- Creative genius scores at 10 years old – 30%
- Creative genius scores at 15 years old – 12%
- When this test was given to 280,000 people at an average age of 31 – 2%
According to Dr. Land, you and I can be at 98% if we actually want to be [1].
Why the Sudden Drop?
Why is there a sudden and rapid drop in these scores between the age of 5 and 10 years old?
First, there is a tremendous lack of creative development in our school systems. There is no concerted effort to nurture the imagination or ingenuity of our children or our students. In early childhood, free play is associated with the highest scores in creativity. That means that children who are allowed to spend the most time pretending, free playing, role playing (acting out characters) develop their creativity skills to the greatest degree.
We’ve learned that when children are given the ability to play and pretend to voice someone else’s point of view, it helps them develop their ability to analyze situations from different perspectives. Pretend play is a safe place to work through thoughts and emotions. In middle childhood, children will often create detailed imaginary worlds (paracosms) in which they can work through these feelings, emotions and situations. Kids revisit these thoughts repeatedly, sometimes for months, and even create languages spoken there.
This type of fun and free play peaks at age nine or ten and is a very strong sign of future creativity. A Michigan State University study of MacArthur “genius award” winners found a remarkably high rate of paracosm creation in their childhoods [2].
Yet, our traditional school systems and settings, remove this ability and capacity from our children and the numbers above prove it. Creativity has been deemed a disruption in the classroom, instead of an opportunity for growth. As long as this mindset persists in the departments of education, we will continue to dumb down our society and culture.
Additionally, long hours of TV and videogames remove the need to be creative and sap the creative skill from the minds of our children and young adults. Social media with it’s continuous scrolling and seven second video clips undermine the brains capacity to produce its own abstract and creative thought [3].
Second, another stimulus for creativity genius is playing a musical instrument. Music and music programs have all but been banished from most of our schools.
There’s a mounting body of evidence that shows that many of the most successful and brilliant adults studied music at some point in their lives. Music does not necessarily have some magical ability to make people smarter. Rather, it gives the brain an opportunity to practice abstract and creative thoughts. Creativity is not easy and it takes practice.
Stop Allowing the School System to Dumb Us Down
As research has demonstrated, almost all children have unique talents and can function at the level of genius capacity in their early years. Yet, these gifts are often squandered, underutilized, or simply dismissed because they are not recognized or nurtured at an early age by those educating them. Our schools stigmatize mistakes, criticize individualism, and censure independent thinking.
You and I see it every day. As I said before, creativity has been deemed a disruption in the classroom instead of an opportunity for growth. Most schools today are academically inadequate, with “dumbed-down” curricula. Instead of nurturing our future leaders, our educational system is and has fostered generations of mindless complacency. The statistics speak for themselves. The situation is getting worse.
Meanwhile, you and I are in search of cultural enrichment and educational opportunities for our children: something engaging, enlightening, and inspirational.
What can you and I do?
- Allow your young kids ample free play time that allows them to enjoy solving problems and create their own fun.
- Limit access to video games and social media exposure as long as possible
- Home school your children where possible
- Learn to play a musical instrument and if you haven’t already, enroll your children in learning to play a musical instrument.
- Learn to face and enjoy life’s challenges by enrolling in my Coaching Program, now.
References:
- Land G & Jarman B. Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future Today. Aug 1, 1998. Leadership 2000 Inc. ISBN-13: 978-0962660528
- Siegel, Daniel J. The Developing Mind, 3rd Ed: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. May 27, 2020. The Guilford Press. ISBN-13: 978-1462542758
- Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. June 6, 2011. WW Norton & Company. ISBN-13: 978-0393339758