虽然很多人理所应当地认为，应试教育阻碍了中国学生创造力的发展，但目前没有基本的证据能证明中国学生总体创造力水平低于其他国家，因而不能简单断言应试教育制约了中国学生创造力的培养。但这并不意味着应试教育与学生创造力水平无关。一个更加合理的解释是：应试教育对不同类别学生的影响是不一样的，它对“抬升底部”卓有成效，但会比较明显地阻碍拔尖学生创造力的发展。这有直接和间接的多方面的事实证据支撑。应试教育对拔尖学生的创造力水平有着明显的负面作用，并不意味着其他群体的学生不受其影响，而是说在应试教育的环境下，拔尖学生受影响和制约的程度更加突出。借用“创造力成分理论”提供的分析框架，这种负面影响可能通过3个机制发生作用：即降低拔尖学生的知识掌握宽度和深度，降低冒险质疑精神以及对不确定的容忍态度，弱化学习的内在动机。虽然拔尖学生数量占比不多，但这不是小问题，而是直接关系国家安全和竞争力以及教育系统完善的大问题。

Although many people rightly believe that exam-oriented education hinders the development of Chinese students’ creativity, there is no basic evidence to prove that the overall creativity level of Chinese students is lower than that of other countries. Therefore, it should not be simply asserted that exam-oriented education restricts the cultivation of Chinese students’ creativity. But this does not mean that exam-oriented education has nothing to do with students’ creativity. A reasonable explanation is that exam-oriented education has different effects on different types of students. It is effective in “raising the bottom”, but it will obviously hinder the creativity of top students. This is supported by many direct and indirect factual evidence. Although the number of highly creative students accounts for a small proportion, their creativity is affected, which is related to national security and competitiveness and deserves attention and vigilance. Exam-oriented education has a significant negative impact on the creativity level of top students, which does not mean that other groups of students are not affected by it. But in the environment of exam-oriented education, the top students are more affected and restricted. Using the analytical framework provided by the “the componential theory of creativity”, this negative impact can work through three mechanisms, that is, reducing the width and depth of top students’ knowledge mastery, reducing the spirit of adventure and questioning, as well as the tolerant attitude towards uncertainty, and weakening the internal motivation of learning.