Neglect of creativity in education: A moral issue

Abstract

Teaching is not just a job like any other. Teachers belong to the only occupational group whose core responsibility is mentoring the next generation and shaping the future of the societies of which they are part. Thus, teachers have a special duty to their charges and to society. By entering the profession teachers accept the responsibilities associated with this duty whether they consciously seek them or not. They thus have moral obligations that are different in principle from the manual, technical, or professional obligations of most other occupations. This chapter will examine the dimensions of these moral obligations. Its purpose is not to cast teachers in the role of the villain or to castigate them for their moral failings, but to examine promotion/lack of promotion of creativity in the classroom from a rarely discussed perspective in order to gain new insights into the situation.