All Children are born as creative geniuses until the are forced to attend school!
That’s exactly what Dr. George Land and Dr. Beth Jarman discovered when they tested 1,600 American children using NASA’s Imaginative Thinking Test.
Their 10-year study revealed a shocking decline in creativity over time:
*Ages 4-5: 98% scored at genius levels in creativity
*Age 10: Only 30% retained their creative genius
*Age 15: That number dropped to 12%
*Adulthood: Less than 2% remained creative geniuses
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This study proves that we are all born with extraordinary divergent creative potential—but as time passes, something dims that spark. Something smothers our ingenuity and creativity as time ticks by.
Dr. George Land’s NASA-backed study tested 1,600 children on creative thinking, starting at ages 4-5. The results were mind-blowing—98% of them scored at genius levels in creativity.
But as they grew older, that spark faded fast: by grade school, only 30% remained highly creative, dropping to 12% in high school, and by adulthood? A shocking 2%.
So, what happened? Land’s study suggests that traditional education and societal norms don’t nurture creativity—they smother it. Children are born creative geniuses, full of curiosity and imagination, but something dims that flame over time.
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One major reason? The way we teach thinking.
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Two Types of Thinking—And Why They Matter
Our brains use two distinct thinking processes, but when kids are forced to use both at the same time, it creates mental friction that diminishes brainpower.
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Children are born with an inner flame of curiosity and innovation, but when we force them to use divergent and convergent thinking at the same time, it creates a mental tug-of-war.
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Their neurons compete instead of collaborate, making it harder for the brain to function at full capacity.
Divergent Thinking:
This fuels creativity, imagination, and innovation. It’s spontaneous and allows endless possibilities to emerge.
It’s why kids can turn a cardboard box into a spaceship or see a dragon in the clouds. An inquisitive mind feeds this natural desire to learn, explore, and grow.
Convergent Thinking:
This is focused, logical, and judgment-based thinking—what we use to analyze, test, and make decisions. It’s essential for solving problems and reaching conclusions, but it works best n separated from creative thought.
The real issue? When we ask kids to be creative and critical at the same time, we unknowingly weaken their ability to think powerfully.
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Dr. George Land explained in his 2011 TEDx Talk that this conflict in thinking doesn’t just slow creativity—it shrinks it over time.
If we want to keep our kids’ creative genius alive, we need to stop un-teaching creativity and start giving them the space to think freely.
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It is time to rethink the way we teach thinking!
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Montessori / ABC Flash Point News 2026.
School is meant to prepare people for educated en-slavery to support capitalist corporations. The economy, not human welfare.
Your right children are molded by society into conforming to the particular dogma of each country and also the collective social dogma of a whole region of the world . Having said that creativity does not necessarily mean high intelligence but the born ability to be highly capable of coming out with solutions to complex problems in the area of their own innate expertise . This could be The Arts/engineering or diverse subjects even if they have a low IQ . But modern society forces children into a certain depressive thinking pattern that conforms to a certain pattern of achievement… Read more »