Sir Ken Robinson has many ideas on education, specifically on the failures of the out of date public school system. For example, Robinson said that, “…we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.” What he means is that the current form of education is not actually preparing students for a bright future. Instead, it is depriving young people of the chance to widen their future horizons, show the world what they as a citizen of the world can become someone in their lifetime, and provide a secure environment where nothing is “out of bounds”.
During Sir Robinson’s TED Presentation, he described that current education is failing the future generation. Instead of providing students with a study in a field that they personally find interesting, students are forced into certain “prerecorded” schedules that are, according to him, “Every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. Every one. Doesn't matter where you go. You'd think it would be otherwise, but it isn't. At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts.” In my life, I have confronted this dilemma when after three years being a whole year ahead in math during elementary school, was forced to take another, slightly different sixth grade math program. This system of school subjects shows that people are not too willing to have education change in the future, just like the caste system governs the lives of those that live in India.
Starting out as an infant, nearly every person in a developed country has the same opportunity to become someone like a movie star, professional athlete, or the president of a country. However, Sir Robinson’s TED Talk Presentation described that the discrimination against free flowing creativity, is completely related to the fact that many people cannot have the opportunity to “get out of their lives” and become someone to change the world. Robinson shared a story about Gillian Lynne, the choreographer for the many famous musicals such as “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”. During the 1930’s, she was described as the kind of girl that was fidgety. So she and her mother traveled to visit a specialist for this kind of behavior. After Gillian’s mother and the doctor discussed what the issue with Gillian was, the doctor asked for her mother to step outside the patient’s room. As the doctor followed the mother out the door, he turned on the radio. Gillian, “…was on her feet, moving to the music. And they (the doctor and mother) watched for a few minutes and he (Doctor) turned to her mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick, she's a dancer. Take her to a dance school." The inability for schools to recognize when a student possesses the gift to accomplish something creatively unique is the major Achilles' heel in the entire system of school.
Schools are once thought to a truly “safe” environment where people can express who they are and find out what they are gifted at. Sir Robinson profoundly challenges this once cherished ideal. School is not really a “safe” environment because as Robinson points out, “What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. If you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities.” This statement is without a doubt, one of the truest statements that I have heard in the last 24 hours. Students even sob uncontrollably when confronted with a poor grade for a project that they worked many hours on. This “vulture” like demoralization of one’s mistakes is detrimental to the creativity of younger generations.
To pass many of his ideas across, Sir Ken Robinson uses many strategies which captivate and teach his audience. For example, he pans his head left to right throughout his presentation to cause his audience to feel like he is talking to everyone; instead of looking straight ahead or staring at the camera. Another technique that he uses during his speaking is that he backs every statement about the state of education with a personal story, fact, or lesson derived from someone else’s life. One of these facts we used when he was describing the human ecology and the fundamental principals we are education the next generation. Robinson uses the fact from Jonas Salk, “If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish." This provided undisputable information to his original idea that it is not just an opinion, but an agreed upon fact.
Sir Ken Robinson’s claim of the failing education system is evident throughout the world. Education must be reformed to allow a fair opportunity to the growing generation, in a future that is as unpredictable as any time in history.
Works Cited
Robinson, Ken. "Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity | Video on TED.com." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, June 2006. Web. 17 Apr. 2011.
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