Reigniting Creative Courage in the Middle School Art Room

Why Bravery Slips Away

By the time students hit middle school, many begin holding back. They second-guess themselves, play it safe, or avoid risks that might expose them to embarrassment. Research backs this up: Kyung Hee Kim’s large-scale study of over 300,000 students on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking found creativity scores have been declining since the 1990s, especially as kids move into adolescence.

Layer on, what Jonathan Haidt calls the anxious generation: today’s teens are growing up with shrinking opportunities for unstructured play, over-protection, and constant phone-based comparison. It’s no surprise that creative risk-taking is one of the first casualties.

Why Art Needs Risk

Art thrives on exploration, on ideas that might flop before they fly. Risk is about the willingness to experiment, fail, and try again. In fact, international research on creativity in schools shows that students who are encouraged to take “productive risks” often end up with higher engagement and deeper learning.

If our classrooms don’t make space for this, students quickly equate art with perfection, not process. That’s where culture comes in.

How Teachers Can Build a Culture of Bravery

Middle school art rooms are uniquely positioned to counter this trend. With a few intentional moves, we can turn “fear of failure” into “permission to play”:

• Celebrate Effort, Not Just Outcome
  Recognize the student who tried a wild new blend in oil pastel, even if it didn’t work. Bravery badges or shout-out slips make that recognition visible and concrete.
  
  

• Model Vulnerability
  Show your own “failed” experiments. Let students see that teachers don’t always get it right on the first try.
  
  

• Give Choice & Voice
  Choice-based prompts let students chart their own path, which lowers the stakes and raises ownership.
  
  

• Frame Contests as Courage
  Entering a show or contest isn’t about winning, it’s about daring to share your work. Position contests as milestones in risk-taking rather than measuring sticks.
  
  

What Happens When We Reward Risk

Emerging creativity-based interventions show real benefits: reduced anxiety, higher self-confidence, and stronger willingness to explore. When students feel safe to fail, they’re more likely to innovate, persist, and enjoy the process of making art.

Closing Thought

Middle schoolers don’t naturally lose their bravery, it gets squeezed out by culture, screens, and fear of judgment. In the art room, we get to flip that script. Every time we celebrate a risk, honor a “mistake,” or cheer on a messy attempt, we’re sending the message: bravery matters more than perfection.