Why the Creative Arts Help With Technology Studies – Including AI
- 17 hours ago
- 5 min read
Kids today live busy lives.
School expects them to perform academically, commit to sport, and engage in a creative or artistic pursuit. Add extra lessons, homework, matches, rehearsals, performances, social lives, and the occasional TikTok dance, and you have a full diary before the week has even started.
Parents feel it just as sharply.
Between work, running a household, logistics, and emotional support, the energy drain is real. Not only physical, but mental and emotional too. Sleep is compromised. Tension creeps in. Stress levels rise. Everyone is tired, yet everyone is expected to do more.
The article that inspired this blog is:
In South Africa, this pressure is amplified by economic reality. A relatively small portion of the population carries the responsibility of sustaining and growing the economy. Productivity is not a luxury; it is survival. So we chase success across multiple fronts, because standing still feels dangerous. That work ethic is understandable, but it comes at a cost.
And because we rarely have the time or space to pause and reflect, we tend to accept the advice of experts, or so-called experts, without really questioning the system itself. We don’t often ask whether the structures we are pushing our children through are still relevant for the world they are entering. Not because we don’t care, but because reflection takes time, and time feels scarce.
The System We Inherited (and Rarely Question)
Most parents want to give their children options. That usually means exposure: academics, sport, creative pursuits. The thinking is sound. Some children discover their strengths early, others later, so broader exposure allows for more informed choices.
But the education system itself was not designed for this era.
It is largely industrial in nature and, in South Africa, still strongly shaped by colonial influence. Discipline, compliance, and standardised outcomes sit at the centre. The façade is neat and reassuring, but we seldom look under the bonnet to examine the actual outcomes. The playing field is clearly not level. Access, quality, and opportunity differ wildly, and the system does not produce equal or equitable results.
If a system is working well and delivering the outcomes we need, then great. But if it is not, we have a responsibility to rethink it. Time is not on our side. High unemployment and rapid technological change demand urgency, not nostalgia.
Why the Creative Arts Are Treated as Optional (and Why That’s a Mistake)
Because of our social and economic pressures, we often push children towards narrowly defined academic paths. Finance, engineering, technology, medicine. Sensible choices, yes. But in doing so, we frequently sideline the humanities and the creative arts.
This means that a child who is deeply gifted, disciplined, and potentially successful in a creative field may never seriously consider it as a future path. Not because they lack ability or work ethic, but because the perceived financial risk feels too high.
We should ask ourselves a difficult question:
Is the purpose of education merely to maximise economic extraction, or to help human beings live in alignment with their abilities, desires, and potential?
In recent years, adults have increasingly devalued creative engagement. Theatre attendance has declined. Arts and crafts at home are rare. Singing, acting out stories, playful performance in the living room have quietly disappeared. Creativity is often tolerated in children but discouraged as they grow older.
Dance, in particular, is frequently misunderstood. It is seen as decorative rather than developmental. This is a mistake.
Social media, especially platforms like TikTok, has inadvertently exposed the truth. There are countless hidden comedians, dancers, actors, singers, poets, and visual artists working in unrelated fields, sharing creative work on the side. This is not coincidence. It is suppressed human expression finding a release.
From the Dance Floor to the Boardroom
Even if a child never intends to pursue a creative field professionally, engaging seriously in the creative arts matters.
Creative disciplines develop capacities that textbooks alone do not.
Take theatre as an example. Many careers require speaking in front of people, assuming authority, and communicating ideas clearly. Theatre gives repeated exposure to audiences, stage presence, voice control, confidence, and role-taking. An introverted person can learn to step into a role, deliver a message with conviction, and then step back out of it afterwards.
Dance offers similar benefits without words.
Dance builds awareness of the body, posture, eye contact, projection, and non-verbal communication. Body language matters, yet we rarely train it deliberately. Dance does. These skills transfer directly into classrooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms, and presentation spaces.
Dance is also one of the most collaborative creative disciplines. It can be solo or collective, involving two people or thousands. It demands self-awareness and group awareness simultaneously. While sport certainly develops teamwork, dance requires constant synchronisation, interpretation, and adaptation in ways that are uniquely demanding.
These are learnable skills. And they translate.
Creativity, Technology, and the AI Advantage
A well-known example often cited is Steve Jobs. He was deeply involved in the creative direction of Apple products and believed strongly that form influences function. Technology, in his view, should be powerful and beautiful. He openly acknowledged experiences that expanded his perception and influenced how he thought about design and innovation.
The point is not to romanticise the man or replicate his choices. It is to recognise that creativity shaped how his technological ideas manifested in the real world. Without that creative lens, many of those strategies would have remained purely technical.
This becomes even more relevant when we look at artificial intelligence.
AI is currently at the height of technological advancement. But the true differentiator is not simply technical proficiency. It is how tools are combined, implemented, interpreted, and applied to real-world problems. Creativity sits at the centre of that process.
Creative training develops confidence in ideas, comfort with experimentation, and resilience in failure. In dance, you try, fail, adjust technique, and try again. In AI and business, the process is remarkably similar. Combining systems, using APIs, designing workflows, testing outcomes. Those who can iterate creatively gain an advantage.
Scale is no longer geographically limited. With technology and the internet, the potential reach of a good idea is vast. Creativity, paired with technical skill, is a powerful multiplier.
Focus Beats Busyness
There is a final point worth stating plainly.
Doing everything often means becoming average at everything. This is not a criticism, but a reality. Many people participate in numerous activities and are reasonably competent across the board. But those who reach the top of any field, sport, business, or creative work, choose less and go deeper.
The same applies to dance, coding, or any discipline. One or two classes a week will not yield the same results as hours of daily practice. Expectations must match investment. Effort matters. Focus matters.
At some point, children need permission to choose, even if the choice turns out to be imperfect. Making a choice and adjusting later is better than drifting indefinitely.
A Strategic Choice, Not a Sentimental One
The conclusion is simple, though not easy.
Parents and young people need space to pause, reflect, journal, talk, and wrestle honestly with who they are and what they want. Decisions should be made deliberately, not by default. Education should develop human capability, not just system compliance.
The creative arts are not a distraction from technology or artificial intelligence. They are a strategic advantage within it.
This view is not isolated. A recent article published on Bizcommunity reinforces this argument, highlighting why creative arts education is becoming more important, not less, in the AI era. It affirms that as machines grow more capable, uniquely human skills such as creativity, interpretation, and expression grow in value, not the opposite.
Be intentional.
Choose with awareness.
Develop depth, not just breadth.
The world does not need more sleepwalkers moving through systems unquestioned. It needs humans who think, create, adapt, and lead with clarity.
That is not indulgence.
That is preparation.
Thank you for reading:
Quintus Jansen
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