creative? or just getting by?

Given that I teach art, one would think that all my students' assignments require creativity and individuality.  In a perfect world this would be the case.  However, some of the time I feel that my students are seeing how they can skate by faking creativity and individuality.  Some students have mastered the art of pretending to be creative.  So, I think to myself, "this is bad, right?"  Is it though?  Is it so bad to make up creativity?  Or, is that just the point?  I encourage creativity and individuality as much as humanly possible, but I plague myself with the question of what creativity and individuality really is... Someone once asked, "Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?"  Do I allow my students "fake" creativity by imitating what they have seen around them, given that they ARE problem solving, or do I expect so-called original ideas? Now, with that asked, do I myself even have these original ideas, of which I am expecting my students to produce?