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5.1 Commonly Identified Barriers
What is it that keeps children, teen‑agers, or adults from exercising their creative potential? What is it about ourselves, about the way we think and feel, the way we live, the way we relate with other people and to the things that surround us?
Fundamentally, each individual must figure out what barriers to creative expression exist within him or herself. We all need to discover whether those barriers are internal or external and which are real or imagined. Many barriers are self imposed. If we assume that we are incapable of some task for some reason or another, we will most likely not attempt it. Many children in schools, for example, who are convinced they will fail, for any of a myriad of reasons, will not try.
And, just as we make negative assumptions about ourselves, we make negative assumptions about others. This becomes a dangerous indictment if one is in a position of influence over others, particularly a teacher. In schools we have a tendency to classify students on a continuum from most capable to least capable. The expectations we have of others are usually the ones they'll live up to.
Barriers to utilizing creative potential can be categorized into historical, biological, physiological, sociological, and psychological barriers.