1. ARTS EDUCATION POLICY REVIEW, 111: 39–47, 2010
Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1063-2913
DOI: 10.1080/10632910903455736
SYMPOSIUM: TEACHING CREATIVITY
Creativity, Content, and Policy
Samuel Hope
National Office for Arts Accreditation, Reston, Virginia, USA
Creativity, content, and policy have multiple relationships. Creativity and disciplinary content
are inextricably linked. In dealing with creativity, the first education policy choice is whether to
recognize and act on that fact. Care is needed in using the term creativity in advocacy contexts,
lest the relationship between creativity and content become obscured or forgotten altogether.
Creativity is central to the arts, and thus arts education is a natural curricular place to develop
creativity. However, the development of creative potential requires work over time. Creativity
development in all fields requires serious sustained study and practice with certain goals in
mind. Other kinds of study may be valuable, but they will not develop creativity. If we want
to develop creative potential in schools, we must want the necessary structures and means for
its development as much as we want the results. A number of major adjustments are required.
Necessary means include the provision of environments that philosophically and operationally
support creativity, increased respect for local knowledge, and altered approaches to assessment
and evaluation. Major policy decisions face us. Can we make the adjustments necessary?
Keywords: arts education, content, creative environments, creativity, evaluation, innovation,
local knowledge, policy
INTRODUCTION press deep yearnings for accomplishments such as creativity,
while at the same time encouraging attitudes, setting policies,
It is promising to see creativity surface as a major topic in and promulgating systems that make such accomplishments
discussions about education. Of course, creativity is a vast, all but impossible. Goals bring requirements with them. We
mostly uncharted territory. In this article, I want to make a fool ourselves when we think that we can achieve any goal
few connections among creativity, content, and policy in a without providing what is necessary.
way that helps us keep a number of important questions and
issues in mind as we work with creativity in our various areas
of responsibility.
At the outset, it is important to restate a truth: creativity is CREATIVITY
found in every field of human endeavor, in every discipline,
and in every profession. Furthermore, there is a strong con- Let us begin with creativity as both a word and a set of
nection between the type of thinking necessary for creative attributes. The word creativity used by itself is one of the
work in the arts and the type of thinking necessary for cre- most nonspecific terms we have, although each concrete ap-
ative work in other fields. I hope to show why this is true, plication of the term is quite specific. For example, to some
and what this truth can mean for education policy. degree, each of us is verbally creative. We form words into
Policy questions associated with developing and enhanc- sentences. Creativity is evident every time we speak. Yet the
ing individual creative potential are also matters of concern. range of creative knowledge and skill in the verbal realm
In my view, current American practice has a tendency to ex- is vast. There is a significant difference between the creative
content of ordinary speech and the lines of a great playwright
such as Shakespeare, a creative genius. Creative genius at the
Correspondence should be sent to Samuel Hope, National Office for
Shakespeare level is obvious in most fields and professions,
Arts Accreditation, 11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 21, Reston VA 20190, and the work of such genius often intimidates. But let us note
USA. E-mail: shope@arts-accredit.org something very important: the creativity of a gifted genius

2. 40 HOPE
does not negate the creativity of any less-gifted individual or In the lower forty-eight states, four time zones exist. What
render any individual’s creativity less worthy of cultivation. if every five minutes, or every five hours, or every five days,
Another important point: normally, in the work of the new time zone borders were announced according to the
world, individual creativity cannot stand alone. For example, creative impulse of the controlling force? We would live
Beethoven needs colleague creators, even to this day. Think in an environment infused with creative necessity, but chaos
for a moment about the intricacies involved when a sym- would result. For example, no transportation schedules could
phony orchestra rehearses or performs one of Beethoven’s be issued that would have any meaning for long-range travel
symphonies: the creativity of Beethoven himself, the musi- planning. No one would know what the time zones would be
cians and the conductor, the instrument makers, the designer in the next five days. To predict the future at all, one would
of the published score and parts, the architect of the hall or have to wait until five minutes and one second had passed;
performing space, the teachers of all involved—Haydn, in if no change occurred, then five hours and one second; if no
Beethoven’s case—and so forth. In other words, it is neces- change still, five days and one second. Total creativity, total
sary to have a complex of creative knowledge and skills all chaos, totally unacceptable.
working together over a long span of time, and all in mul- Back to reality. On October 11, 1883, in Chicago, Illi-
tiple relationships between stable frameworks—such as the nois, the four time zones used in the lower forty-eight states
score—and immediate creative decisions—such as the per- were created. That decision has remained fundamentally un-
formance. Examples of this kind are evident in many fields changed for many years, and we all create our own uses of
and professions. Multiple layers of creative thought and ac- time within this time zone framework.
tion contribute to the final result. Let us take another time-based example about creativity.
