Page 16 - Más allá del aula 3

Más allá del aula III: Experiencias y reflexiones docentes

moving up and down while saying in unison “chin pun papas”,
“chin pun papas”, “chin pun papas”, and staring at each other. One
of them straightened his index and ring finger, “scissors”, the other
one opened his fist and hold out his hand, “paper”. Scissors
defeated paper.
- Therego, partner! – said the defeated boy while walking away
through the corridor. The winner took the opposite direction.
Everything was calm again. Yet I am not sure whether they knew I
was there behind the door, in the darkness. I still ignore whether
“stone, paper and scissors” was only a game or the kids’ creative
manner to solve their conflicts. I am for this last option.
Creativity is the new strategy public schools need in order to
face the new challenge: the post-conflict. This is not simple. 3.6%
of the school population at the public school where I work (IED:
Institución Educativa del Distrito-Bogotá), has been a victim of the
armed conflict in Colombia. The school is in the western part of
the locality of Bosa, in the southwest of Bogotá. The only
educational support provided by the government corresponds to
therapeutic assistance in specific State Health-care Centers
(Entidades Prestadoras de Salud - EPSs). However, there is not any
institutional policy to assist this population in their long way to
healing their wounds. Even worse, current pedagogical actions in
the classrooms is homogeneous. It means that students approach
the same topics without any significant differences in cognitive
needs and learning styles. Students’ pains, hopelessness and
frustrated dreams mix and contrast with the energy of school life.
There is no time for sadness. There is no time to cry for dead
people. There is no time to complain. There is no time for wounds
to be healed. No time for pain, either!
Creativity is needed for both the academic life and the solution
of human conflicts. In Hargreaves y Shirley`s The fourth way: The
Inspiring Future for Educational Change, the authors analyzed the
educational systems of the countries with the highest academic
performance -Finland, Singapore, Canada, Australia and US, and
they concluded that students in those countries became more
creative since the corresponding governments entered the age of
post-standardization in education. However, in standardization-
bound countries, as Colombia, creativity is not commonly

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