Blog Post #12

What can we learn from Sir Ken Robinson?

The Importance of Creativity
By: Jennifer Hamrick and Dominique Jones
Sir Ken Robinson talks about the importance of creativity in this video and how creativity is just as important as literacy. One of the things that we can learn from this video is that kids will take chances. They are not afraid of being wrong but they are taught that being wrong is something to be ashamed of. By the time kids become adults, they are too frightened to be wrong and don’t want to put themselves or their ideas out there. Kids are being educated out of their creativity. Everywhere you go in the world, there is a hierarchy of subjects with Math and Languages at the top, then Humanities and then the Arts at the bottom. There is also a hierarchy within the Arts where music is at the top but dance is at the bottom. As young children we have been taught that the most useful subjects for work are the ones at the top and kids are steered away from the subjects they like because they are told they won’t ever get a job doing those things. It’s crucial that we rethink the fundamental principles that we educate our students on. We are suppose to prepare our students for the future but don’t know the future so we should really prepare them in every subject we can.

Changing Education Paradigms
By: Jennifer Hamrick
There are multiple things that can be learned from Sir Ken Robinson in the above mentioned video. Sir Ken Robinson begins by talking about how every country is reforming public education right now and there are two reasons why. One reason is economical. How do you educate students to take their place in the economy of the 21st century? We can’t anticipate what the economy will be in a week so, preparing children for 10 years from now is almost impossible. The second reason is cultural. We need to find a way to teach our kids how to have an identity while being part of globalisation. Millions of kids are being alienated by trying to prepare for the future by doing what has always been done in the past.
Children were once told that if they worked hard, did well, and got a college degree, they would have a job. While a person is still better off having a degree, nowadays, it doesn’t mean you will get a job. Standards of education need to be raised and the current system was designed and conceived for a different age. It was designed for a system that didn’t believe “street kids” could get educated. In the system, we were told that there are two kinds of people, Academic and Non-academic. Many non-academic people are made to believe that they are not brilliant because they don’t meet certain standards.
According to Sir Ken Robinson, the current economic and intellectual model of public education is causing chaos. ADHD has risen with standardized testing guidelines and the further East you go, the more fictitious epidemic of ADHD rises. As a learner, you can have an aesthetic experience where your senses are operating at peak level and you feel alive. Or you can have an anaesthetic experience and your senses are shut off and you feel deadened to what is happening. Children are being anaesthetized to get them through the education process when they need to be woken up to what they have inside themselves.
The current model of education is about conformity and standardization. The reform needs to go in the opposite direction. Students need to see that there are lots of possible answers and lots of ways to interpret questions. Stop teaching students that there is only one answer and how to work collaboratively. The real world calls for collaboration and most great learning happens in groups.

By: Dominique Jones
Sir Ken Robinson begins his speech with how ironic No Child Left Behind really is. Statistics show that 60% of the population and 80% of the Native American population drops out of school. He thinks No Child Behind is not diverse but instead conforms students. Ken thinks education should give an equal amount to each subject such as arts, humanities, and physical education. Test are helpful but should not dominate education. All high performing systems engage their students, teachers have a high status and pick only the best, and the school level should decide instead of the state level. People need to recognize that education is a human system. Ken compares education to Death Valley. Death Valley is the driest and hottest place in America which means nothing is able to grow there. In 2005 it was covered in flowers. This means that students being able to learn is possible they just need the right conditions by creating a climate of possibility.

3 reasons the human mind flourishes :
1. Humans are different and diverse. Kids learn better when they’re able to use their talents.
2. Curiosity. “Engine of Achievement.” Teachers have to be creative but great teachers have to mentior, stimulate, provoke, and engage.
3. Human life is creative. We all create our life.