Such examples can teach us many things. Among them is At this hour, a significant number of music composers are
the fact that all creativity brought to bear on a successful effort creating uniquely in terms of sound and time. Within the
does not have to stand at the highest level of genius—the level frameworks of their compositions, they are deciding what
of Beethoven, in our example. It does, however, have to be at times certain sounds will be heard. No two of these people
an extremely high level to produce outstanding results—what are making the same decision. Everyone writing music at this
the performers must do, in our example. This is an important hour is making a different decision about time use. Most are
point to keep in mind when we think about content and communicating their decisions in standard musical notation,
educational policy. a common language that anyone who has learned to read mu-
Two more questions take us onward: Where does creativ- sic understands. At some point, just like the time zones, this
ity come from? Why does innate creative ability show up in communication system about musical time was developed
different ways in different individuals? An extremely gifted creatively. It continues to develop today.
composer may show absolutely no ability, much less creativ- Both the time-zone and composer examples lead us to an
ity, in financial management; an investment genius may be important point. Creativity is needed to develop frameworks
tone deaf. Along with these questions comes a third. Why do within which constant, immediate creativity can occur. These
some people have more creative ability than others? frameworks usually evolve slowly and are stable or relatively
With scientists finding out more and more about creativity stable. New kinds of creative expression may call for alter-
every day, perhaps ultimately we will have answers to these ations to the frameworks or for new frameworks altogether,
and similar questions—but for the moment, we do not. We but the frameworks themselves are far more stable than the
know how important creativity is, but we do not know that creativity they encompass.
much about it. We recognize its manifestations, but beyond Now, if a total creative environment is chaotic and im-
theological explanations, we do not know where the creativity possible, a noncreative environment is spiritually dead and
itself comes from. All of these observations and questions often oppressive. Relationships between extremes have to be
form the basis for a simple conclusion: creativity is not only managed at all kinds of levels. And so, like most valuable
extremely complex, but it is also mysterious, and thus it is things in the human condition, the issue of creativity must
wise to be humbled before it. be approached with care and wisdom. As our two recent ex-
Let us compound the mystery a bit more to lay the ground- amples have shown, we do not have to be constantly creative
work for the next sections of this article. In many ways, a about the assignment of time zones in order to have certain
totally creative environment is chaos. But what is meant by individuals be extremely creative in their use of time. In other
totally creative environment in the sense just conveyed? words, the right kinds of stable frameworks are a necessary
To answer this question, let us use a thought experiment: condition for creativity. Mozart counted on the strings of all
imagine an environment where a retooling force arbitrarily violins being ordered and tuned the same way. Painters rely
changes the fundamentals of a particular condition either on basic colors. Choreographers rely on gravity. Playwrights
every five minutes, every five hours, or every five days. That rely on grammar.
is, in one of those time frames, everything associated with Although I am using artistic examples here, these same
a particular aspect of social organization changes. For this principles are applicable across the board. For example, air-
experiment, let us choose time itself. craft designers also rely on gravity. In all fields, creativity

3. CREATIVITY, CONTENT, AND POLICY 41
produces frameworks that encompass and enable more cre- in producing work still powerful in its original form, and
ativity. Creative people know how to work effectively with in areas that do not require advanced mathematics, modern
the relationships between frameworks and detail, regularly science, or technology. Greek playwrights, philosophers, and
using one to support the other. artists are still revered today, and their work is regarded as
These points are important for many reasons, but es- among the greatest achievements in their fields. But why not
pecially regarding the relationship between creativity and other areas? Why not medicine, or astronomy, or thermody-
change. People with experience in organizations know that namics? The ancients had great innate capability and talent,
constant change is a recipe for organizational dysfunction and the most educated among them studied and thought a
and loss of productivity. Misapplied creativity creates disas- great deal. Significant pioneering work was accomplished.
ters. The recent history of the financial markets neatly proves But something was missing: content. The ancients did not
this point. The idea of bundling mortgages together in ways have the benefit of the knowledge and skills that have been
in which individual debtors could not be identified was ex- acquired over time through various discoveries and creations.
