98% of kindergartners scored at genius level on a divergent thinking test, Robinson says
Robinson argues children do not outgrow creativity, they are schooled out of it.
Royal Society of Arts · RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms98% of kindergartners scored at genius level on a divergent thinking test, education author Ken Robinson says in an interview.
Divergent thinking is the ability to see many possible answers to a question, not just one. It is not the same as creativity, which Robinson defines as "the process of having original ideas that have value," but he calls it an essential capacity for creativity.
In one example from the test, people are asked how many uses they can imagine for a common paper clip. Most people, Robinson says, would come up with 10 or 15, while people who are good at divergent thinking may offer 200.
Researchers gave the test to 1,500 kindergarten children, Robinson says, and retested the same children at ages 8 to 10 and again at ages 13 to 15. He says the scores showed a clear downward trend. He argues children start with this capacity and mostly lose it. He blames years in school being told there is one answer at the back of the book, not to look, and not to copy because that is cheating, though, as he put it, "outside schools that's called collaboration."
Questions people ask
What is the difference between divergent and convergent thinking?
Divergent thinking means generating many possible answers, interpretations, or uses for something. Convergent thinking means narrowing down to one correct answer. Schools mostly reward convergent thinking, through tests with one right answer.
Where did the kindergarten test numbers come from?
Robinson cites results described in a book called Breakpoint and Beyond, which tested 1,500 kindergarten children and then retested them longitudinally. The genius cutoff was a score above a set threshold on the test protocol. Robinson uses the result to argue that education erodes the capacity.
Does a lower score mean teenagers are less creative than 5-year-olds?
Not necessarily. The test measures one capacity that supports creativity, not creative achievement itself. Adults gain knowledge, skill, and judgment that young children lack, even if they generate fewer wild possibilities.