Do SchOols Kill crEatiVity?

After watching the Sir Ken Robinson's talk about how schools may kill creativity, a lot of ideas get into my mind. First of all, I think that it depends a lot of the kind of school we're talking about, because there're a lot of schools, maybe not in Chile but in other countries, that encourage the art's development in children. Actually, in other countries exist schools of art, and these allow the development of their artistic capacities, like musical, painting, dancing, etc. On the other hand, the "common" schools, just like Sir Robinson said, are made to "prepare" kids for College or University, so if a kid wants to be a doctor, for example, the school and his/her parents tend to distance him, o her, of arts, because "she's/he's not going to be a dancer, or a musician". Besides, it's very common that some parents and "conservative" schools teach children that arts, or even the humanistic careers are not "profitable", because they are not good paid...they teach that the only reason why you have to go to school and to University is to earn money.
I agree with Sir Robinson when he says that there are a lot of ways of understand the concept of "intelligence", there are kinds of intelligence, and different ways to see the world: that is to say, creativity exist and we don't have to kill it but promote it. If a person doesn't want to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or an engineer, or if a person doesn't like maths or language, or doesn't understand that subjects the answer is that she, or he has other kind of intelligence and wants to develope his or her creativity and the most important thing is that we have to be able to promote the childen's abilities. Maybe their abilities are not in maths, or science, but in music, painting, dancing or acting.

I think that "future" is a very recurrent word in my life, I'm always thinking about it, wondering what fate has in store for me; but I think we always have an "idea" of what we would like to be doing in the future, an ideal future. What would I like to be doing 5 years from now??, the first thing, I would like to finish my career more than everything, and maybe applying for a postgraduate course in other country, if it's possible, or in a good university of Chile. After doing my thesis, and with my anthropologist title, I would like to work; but I still don't know in wich area, maybe in politics, education, or economy. I also would like to work in an ONG, making studios related with the topics I named before. Well, maybe it's a little bit ambitious, but I'm thinking in doing a trip, and maybe work in other country. I think is very important to know other realities and places, specially when you're an anthropologist; but I need money and resources, soy maybe this goal can wait.

Personally, I'm always thinking in having a family; but I'm not thinking in getting married because I don't believe in marriage as an institution. I think that if you love someone, you don't need a paper that confirms you that, and you can share lifes with the person you love without being married. Thus, I would like to have children with someone, with my boyfriend...that would be my family.

Nowadays, I live alone with my sister in a flat in Santiago, but in 5 year from now I would like to live in a place far away from Santiago, with my family...but this depends of my work, my boyfriend, my family. Maybe it would be nice to live in other city, or in other country with my family, but if this couldn't happen in 5 years I would like to be real after that.

The best in my area

It's very difficult to decide who is the best in my area, because actually I don't know many chilean anthropologists, except for the ones that are my teachers in the university, and I don't know very much about them. I know a few archaelogists, but I think that a lot my class mates are going to talk about them, so I decided to talk about Marvin Harris. I don't know if he's the best in my area, because I think there's a lot of good anthropologists, and because I'm just starting in my career, and despite I've lerning a lot, I don't know if I'm qualified to decide who's the best in this area. Marvin Harris was a north american anthropologist of the XX century, he developed his theory in the middle of the 70's. He's a very important figure, since he was the creator of a theorical approach in anthropology (and sociology), an anthropological research paradigm called cultural materialism. The reason I like him, is because of "his theory", the theorical content of this paradigm, because it gives and explanation of the progress and evolution of a culture, most specific, he proposed that the social life of a culture and its ideology is the response to the practical problems or the material conditions. I think the cause of why I think that he's the best, is because he always put into practice his theory, since he not only proposed it. All his books and works are testimony of the application of his theory, like an attempt of explanation of a cultural phenomenon through the cultural materialism. Besides, I think he's the best because this theory can explain a lot of phenomena associated with the ideology of a culture in materialistic or practical terms,that is to say, the Marvin Harris Theory can explain irrational practices as the result of infrastructure problems.