tremely creative, but this particular bout of creativity led to If the ancients had known as much as we know, developed
financial tragedy for many and setbacks for almost everyone. the skills that we have developed, and had the creative ref-
Clearly, creativity is not an automatic good. A great deal of erence points that we have, they would have been able to do
effort is required to channel it productively. the same things that we can do across the range of disciplines
Some of the concepts associated with the attributes and and professions. The critical difference is mastery of content,
nature of creativity may seem a bit abstract or disassociated not the presence of natural, hardwired ability or creativity.
from creative applications or policy decisions. This distance, Let us now connect the two previous thoughts. Creativity
however, is not as far as it might seem. Each thing that we is manifested in some specific thing. Creative capability is
use or make policy about has a particular nature. If we do not connected to knowledge and skills. These ideas lead to the
understand the nature of a thing, it is difficult to make good critical conclusion that in policy, and in working with stu-
decisions about it. In other words, it is critically important to dents, we cannot divorce the issue of creativity from knowl-
understand what something is and what it is not. When we edge and skill development. Pitting creativity against knowl-
talk about policy questions, these concepts about the nature edge and skill development is a disastrous policy for students
of creativity will be critically important. To be successful in and for our nation as a whole. In the lives of truly creative
any creative application, the framework-detail relationship people in all fields, a voracious appetite for more knowledge
must be right. and more skills exists.
Here is a fundamental reason for this desire: creative work
involves making choices. The more I know and can do, the
CONTENT more effective and sophisticated my choices can be. If I aim
to work creatively in the world of investment and banking, I
So far, we have considered creativity as a natural attribute need a vast knowledge of these two fields and many related
of human beings. We have indicated three things: creativ- fields. My creative potential in finance does not matter if I
ity is possessed by everyone, creative talent or inclination only know how to manage a personal checking account.
shows up in different fields in different people, and levels The connection between creativity and knowledge and
of innate creative talent vary. But there is obviously much skills is critical, because our society has a tendency to take
more to creativity that innate ability. In human life, creativity extremely important concepts such as creativity, isolate them
manifests itself in terms of something, or in terms of some conceptually, and pretend that by simply invoking them, we
specific thing. A person may be extremely creative or pos- can produce answers to everything. This pattern results in
sess tremendous creative potential, but unless this creativity the creation of public relations bandwagons that foster dan-
is manifested in a particular visible or audible way, it will go gerous illusions and conceptual bubbles. I am concerned that
unrecognized. In other words, creativity is associated with the word creativity is becoming yet another generic surrogate
bodies of content, which may be identified in terms associ- for goodness that is insufficiently connected to something
ated with fields of endeavor, disciplines, professions, sets of concrete. The more the word creativity is used ubiquitously
sensibilities, or multiple combinations of all the above. without a connection to knowledge and skill development or
We are told that the human gene pool has not changed to various areas of work, the more difficult it will become to
much over several thousand years. This idea means that in communicate about and work with creativity as an education
the ancient lands, there were individuals with the creative in- policy issue. It is easy for an important word like creativity to
tellectual capabilities to do all the things that we can do—to have all its substance, value, and meaning leached away by
have built the technological world we live in, for example. superficial use in promotional situations. The bubble eventu-
Noah was known for building an ark, but he also possessed ally bursts. In our case, in terms of policy, creativity would
the innate capability to create computers, build airplanes, be tainted.
and operate complex distribution systems. We have evidence To avoid this counterproductive cycle, the arts education
that such genius was present, because the ancients excelled community needs to pursue creativity realistically, helping

4. 42 HOPE
everyone understand that creativity, knowledge, and skills And, of course, music is both an example and a medium for
all lift each other to ever higher achievement. If we want to great creativity. But clearly, centered in the artistic world as
develop innate creativity in all people and encourage pro- it may be, music is also home to the historical and scien-
ductive contributions to society, all are necessary. Neither tific modes. The same is true for the other arts. Chemistry,
creativity, nor knowledge, nor skills can stand alone if we are however, uses the same three modes of thought, but in a
seeking creative results. Artists work with this truth every different way than the arts disciplines. In chemistry, the sci-
day. entific mode is far more prominent. As they advance, the
Another reason exists why making the fundamental con- science disciplines discover things that have always existed.
nection among creativity, knowledge, and skill is critical if However, the artistic mode of thought is used a great deal
the present creativity movement is to become sustainable. in the most advanced theoretical work in the sciences, at the
Most Americans think of themselves as practical people. frontier where there is not yet an answer. The point is that
Creativity alone is a very hard sell. Without a connection to the three modes are basic ways or goals for thinking and
content, knowledge and skill development, or product devel- working, whatever their specific application in a disciplinary
opment, creativity sounds purely philosophical, psychologi- or professional context may be.
