Creativity & Happiness

Introduction

In our education we are supposed to be challenged. I agree with Logan because we are taught in our schools being happy and healthy is important, but only within their guidelines. We have had these guidelines set out for us, although what applies to one person may not apply to another

The Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness is not about getting everything that you’ve ever wanted or dreamed of, although that would be great, but being content with what you have, even on the bad days, not just the fleeting moments of joy experienced regularly. The concept of happiness has been lost, we’ve all been influenced through our education, through our society into believing that there is a formula for being happy.

(University Degree x Good Job)+Spouse +House (Neighborhood with good schools + Children) =Happiness

Young people are being taught this internationally and this is what they believe, what our misguided society has led us to believe. That without adhering to this specific formula you will never know true happiness, even though one person’s dream or reality may not follow this formula that doesn’t make them happy. Alternatively, people whose lives do maintain this formula may not necessarily be happy. Happiness is subjective.

Creativity in the Classroom

Through our education we are encouraged to be creative but never given the opportunity to actually be creative. We are not always provided the space to invent or the motivation to do so. We are treated like wild animals on a reserve, we are given this wide expanse to explore, we mistake that for freedom because we don’t know any better than what we’ve been told but we still have barriers we aren’t allowed to cross, we still have more to discover.

An approach I have into English lessons is that young people should be able to read young adult books. Giving young people a choice of what they want to read is an effective way of getting us to participate in discussions and reading outside of class. Using the young adult genre would be a positive addition to classes, not only because it is easier to understand than most material read during English lessons but is also relatable to students’ as well. Young adult books can be complex also, so there would be no lack of themes of themes or topic discussion. There are also an excellent array of young adult books such as ‘The Fault in our Stars’ by John Green, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen Chbosky, ‘If I Stay’ by Gayle Forman, and ‘The Knife of Never Letting Go’ by Patrick Ness among others.

Conclusion

In conclusion the reason that I agree with Logan is because creativity is important for invention and discovery, being able to find alternate solutions to problems is essential to moving forward. Additionally Logan talks about how definitions of happiness shift.