Ken Robinson speaking at TED is a must-watch video. He hits on so many good points about the need to reform our education system to nurture creative geniuses and the importance of interdisciplinary thinking. I think a lot about how our education system can better encourage entrepreneurial thinking. Unfortunately, I believe we’re heading too far in a testing mania that, as it’s apparently done in some Asia countries for many years, produces too many cogs and too few life entrepreneurs.
Thanks to my friend Dan Grossman for pointing out this winner.
I’ve been enjoying the whole series of TED Talks posted on that site – I ration out one per day to try to milk every last drop of enjoyment from them. Even Tony Robbins managed to be entertaining!
I assume you’ve also seen the Hans Rosling piece…the Gapminder tool is amazing – and I found his passion on the subject to be highly motivational.
I found myself reading many articles on Education, even though my major(s) of choice are Public Relations & Creative Writing.
Seeing how both of those fields involve a lot of creativity–be it cleaning up a client’s PR disaster or writing a short story–I find that without creativity I would be a sinking ship. What’s odd is that I never learned any of my creativity in school; it seemed to come from somewhere else.
It’s a sad day when statistics show that the longer one spends in school they less creative they are destined to be. I was branded “lazy” plenty of times by teachers who either chastised me for accepting B’s and not striving for A’s, or by not wishing to apply for Honors-level work when I simply wasn’t interested–for reasons other than the increased work load.
I’m still not convinced that grades–be it in High School or College– are a true indicator of either effort or intellect. Testing mania is causing anxiety, illness, if not out right suicide in kids who are pushed and pushed by overzealous baby-boomer parents obsessed with having their offspring continue the enormous leaps and bounds they had in their own lives.
Whatever the case, something will have to change in the future, most likely inititated by the kids who are in school now and are so friggin’ miserable that they drown their woes in alcohol and drugs (though more likely the Prescription variety…)
Phew! It feels good get that off my chest.
“I’m still not convinced that grades–be it in High School or College– are a true indicator of either effort or intellect.”
I’m even more suspicious of grades. I argue that they actually disrupt the student from learning effectively. To be ‘successful’ in school, kids must learn specifically with the grade in mind. This encourages them to ignore the concept of learning in order to actually learn. An example of the effect is kids cramming for an exam and then forgetting everything they have learnt almost immediately afterwards.
Jason, I agree with your take on creativity. The research I have so far carried out suggests there is very little to teach. There are a few techniques, but generally we need to step back and allow it to happen.
The parallel with entrepreneurship is uncanny. Because they are partly the same thing.
School discourages creativity and entrepreneurship from the core.
I believe there is only so much nurturing you can do before you start to cause harm. Sometimes you need to step back and just let it grow.
Whoops! Forgot to add my details in the post above.
Thank you for bringing this wonderful video to our attention. We pick it up in our blog, too.