cal, or therapeutic, a way to avoid real accomplishment. None If we use Morgan’s formulation and couple it with the
of us want to see the present creativity movement become previous premise about practice and study, we can conclude
the occasion for another anti-creativity backlash, especially that a comprehensive education includes the opportunity to
in K–12 education policy. We want to develop conditions study and practice using the scientific, historical, and artistic
for nurturing creativity in which knowledge and skill de- modes of thought, both separately and together. This means
velopment improve, an important goal of knowledge and study and practice would focus on discovering how things
skill development is creative application, and students at any work, what happened, and how to make new things. All
age have opportunities to learn the nature, elements, and three modes of thought are important in all sorts of intel-
various techniques of creative work. If, slowly but surely, lectually based efforts. Many fields and disciplines represent
we can move in this direction, we will raise our potential combinations of these modes. Technological development,
for advancement in all fields of endeavor. Let us turn now for example, requires two things: results from the scientific
to several policy questions associated with this particular mode of thought about how things work and the artistic mode
task. of thought, which involves creating new things with what is
known.
In terms of education, we can conclude that our pol-
POLICY icy should be to develop capacities and capabilities in all
of these modes of thought either through the standard dis-
Our consideration of policy begins with a simple fact used as ciplines and their various combinations, or in some other
a premise. Normally, individuals get better at something the way. This comprehensive development principle is impor-
more they study and practice it. Creativity is no exception. tant, even though students will apply what they have learned
and practiced in different ways and in different fields of en-
deavor later in their lives. The educational goal is to de-
Modes of Thought
velop creativity, knowledge, and skills together, no mat-
Let us probe this idea more deeply by looking at the rela- ter is the discipline being studied. Thinking, teaching, and
tionship among creativity, content, and practice from the per- working where the artistic mode of thought is cultivated
spective of modes of thought. About fifty years ago, George improves the possibility that each individual will develop
Morgan, a famous professor at Brown University, taught a an understanding of creativity and improve their creative
required freshman course. To introduce students to different potential.
types of knowledge, Morgan used a three-part formulation.
Oversimplifying for clarity, Morgan suggested that the sci-
Learning
entific mode of thought focused on discovering how things
work, the historical mode of thought focused on learning If we want to foster creativity in an educational institution,
what happened, and the artistic mode of thought focused on there are many ways to do so, but for now, we will focus on
creating new things.1 teaching. How do we nurture creativity through teaching? Of
At this point, it is important to not confuse modes of all the ways to approach this issue, let us choose a dozen basic
thought with disciplines or professions. Modes of thought things that teachers need to be able to lead students to practice
cross disciplines. Think about the art of music. Music has and thus understand at an appropriate level. It follows, of
a scientific basis in such fields as acoustics and the psy- course, that teachers must understand and be able to do these
chology of hearing, and how things work in music is the kinds of things themselves, as well as to demonstrate them
primary agenda for music theory. History is critical to a pro- in the ways they work with students, specific subject matter,
fessional’s understanding of music and musical expression. and the things that students create.

5. CREATIVITY, CONTENT, AND POLICY 43
If I have “learned” to be creative, I understand that: need to give students opportunities to connect and combine;
to work with the artistic, scientific, and historical modes
1. Every particular thing, from the smallest to the of thought; to communicate in verbal, mathematical, kines-
greatest—fact, reality, condition, machine, technique, thetic, musical, and visual languages; to understand and use
work of art, and so on—can be used to make some- frameworks as springboards for their creativity; and to en-
thing else. Something else can be something new. joy the fact that many problems with a single answer have
2. I, personally, can make something else and something multiple solutions, and that many more problems have no
new, and I can do this constantly. universally right or best answer. In providing these opportu-
3. To make something else, I need to connect and com- nities, we naturally help students appreciate that many others
bine particular things first in my imagination, and have worked in the same territories in the past, have been suc-
then in a project, whether large or small. cessful, and have left them with a treasure trove of things with
4. The more I know and can do, the more I can connect which they can connect if they learn what the achievements
and combine, and thus, the more new things I am able are, how they work, and what they mean.
to make.
