I came across a list of traits that creative people should possess. While studying the traits listed I wondered whether such traits would be welcome in schools as we traditionally know them today. Will schools be able to cope with such people? More specifically, will schools in Singapore ensure that the nurturing of creative people become one of its hallowed goals?

Singapore schools have long prided itself on an examination-centric system and also on characteristics like team work and discipline. The last two often are just an euphemisms for rigid and unquestioning conformity. The examination-centric approach is never healthy for the kind of divergent thinkers, non-conformists, the imaginative and the severely critical, traits that usually characterize the creative. Neither is the mis-emphasis on team work and discipline

Will schools in Singapore be able to recreate the school environment to encourage such traits? How do schools create an environment where habits of minds related to creativity like persistence, intuitiveness, adaptability, tolerance to ambiguity and even risk-taking? What must schools in Singapore give up before such traits can be seriously nurtured?

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