This article, based largely on participant observation by a British 18-year-old schoolgirl, considers forces that crush creativity in teenagers, including pressures at school, at home, and by peers. The article shows how teenagers whose creativity has been crushed then humiliate and crush the creativity of other teenagers. Mentoring is seen as one…

Published in 1949, chapter 1 of a book by the Stelton Modern School's coprincipal discusses the natural self-directed development of creativity and intellect in children. This process is thwarted and wasted by conventional schooling's emphasis on conformity, discipline, and uniform structured activities that have no relevance to the individual…