5. If I want to make new things that make sense to or Advanced Arts Learning
are useful to others, I must be able to communicate
using various languages and other frameworks. This twelve-point list and the short discussion of its meaning
6. The more capability I have with these languages and provide basic information with no explicit connection to the
frameworks, the more creative I can be, and the more arts. These concepts apply to all subject matter, including
my creativity can reach and serve others. the arts. However, what about advanced creativity—teaching
7. Through constant practice, I am able to imagine con- people who not only are naturally creative, but also have
necting and combining things that I learn. significant arts knowledge and skills in both content and the
8. Through constant study and practice, I am able to use ways of creativity? Playing the humility theme once again, let
what I have imagined as the basis for creating work us consider quotations by two Nobel Prize–winning authors.
or a product of some kind. Thomas Mann: “A writer is somebody for whom writing is
9. Through experience, I become more proficient at harder than it is for other people.” William Faulkner: “When
matching possibilities and capabilities. writing a novel, I feel like a one-armed man trying to hammer
10. The more I learn, the more fluent I become with var- together a chicken coop in a hurricane.” If two artists of such
ious languages and frameworks, and the more so- stature tell us that advanced creativity is hard, it is prudent
phisticated I am in understanding the work of others, for us to believe that it is hard. Let us briefly examine some
the more I can see that many problems have multi- of the challenges and problems that cause creativity to be
ple solutions, and the better I am able to deal with hard, and what teachers do to help advanced students work
complexity. with these problems.
11. The greater my comfort with multiple solutions and
complexity, the more capable I am in dealing with Legacies
ambiguity and uncertainty in productive ways. The more one knows about a field or discipline, the
12. The more capable I am with all the things mentioned more one knows about previous achievements. As previ-
above, the more proficient I am in planning any work ously noted, some of these previous achievements are as-
that I want to do, particularly in areas where I have toundingly high. For example, it is not Bach the person, but
the greatest knowledge and skill. I know the necessity the achievements of Bach that matter most in music. Previous
of planning to some degree, but I also know the limits achievements of this magnitude set the standard for present
of planning. I know that the work can shape itself as achievement. Therefore, the standard for present achieve-
it progresses, and that the creative work process itself ment is astoundingly high. Advanced creators not only know
reveals new possibilities and necessities. that it is high, but they also know why it is high. Teachers help
students learn to factor the presence, lessons, and meanings
This list could go on for quite some time and become a lot of these achievements into individual creative work. This
more complex. But let us stop here and make some connec- does not mean promoting imitation.
tions ourselves.
To have meaning in education, the goals for developing
Fluency
these understandings must be applied to one or more bodies
of content. This simply means that if we in education want to Advanced creators seek ever greater fluency in being able
foster creativity in individual students, we need to teach all to think in their discipline or medium to the point that they
content from math to history to theater to astronomy in ways are also fluent in thinking things up in it. This concept is far
that develop these understandings about creativity through different from and far more than just knowing something,
practice. Within and across grade levels and disciplines, we being able to think about it, or even being highly proficient

6. 44 HOPE
in a particular operation associated with it. Teachers help choreographic technique are pursued for what they can re-
students gain virtuosity in the kind of compositional or design veal about dance, the making of dance, the impact of a dance
thinking necessary to put elements, structure, and content on an audience, the meaning of technical means, deep struc-
together in the imagination and in finished work.2 ture, integration and synthesis possibilities, and so on. This
search for revelation produces discoveries and new works
Deep Structure, Deep Integration, and Deep that in turn produce revelations for others. Teachers of ad-
Synthesis vanced creators try to enhance individual student searches
for revelation.
Deep structure refers to internal architecture and is nor-
These examples are provided not to suggest any univer-
mally achieved by various types of deep integration that result
sal application in P–12 arts education, but to instead show
in deep synthesis. Normally, unless one knows a great deal
the kinds of complex intellectual operations involved in cre-
about a field or discipline, the deep structure is invisible.
ating works of art at advanced, sophisticated levels. These
Science constantly makes discoveries that reveal the deep
examples are ways of demonstrating that creativity and the
structure of the physical world. An old example is the
pedagogy of creativity are not casual enterprises. Creativity
golden section that informs all sorts of orders and percep-
is not only connected to content, but also requires work and
tions. Teachers help advanced students gain competency
time. A serious creativity agenda for P–12 arts education has
in creating deep structures, partly by teaching them to use
serious policy ramifications.
conceptually unifying techniques such as the recursive (the
structural repetition of something large on a smaller scale),
perhaps at the same time. Examples of the recursive in- Creative Environments
clude a large arch holding up three identical smaller arches, Whatever the level of instruction and expectation, a creative
the Mandelbrot sets of fractal mathematics, or, in music, a framework for teaching and learning is important, because it
single three-part progression from one tonal center to an- truly turns education into a voyage of constant personal and
other played simultaneously over multiple ten-second se- group discovery. The framework-detail relationship becomes
quences on one level and in a ten-minute sequence on another productive at many levels and helps accomplish multiple pur-
level. poses. Thus, when creativity development is a goal, our edu-
cational value system shifts from a focus on passing tests to a
Choices focus on developing and integrating capability and possibil-
A knowledgeable, skillful, actively creative mind fluent ity. Assessment changes from an end to a means and becomes
in thinking in and thinking things up in produces cascades an internal necessity for students, not just an external hurdle.
