ESSAYS
May 29, 2025
The Industrial Education Model and the Dulling of Creativity
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." – Pablo Picasso
The education system, which still exists largely unchanged today, was actually shaped to meet the industrial needs that arose after the Industrial Revolution. For the first time, this revolution forced people to work in a synchronized manner for long hours, laying the foundation of a system that prioritized obedience, punctuality, and discipline over questioning. As a result, education was restructured not to foster creative thinking, but to turn individuals into parts of the production line.
People who once worked in fields or produced within small communities now needed different skills: arriving on time, adapting to hierarchy, and not questioning orders. The education system envisioned the individual not as a free-thinking subject but as a seamlessly integrated part of this new labor order. In other words, the boundaries of creativity were drawn by the curriculum.
The Industrial Revolution added a new gear to its machine each day, creating new industries and making possible the world full of products we use today. But these gears did not just keep turning—they accelerated with each round due to competition. As long as production continued and profits grew, there was no need to interfere with the system.
Yet the hidden cost of this mechanism was the suppression of creative potential that begins in childhood. In this structure, memorization was rewarded over curiosity, conformity over imagination. Gradually, students' creativity was stifled. The system produced individuals who adapted to expectations and resembled one another. As a result, original ideas lost their value, while accepted truths gained prominence.
What is rewarded in education directly shapes the way individuals think. In an experiment by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, a group of students took a test. Some were praised for their high scores, while others were praised for their effort. Afterwards, they were offered the chance to take a more difficult test. Those praised for their effort were more willing to try it, while those praised only for their success avoided the risk. Because societies that value effort raise individuals who question, try, and do not fear mistakes; whereas systems focused solely on outcomes steer students toward the safe choice, thus suppressing their creative potential.
Today, we are still in an education system that rewards those who get the most answers right. But if we had valued those who could ask the most creative questions, we might be living in a very different society. Perhaps we could have grown up in a system where success wasn't measured solely by grades, and where happiness was also considered a legitimate achievement. Or in a world where teachers were seen as individuals who build lives, and were given a socio-economic balance that allowed them to live with dignity…
Perhaps, as Ken Robinson also advocated, we need to imagine a new system; one that teaches not just how to make money, but how to use it meaningfully; a system that values happiness as much as success. A model where teachers are not authoritarian managers, but guides; where students are given not only knowledge, but also the courage to think. A system where curiosity is valued over memorization, and originality over conformity. Because education should offer more than a profession; it should make one think, transform, and liberate.
