Literary Journalism

College Students Take Kindergarten

Sun pours through the windows at the end of the hall and onto the ugly yet functional peach-ish wall tiles just as they have for the last sixty-or-so years. The halls are surprisingly quiet for a building full of children under the age of eight, with only an occasional laugh or clamor floating down the hall.

We approach room 108 with excitement, more than ready to ignore our college responsibilities and be kindergarteners for a few hours. “Miss Siewny” (See-knee) is spelled out on colorful letters over a laminated paper crayon box with the names of all her students filling the inside.

We enter into a sensory explosion. Colorful bulletin boards covered in construction paper are packed with information relevant to the children who ironically, cannot even read them yet. Different stations and learning materials are set up throughout the room; a whole shelf of counting tools, portable whiteboards, books and puzzles covering every inch of the room.

Dozens of big eyes on little faces turn towards us from the pint-sized tables, “Who are these giants in our classroom?” you can feel the questions bubbling up.

Good questions kids. What are we doing there?

To answer them, we need to back up past the beginning of the semester, past our time in kindergarten, and all the way to about 1968 and the beginning of creativity research. It is in that year that George Land ran a test. Using a creativity test developed by NASA to find innovative engineers and scientists for their programs, he tested a group of four-to-five-year-olds to see where they ranked on the creative genius scale. The results were staggering; 98 percent were considered creative geniuses. He administered the test again to the same group at age ten and then at 15. In the ten years since the original experiment, the scores dropped to only 12 percent scoring as creative geniuses. When he performed the test on adults, only two percent resulted in genius level. What happened? Land determined that creativity we are born with; it is non-creative behavior that is learned. His findings led to the question, “can this process be reversed?”

Although this landmark event occurred in the sixties, the subject of creativity has just recently gained credibility in academia but is making up for lost time. It is now one of the fastest growing areas of research. The results which have led to experts to come up with methods to “unlearn” non-creativity. Brainstorming methods that instruct creatives to, “go for quantity, deferring judgment, seek novelty, and making connections,” fractionation, word dancing, are just a few techniques one can use.

Miami University is one of the leaders in creative curriculum. Hidden inside one of the arguably least creative places on campus, the Farmer School of Business. Miami’s Entrepreneurship department thrives off of students who dare to be different led by professors who dare to break with collegiate norms, challenging their students to embrace ambiguity, fail, and learn rather than be taught. Dr. Jim Friedman is among the ranks of those “un-learning” students of their traditional schooling mindsets. He teaches several classes that present steps to a creative lifestyle. Among these are “Entrepreneurship 351: Creativity for the Entrepreneur.”

On the first day of class, he asked us to raise our hand if we saw ourselves as creative. Two people raise their hands. We’ve spent the rest of the semester trying to change that.

This brings us to the present day, to me and my fellow creative walking the halls of Monroe Primary School. Back to the source; Kindergarten. Where creativity and convention go head to head. We are here to see what pure creativity looks like and maybe gain some tips on how to get it back.

Back in the colorful, wonderfully over-decorated room, we are introduced to the class, “Everybody to the blue carpet! Pick a dot, and leave two for our new friends!” The master and ringleader of this bunch of five to six-year-olds is my childhood friend Rachael. I’ve known her since I was even younger than the kids she is now teaching. Twenty-five and in her third year of teaching, creativity is a part of her everyday life. She is becoming an expert in finding creative ways to keep creativity mixed in throughout her teaching of the required curriculum. This means getting the kids through testing while still nurturing their individuality without letting the class fall into anarchy.

We were instructed to sit crisscross applesauce with our “spoons in the bowl” a fun way of telling the kids don’t sit there and poke your neighbor or pick your nose. Discipline made creative. That’s how all instructions were, dual purpose. As if by magic life lessons were being seamlessly primed into these children as we went through the circle and into the rest of the day.

Rachael looks down at her phone, as another reminder goes off. Time to switch stations. Their day is incredibly scheduled and packed with total stimulation leaving no time for them to be bored or start getting into something they shouldn’t.

Side note: everything in kindergarten is sticky. No matter what, your hands always feel sticky. I tried not to question it.

As we go through the day one thing is consistent, the kids exude individuality from their outfit choices to their behavior. Mix matched patterns, clashing colors. I can just see the parents shaking their heads (hopefully with a smile) as they dress their child that morning. “They put their spin on everything,” she said one of the most interesting things for her is hearing the way they interpret things. I kept this in mind as I observed their behavior that day. My favorite example was during a bathroom break as the kids worked on a task, two students, one girl and one boy, just start dancing in their seats. Out of the blue, no music, no concern for what their peers would think. They sat at their child-sized table across from each other she with her blond ponytail bobbing around, he with his “graoutfit*” pants too short for his skinny legs, glasses charmingly too big for his little face. Both dancing to a song no one else can hear. “No, no wait do what I do!” she giggled moving her arms above her head like a ballerina, he laughed and followed along.

Sometimes the kids would just stop and stare. You can see the gears turning in their head. What are they thinking? Maybe they are lost in a daydream. We never just stare into nothingness anymore, letting ideas flow through our mind. When did this stop? Why?

It’s moments like this that we came to see. Carefree expression, interpretation of everyday tasks. “Their perceptions are unfiltered,” Rachael explains that how most of them just don’t have the baggage we do that keeps up from being themselves and making mistakes. She sees that as part of her job, to hold off that process as long as possible.