of possibilities and solutions, far more ideas than can or Students become self-critical and thus self-improving based
should be used at any one time. Teachers help students to on gained knowledge and skills. Rote learning, research, and
teach themselves to make and calibrate choices for purpose- creative applications begin to serve each other in a natural re-
specific situations and projects, and to make framework and lationship. Disciplines support each other and are combined
detail choices that integrate and synthesize effectively. A goal in realistic ways. All these conditions prevail in successful
is not only to be able to discern and connect existing dots, but professional schools of the arts and advanced study in most
also to create specific dots that are optimally connectable. fields.
Obviously, if we want to teach or work in this way in
Personal Voice any discipline, school, or endeavor, we must have a creative
environment. What does a creative environment look like?
In the arts, the ways that particular artists produce are
recognizable. Rembrandt always looks like Rembrandt, be- 1. There is a commitment to open-ended work. Within a
cause he uses a signature approach that manifests itself in a set of purposes, exploration is primarily pursued for
characteristic product. Teachers help students to use all they its own sake. The overarching goal is to try.
know and can do, all their several virtuosities, and, indeed, 2. There is a pursuit of the unknown rather than the
everything that is unique to them. Great teachers in the cre- known. There is a tendency to let the material shape
ative realm can help each student see or find more ways to itself as new thoughts and achievements come into
do the specific thing he or she is trying to do, and to do that play.
thing in a unique, personal way. Teachers help students learn 3. Space of all kinds—time, facilities, and quiet—is
to match the goal, content, process, and product, so that each plentiful.
reinforces the other. 4. There are low consequences for failure. Incentives
for problem identification and problem creation are
Revelation at least as great as incentives for problem solving.
At high levels of creative work, creators become as in- 5. The people involved have a base of knowledge and
terested in what various things reveal as much as in what skills in at least one thing. This knowledge and skill
those things do. For a choreographer, dance technique and does not restrain, but rather enables the work.

7. CREATIVITY, CONTENT, AND POLICY 45
6. The nature and pursuit of content drives time instead great deal even within small regions. The person who farms
of time driving content. Practice or work continue as or ranches a parcel of land comes to know the nature and
long as is necessary. qualities of the soil for which he or she is responsible. That
7. There is an understanding of different types of knowl- farmer must make choices with regard to types of seed, fer-
edge and ways of thinking and working, and the abil- tilizer, crop rotation, irrigation, and many other issues. These
ity to mix and match these ways to the task at hand. decisions must be calibrated to the specific conditions of that
Specific expertise is trusted, valued, and employed farm and its general environment.
liberally. If the Ford Motor Company wanted to build a similar
8. Creativity has a higher value than technique, technol- factory to the Dearborn operation in Wyoming, it could do
ogy, or ideology. Otherwise, the limits of the technol- so, and the factory would work in exactly the same way
ogy, the technical construct, or the ideology limit the as long as the same engineering specifications were met.
creative prospect. However, the details of the way that farming is pursued in
9. Bureaucratic organization, oversight, and manage- east Tennessee or Vermont or Iowa or Florida would not
ment are kept to a minimum. There is an abso- work on a ranch in Wyoming. Environments and soils are
lute avoidance of the bureaucratic mindset. Structural too different in these five locations.
frameworks are created only to the levels necessary One critical policy lesson here is the necessity of local
to encompass and support the creative effort. knowledge and deep respect for this knowledge. So many
10. There is an ability to evaluate moment to moment as achievements, examples, and yearnings in our society drive
the effort proceeds, and to make adjustments based on us away from reliance on local knowledge. But in many areas,
constant evaluation. In other words, evaluation is the local knowledge is the key to success.
