In the novel Never Let Me Go, why do the students and Hailsham's administrators attach such high value to creativity?

On the
surface, the students of Hailsham value creativity and art skills because of the social status
they infer. Tommy, for example, gets made fun of by his classmates because of his lack of
artistic talent. Creativity and churning out good paintings, drawings, or poems is a means of
grabbing attention, praise, and social statusi.e., fitting in.

What the
students don't knowat least not initiallyis that being creative is a sign
of being human. The teachers know this and use the connection between creativity and humanity to
argue that their students do, indeed, have souls just like natural human beings, even though
they're clones.

Eventually, Kathy and Tommy realize just how high the stakes
have been, as they discover that Miss Emily and Madame have been using the students' artwork to
prove their humanity all along. They weren't looking for the soul of an artist in the students'
work; they were looking for proof of a soul, period.