Creativity and Success

I came across this article at the Psychology Today blog. The author talks about creativity, and how creative children often suffer in the classroom because teachers are not properly attuned to their needs. Interestingly, says the author, studies show that teachers say they value creativity in the classroom, but they often punish children for creative behaviors. In my experience, this is true of giftedness as well. I've known many teachers who accepted GATE classrooms because they thought the kids would be "easier." Some of them love it, of course, but others can't wait to go back to the normal classroom.

I was struck by how many of the behaviors the author labels "creative" sounded to me like typical gifted behaviors. It's not surprising, since many gifted children are also highly creative. However, the article claims, "Creativity predicts future accomplishments better than intelligence or school grades." I'm not sure how creativity was isolated from other factors to determine the effect on future success. It is interesting to ponder which factors lead to success in life, and which lead to failure.

One of the most interesting predictive factors I've read about is the ability to delay gratification. I'm embedding a great (short) TED Talk that discusses one experiment on the ability to delay gratification among four to six year olds, complete with adorable video of the subjects.

What do you think? Are there particular attributes or characteristics that are a sure ticket to success? Is creativity one of them? Intelligence? Not eating the marshmallow?

Comments

[Missy]

I think delayed gratification is a big one for success predictors. That's why I cringe, CRINGE when my children choose instant gratification. But we keep plugging away, don't we?

You know what someone just told me was the single greatest predictor of success in life? Educated parents. The PHD person said it is far and away the best predictor, but things like that don't make it into articles or public "stuff" because that mythical "they" want all people to feel their kids have as good a chance as anyone.

What do you think as an educator? Agree?

And did you join Twitter?

[Easter Christopher]

It is a huge predictor, which I think makes a lot of sense. For one thing, more education often means higher socio-economic status, and we all know the advantages that carries with it. Also, highly educated parents frequently live in "brain trust" areas (like college towns or Silicon Valley), and living in those areas provides certain opportunities. And, of course, highly educated parents value education and model that very visibly to their children. I don't know about the conspiracy to keep it secret, though :-)

And no, mea culpa, I haven't taken the plunge and joined Twitter yet. After Nanowrimo, I promise.