servant of the creative goal. Evaluation is also rich, But what do this factory and farm comparison and this
multidimensional, and consistent with the nature of admonition about local knowledge have to do with creativity
the task. and education policies concerning creativity? Actually, the
11. There is a willingness to wait, an understanding that lesson is quite clear.
results often appear spontaneously after many fail- Creativity is an innate gift of every individual. Our goal
ures, and thus that planning, while important, is not in education is to help each individual develop his or her
necessarily the primary driver of creative success. creativity. Each individual is different. Each class of students
There is an understanding that breakthroughs cannot is different. Each teacher is different. Each institution is dif-
be scheduled.3 ferent. Each community and state is different. Each time is
different. The nature of creativity combined with all this in-
In a creative environment, frameworks and details are in dividuality leads to the conclusion that an effective policy to
a free-flowing, non-standardized relationship. Rigor comes promote creativity in education must be a policy based on the
primarily from the pursuit of possibility, and not from necessity of building local capacity and relying more on local
method, technique, or measurement, although all these tools knowledge than on technical systems engineered at a great
are used. distance. The natures of education and creativity work far
Given all that has been said, what basic approach should be more like farming than running a factory. Our goal must be
taken if a state, a community, or an institution wants to nurture to develop and support the expertise of the individual teacher,
the creativity-knowledge-skill relationship in education, or to and to create conditions under which groups of teachers in
maintain creative environments? Here we explore two large- schools can incorporate the study and practice of creativity
scale policy issues that need to be faced. into their curricula and their school environment based on
what is needed in their situation at any particular time. Most
creative applications and situations are time-specific—this is
Local Knowledge
true in teaching, diplomacy, investing, the arts, and so forth.
Consider for a moment a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michi- Standardizing and bureaucratizing the teaching of creativ-
gan, a highly technical, repetitive system that does only one ity does not work. We must develop productive relationships
thing—produce rolled steel from scrap steel. As long as all between frameworks and details location by location and,
the technical components are working properly, the factory’s ultimately, individual by individual, day by day, and year by
productivity can be calculated and projected. By careful con- year.
trol of all the technical elements, the factory will work day
in and day out as the engineers designed it.
Creativity and Freedom Relationships
Contrast this set of conditions with the conditions of a
farmer or rancher. Farmers do not control the weather or the To produce optimum results, creativity requires work and
nature of a particular year or season. Clearly, conditions for freedom requires responsibility. In a sense, the ability to ap-
farming cannot be engineered in the same way as the con- ply one’s creativity is a critical ingredient in being free. And,
ditions in a factory. Another important difference is that in as we have seen, freedom enables creativity. Thus, creativity,
many parts of the world, soil and other conditions vary a freedom, work, and responsibility must all support each other

8. 46 HOPE
in a free society. As we make policy, we must get these re- tachments to assessment. We have to cease manufacturing a
lationships right—frameworks, details, and the relationships culture of distrust and restore faith in and reliance on expert
between the two. and local knowledge and evaluation. We have to connect the
Since our beginnings, we in the United States have been development of creativity, knowledge, and skills together in
wise in the ways that we have nurtured these relationships our expectations for achievement. This connection of creativ-
in many of our most basic decisions. We have made good ity, knowledge, and skill means more rigor, not less; more
choices about responsibilities for frameworks and responsi- learning, not less; more achievement, not less; and, of course,
bilities for details. We have developed many frameworks that more work, not less. But the wonderful result is more achieve-
leave individuals, groups, businesses, and educational insti- ment, not less; more progress, not less; more fulfillment, not
tutions as free as possible to create their own way forward. less. The reason is that creativity—or the artistic mode of
We have respected local knowledge. And, in an overall sense, thought—encompasses and connects as a means to expand
these decisions have enabled us to succeed. Our success is possibility. Instead of confining us in word, thought, and pro-
astounding. Here are two sobering facts. Because population cess prisons, the spirit of creativity leads us on. It produces
numbers are higher, China and India have larger numbers of more, because it always tells us that there is something more,
naturally gifted people than we do. But in 2003, the campuses something richer in mind, spirit, and action. And, of course,
of the University of California generated more patents than there always is.
