The importance of creativity in teenagers lives
[Applause]
i listen to death metal to help me
concentrate
it makes me happy it doesn’t make my mum
happy in fact she thinks it’s
intolerable but what would make her
more unhappy is if i was unhappy
parents what is more important to you an
unfortunate lack of death metal or your
child’s happiness
obviously the second one and what a
weird metaphor but not when you
relate it to school great
now that i’ve got your attention and
freaked you all out a little bit i’m
going to
explain to you how this relates to what
i’m talking about my name is millie page
i’m 18
and i’m the uae’s youngest produced
musician
i’ve been a guitarist for 10 years and a
vocalist for 14
and music is my life it gives me
something productive to do when i need
it
and it is my creative outlet so i’m here
to talk to you today parents students
and teachers
about the importance of allowing
adolescents to be creative and
expressive while juggling their
academics and how we can go about doing
that
from age four i knew that i was
different academically
i knew that i couldn’t do what the other
kids could do in terms of maths
writing and spelling but i did know that
i excelled at music and drawing and that
i was the one kid who sat inside in
lunchtime to listen to james blunt and
play house and i was perfectly fine to
do that
growing up i always saw myself as being
less valued than other students in
school because i couldn’t do my times
table
i was made fun of for it obviously but i
kept being creative and joining school
plays and singing at every opportunity
then finally at eight years old i was
diagnosed with multiple learning
disabilities
and i finally got my answer as to why i
was so academically different
i wasn’t stupid like i thought for so
long well a little bit
but now i knew where my creative side
had come from
however the older i got the more
frustrated i became
with not being able to doodle in lessons
while doing my work or drawing or
playing music
i was told it was a distraction and that
i’ll never get any work done if i’m
drawing
for me personally it helped me focus and
i know that 47
of students make it easier find it
easier
if they can take breaks while learning
to do things like drawing or listening
to music
i started to understand that my
confidence could bloom from being
expressive and creative
my parents saw my struggle and that
being just academic caused me to be
frustrated in school
and so then i was allowed to dress how i
wanted and do my makeup how i wanted
which included random colored eyebrows
and spike chokers
it helped me feel more expressive and
gave me a break from the pressure i felt
at school
i felt free being able to express myself
in any way that i wanted especially as a
musician
and with the support of my parents i
finally found a place i belonged
which wasn’t in a classroom or with a
particular group of students i fit in
with
but in my own body as a confident very
small young woman
i’ve found great amounts of confidence
as a musician and it’s given me some
amazing opportunities and now i’m on my
way to university to continue being
successful
unfortunately in secondary school with
all of this expression and creativity
came bullying
it knocked my confidence right back to
where it was before i found myself
and i spent hours in my bedroom like a
true emo kid
writing songs about how upset i was that
people didn’t understand
it took me years to get back to the safe
creative place i’d built for myself
before
and i realized the only way to keep
myself going was to stop caring about
what anybody else said
and not to keep pushing for social
acceptance or academic success
but to push myself to be whoever i
wanted to be because that’s where true
success comes from
i’ve noticed that a lot of children in
school feel that they can’t be their
true selves without the fear of
upsetting their parents
or being bullied by children who don’t
understand
and sometimes we’re told we can’t do
something creative that we love because
it won’t bring a success
and that’s ridiculous isn’t it take for
example
one of my friends he was told at gcse
level that he can’t do
art because he was too dyslexic to
possibly be able to keep up
with the deadlines the same thing
happened to him in ib
he was forced to do an academic subject
which didn’t make sense at all for a kid
with dyslexia
now he’s 20 and he’s in university doing
a very academic based subject
and he has to do art on the side he’s
doing really well
but had he been allowed to do art in
school and therefore in university
think of how much more happy he would be
and more motivated he’d be to get out of
bed and go to his lectures
he’s doing something on the side that
he’s doing because he loves and not
because
someone else thinks it’s best for him
doing art on the side
allows him an outlet to express his
emotions that come with school stress
and he brings the artistic creativity
he’s learned on the side
into his uni course in any way that it
allows him and ultimately he is much
happier doing art
but there is a fear that all children
have of disappointing their parents
holding on to this fear creates anxiety
in schools and in workplaces
and children and teenagers feeling like
they can’t be themselves
has caused problems i see in my peers
and it holds them back
it’s heartbreaking that my friends want
to dress creatively and want to write
music
and be artists but the fear of social
rejection is too much
being academic is important to some but
for all having a creative outlet is what
will carry children
into their adult lives and make them
more confident and fulfilled
so what’s the point in everything i’m
saying the reason i’m stood here in
front of you is to ask you to consider
if you haven’t already
that nothing we have would be here
without a creative mind
the chairs you’re sat on and the screen
behind me the light and sound technician
at the back wouldn’t be doing their job
if it wasn’t for some beautiful minds
if we think about it this way when
you’re going into an interview
what sets you apart from the other
people there for the same interview
i know what sets me apart because i
don’t think anyone else in there is a
literal circus clown but if they were
what would set me apart from them too
well
i’m a musician an artist and i’m a
really creative thinker
take a second to think about something
that would set you apart from them at
the interview
so i reckon about 70 of you there have
just thought of something that you might
think that no one else has done because
you’re thinking outside of the box
and that’s exactly the type of
creativity i’m on about
it doesn’t have to be something big but
allowing children to do something
creative and active
will make them not only more happy and
more well-rounded but will make their
lives much more enjoyable
to the parents in this room children and
adolescents are vulnerable
very important and very moldable you can
make your children
into anything you want them to be but
ultimately what they should be is
themselves
to the teenagers in this room you’re
only a teenager for 2556 days
so make the most of getting a head start
on being creative expressive and happy
do not let anybody tell you that you
can’t dress how you want draw what you
want
do the subjects at school that you want
or have the career one day that you want
and with that happiness let it carry you
into the rest of your life
even if you look up and if you end up
looking as weird as me
thank you
you