Karen Williams One page blog entry-Sir Ken Robinson and Creative Speaking Part One
To me, this video is what is wrong in our modern society across the board and is probably a direct product of the industrial revolution that created the current model of education. I agree with what he said and I think he is correct in every facet of his argument, but we as a society are too bogged down in politics and bureaucracy. For all intense purposes the Industrial revolution (in the United States) ended by the beginning of WWI (1914). And 100 years later our educational system looks similar. Do we have 100 years? I guess I am tired of politicians, reporters, public speakers, just talking and telling us that education needs reformed. Maybe this has already been done and I am totally ignorant, but I wish I could see a person or a company go out on a limb and create an environment solely based on Sir Robinson’s idea of cultivating individual creativity. The school can take away all the tests, all the politics and see what happens!
Sir Robinson states that the human imagination is what makes us uniquely human and what has been the catalyst for all human innovation and ingenuity. When I heard these words men like Edison, the Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, came to mind. The thing that stuck me when I thought of that is that all of these men created their inventions without having a great deal of formal education. “In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled". This ended Edison's three months of official schooling. Edison recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint."(WIKIPEDIA) Edison’s mother home schooled him. Honestly I think to curb the squashing of creativity we may have to go to a mass movement of home schooling types of situations.
I have a friend who has homeschooled her 6 children and they are all very smart, well-rounded and their creativity and exposure to all things is one of her major priorities. The small group setting does not hurt either. This same friend of mine has created her own school (business). It is a school for special needs children and teachers go to the children’s homes. I think she is on the right track for the future of education. It needs to be decentralized and in smaller groups. But as districts keep growing this does not seem likely.
Sir Robinson mentions that we are having a crisis of human resources and that in CA, 3. 2 billion was spent on education and 9 billion on the penal system. He finds it hard to believe that 3 times more criminals are born than college bound individuals. He makes the argument that it is part of a system of bad choices and bad circumstances (whether fault of their own or not). Basically his point is that business are seeing that getting it right the first time is better than having to clean up the mess later. The same holds true for education I guess. Help teach and keep children in school and crime would be diminished. But why are businesses and anyone seeing this now? Is it too much common sense to think that things should HAVE ALWAYS been done right the first time? Cutting corners anywhere at any time will always come back to haunt in the end! JJ
I agree with his closing that creativity should be as important as literacy and math. As a teacher I need to be very creative myself (even in the face of teaching to a test). I think allowing students to create their own learning or projects could be one way to promote and foster creativity and give ownership to the student and the learning is more meaningful. I LOVE the quote he states at the end, “The problem is not that we aim to high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.” To me, this is very profound statement. I think in all aspects of our society this is true. As an educator, I must not allow this to be a norm in my classroom.”!!!!!!!!!!!1
No comments:
Post a Comment