China or India.4 Will we be able to say something similar in People concerned about P–12 arts education have partic-
2013 or 2023? ular challenges in dealing with the term and substance of
The creativity issue is critically important in many areas. creativity today. The following recommendations may pro-
What we do about creativity in education matters a great vide a means for checking policy ideas so that the present
deal. We must continue to find and cultivate optimum rela- creativity movement does not result in further marginaliza-
tionships among creativity, freedom, work, and responsibil- tion of arts study in the schools. In education policymaking
ity. If we want to fool ourselves into thinking that education circumstances, arts educators need to work to ensure that:
is just about passing tests that can be universally compared,
and if we continue to standardize everything, obviating time 1. Terms like creativity and innovation are used realisti-
for creative practice, or denying the right to use different cally and do not become rhetorical or conceptual sub-
ways to reach the same answer or the possibility of many stitutes for the arts or other disciplines either singly or
answers—if we do all this and congratulate ourselves for together, else such terms otherwise gain a connotation
being businesslike and accountable moment to moment, we of superficiality;
will ultimately undermine our own potential. We will not only 2. Creativity development is connected with the acqui-
hamstring our students, but we will also harm our nation as a sition of disciplinary content and processes in the
whole. Why? Because we will have taken creativity and free- arts or other disciplines, primarily because creativity
dom out of the picture altogether, in part by isolating items of is expressed through means associated with one or
content for the convenience of efficient testing. Furthermore, more disciplines;
we will have replaced mutual responsibility with one-way 3. Linkages between knowledge and skill development
accountability, thus making accountability a primary means and creativity development are maintained and nur-
for reducing freedom and creativity. tured so that each builds possibilities for the other in
At the beginning of this article, I indicated that goals bring each student’s education;
their own requirements. Now, let us go further: if we want 4. The hard work and practice aspects of creativity de-
to achieve a goal like creativity in education or society as a velopment are emphasized;
whole, we must want the means to accomplish it as much 5. In each instance, the nature and approach to teach-
as we want the results. Are we willing to adjust our present ing and learning are consistent with goals and claims
course sufficiently to obtain what we claim to want? Are regarding creativity development in students;
we willing to change our national attitude toward education? 6. Mere exposure to the arts is not accepted as a means
What about local and institutional attitudes? for building individual creative skills. In other words,
If we agree that creativity and freedom are inextricably examples of others’ creativity, inspirational as they
bound together; if we agree that creativity and freedom work may be, are not substitutes for individual engagement,
out their relationship in individual, local, and often time- study, and practice;
specific circumstances; if we agree that in professional ap- 7. Plans to enhance creativity development include the
plications, creativity is about the virtuosity of the specific provision of environments, time, and means consis-
decision; if we agree that creativity and all that it requires tent with the goals of the plan;
must be valued and pursued throughout formal education; 8. Assessment and other management schemes reduce
if we truly believe all these things and wish to apply them content and method standardization, centralized con-
to education policy, we have to stop pretending that schools trol, or demands for teacher conformity, at least to the
and colleges are like factories. We have to cease manic at- extent that creative development is expected;

9. CREATIVITY, CONTENT, AND POLICY 47
9. Research findings are verifiable, and they are not creative achievements of our people are yet to come. One of
themselves skewed by advocacy considerations; and the greatest policy challenges in arts education is to lead
10. Verifiable research findings are used accurately and others to want the means as much as we want the results,
completely in all promotional contexts. so that the current rhetorical emphasis on creativity leads to
something of substance and meaning for student learning.
Even though the goals proposed in this paper may not
always be easy to achieve, we in the arts and in education
more broadly already have tremendous resources to do what NOTES
is needed. We have history to inspire us. Even in our present
economic crisis, we have unbelievable wealth of all kinds. 1. For further treatment of this concept, see George Mor-
Finally, we have a new level of interest in creativity. Our gan, The Human Predicament: Dissolution and Whole-
goal in arts education must be to use these resources wisely, ness, Providence, RI: Brown UP, 1968.
and this means that we must use them to serve. What are we 2. For an analysis of distinctions among thinking about,
serving? We are serving each individual’s ability to develop thinking in, and thinking things up, see Harold M.
to the greatest extent possible an ever-deepening relationship Best, “Art, Words, Intellect, Emotion Part 2: Towards
among creativity, work, freedom, and responsibility. This Artistic Mindedness,” Arts Education Policy Review,
individual ability is the result if we succeed in developing a (September–October 2000), 201(1): 3–10.
productive future relationship among creativity, content, and 3. This list comes naturally to those with experience in
policy. The individual capacity and capability that results creative environments, and variations of it have ap-
is ultimately the basis for all our efforts. Aggregated, it is peared many times. For a recent treatment, see Ros-
who we are as a people. It is our culture, our science, our abeth Moss Kanter, “Innovation: The Classic Traps,”
government, and our educational effort. It is everything we Harvard Business Review (November 2006): 73–83.
do. 4. See Richard Florida, “The World in Numbers,” At-
The stakes are extremely high. How shall we proceed? lantic Monthly (October 2008): 48–51. “In 2003, India
Let us hope that faith will override fear. Let us hope that generated 341 U.S. patents and China 297. The Uni-
we will trust the lessons of our own past. Let us want the versity of California alone generated more than either
freedom for others that we want for ourselves. If these hopes country. IBM accounted for five times as many as the
are realized through our approaches to education, the greatest two combined.”

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