Does the education system kill creativity?

A very interesting talk from Ken Robinson:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

I think I might have missed some of the more subtle points in that talk because I was too busy laughing at his jokes all the time. He does put forward a very good case though and I have to say that I agree with him particularly with respect to the education of younger children of primary school age and below. I'm not sure I would go so far as to put dance lessons in the same category of importance as mathematics and English but I definitely think creative primary school learning with overlapping subject areas is potentially the way forward. Children are incredibly creative people and this is one of the main reasons why I am broadly in support of the general (if not specific) ideas outlined in the Primary School Education Review released last week.

I understand some peoples fears about this approach to teaching 'dumbing down' education but I think that's probably because older people see creative learning as a very alien idea (compared with the way they were taught) and also because it will take time to formulate a creative curriculum that actually works in the way we really want it to. We're never going to get things right on the first attempt and, in the meantime, perhaps it isn't fair to be using children as our guinea pigs. I can certainly 100% definitely understand that concern.

But, then again, do we have any other options?

I'm sorry - I think I'm going on something of an education rant at the moment! But, then again, what the hey - this is something I am at least mildly interested in so it'll be great to get some good discussion going.

Dan