Wednesday, 24 November 2010



Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity


















Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

Ken Robinson on the Web





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Speakers Ken Robinson: Author/educator

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Why you should listen to him:

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.

"Ken's vision and expertise is sought by public and commercial organizations throughout the world."
BBC Radio 4

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Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!


http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

About this talk

In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

About Ken Robinson

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of… Full bio and more links

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Rita Ashworth (0)
0Reply
2 days ago: I think he has praticed the talk but anyhow they are good ideas and they do need to be put forward because there are so many people out there who are so stuck in the past regarding the various technological and societal changes happening in the world.

He is a scholar you can check that out on wiki so he does indeed know his stuff but more than that he knows how to argue in a very engaging manner which is a gift in itself. I had a philosophy lecturer at college who came over in the same manner and they do indeed foster passion in their students. I just wonder in the sixties who they were reading regarding education was it stuff from Summerskill or other similar people.

Being brought up in the UK is quite staid and I do agree that there does indeed need to be a revolution in the way we structure our societies and the education system itself which has tended in the past to subdue people into passing exams to gain that elusive job.

Yes the whole thing needs to change and soon!


Hassan Mohammed Yakubu (+6)
+2Reply
May 27 2010: inspiring talk!!!
education has been around for so long a time and it has always been geared towards the end of the tunnel. this as he explained has the tendency of creating professionals who are programmed to do things not those who really think because they have what they do at heart.
in all,nature i believe is the best,cos it has had the time to adjust so in "revolutionarizing" Education as he said,we will be revetting to the nature given talents and passions.I THINK THAT WILL BE BEST!!


Revett Eldred (+2)
+2Reply
May 27 2010: Robinson is getting too much exposure, IMHO. He is starting to take himself a little seriously and tending to make provocative statements without any supporting tangible suggestions other than "we must change". Yes, he is a great speaker, and yes, he has a nice low-key English sense of humor, but what are we supposed to take away from this talk -- or any of his many other identical talks all over YouTube? Everybody agrees that the production line approach to education stifles creativity, but surely there is still a need for the basics: reading, writing, grammar, math. Expecting kids to choose an education/career path too early is unrealistic; they simply don't have the foundation to fall back on if they make a wrong choice. I know I never found my passion until I was in my 20s, and even then it was completely by accident. Without the fundamentals that were drummed into me in early school, I would have been lost. Do we really need "revolution", or just to hit the Reset button?

Ben Jarvis (+157)
+4Reply
May 27 2010: i thought the same thing, it occured to me just now though that maybe that was his point, perhaps he's recognising that he's not an education professional and is therefore leaving the solutions to the capable hands of the experts, actual teachers?


david E (+17)
0
Jun 18 2010: We would like to invite all the people interested to join us on facebook - The learning revolution; it must start here!
- http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=130475496965114
We plan to further this revolution and bring everyone interested on one common platform, which is more organised.
Thank you.

If you would like to see the Ted talk that inspired such action, Follow the link below.


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html


david E (+17)
-2
Jun 18 2010: We would like to invite all the people interested to join us on facebook - The learning revolution; it must start here!
- http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=130475496965114
We plan to further this revolution and bring everyone interested on one common platform, which is more organised.
Thank you.

If you would like to see the Ted talk that inspired such action, Follow the link below.


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

Rcihard Ridings (+9)
+2
Aug 29 2010: Ben Jarvis ... I think he is regarded as an Educational Expert! But maybe he is wise enough to not get too prescriptive....... just set the ball rolling.

This post has been removed by the author.
Andrew Robinson (0)
0
Oct 30 2010: funny thing he was a teacher, then lectured in education, then worked for the uk gov, wrote a report called 'All Our Futures'. he is an authority. check his writing out he is very informed and backs every thing up.

the whole dont do the basics thing is crap, when did he say that?
if you are informed you would know that he actually is saying maybe the basics need a new aproach, very ill-informed to think that is what he is saying.

Brett Wilson (+25)
+25Reply
May 27 2010: I've often equated education to farming. For years farmers have been growing "market" tomatoes ~ those perfectly round, rosy, unblemished tomatoes that travel well and look nice on the shelf. Unfortunately, when you cut them open, they have no flavor. On the other hand, heirloom tomatoes may be odd colors, may not be round and may not actually look like tomatoes. They do not travel well, they may blemish or crack easily. However, when you cut them open and taste them, they are bursting with flavor.

I always told my kids teachers that I do not want my children to be raised as "market" tomatoes. I do not want them to fit into someone else's idea of what they should be. Yes, they need basic skills and a good education. But we have defined "good" education too narrowly. If we make it our goal to raise good-hearted, responsible, well-informed citizens who can think critically and solve problems, then maybe we can better meet the needs of kids, and also build stronger societies.

Dee Brown (+3)
0
Jun 16 2010: Brett, what a fabulous way of communicating my thoughts!!!

Rcihard Ridings (+9)
+1
Aug 29 2010: Beautifully put Brett.... and you state actually state laudable outcomes

"make it our goal to raise good-hearted, responsible, well-informed citizens who can think critically and solve problems, then maybe we can better meet the needs of kids, and also build stronger societies."

Christine Marrs (+1)
+1
2 days ago: As parents we need to reflect on what is really important to us, and what kind of message we are conveying to our children. Are we telling them that it important to succeed at all costs, or to blindly follow authority? Or that it is more important to listen to our inner-voice, have a clear conscience, and do the right thing? The problem is that the world has made me fear for my children (there appears to be an ever greater divide between the haves and the have nots- and our school system appears to be very unforgiving). So I make a big deal out of shiny honors, or lousy grades, and I often neglect to say:"I'm so proud of your kind heart."


Theresa Willingham (+36)
+5Reply
Jun 1 2010: Maybe we just need to think about it, and the reptitive nature of his talks and of the discussion -- which is certainly not new or unique to Robinson - simply serves to engage more people in rethinking education, and considering new ideas to make it work better and serve more people equitably and in a fulfilling and productive way.


Ryan Chatterton (+39)
+8Reply
Jun 2 2010: You bring up an interesting point. I don't know much more about Robinson's work other than his speeches on TED, though it seems you're asserting that he is more an instigator than a pioneer. Fair assessment, and I don't necessarily disagree.

However, I do disagree with the idea that he is getting too much attention. Sir Ken, in my eyes, is doing a great service for our movement. He is giving us a voice and getting us attention from a community who WANTS that change.

You're right, we need to learn the basics. It would be a tragedy to sacrifice our basic knowledge of math, communication, and scientific principals for the grandiose idea of custom tailored education. However, this is not the aim of our movement. It should not take 12+ years for students to learn "the basics" should it?

Education has been a hot topic for a long time and we all feel it's pitfalls, every one of us. It seems we've been talking for far too long and now it's time to take action.

I hope you'll join us

This post has been removed by the author.
Stanley Cornett (+3)
+3Reply
Jun 13 2010: I think Sir Ken's purpose is not to offer solutions but a direction in which to look for them. He is providing another vision (among others) of how we might think about changing what education does. If we say he's being overexposed we imply that there is a level of adequate exposure. In my opinion, visionary thinking is not easily measured on scales of exposure. To some degree the market of consumers will determine how much exposure any vision receives.

Although I agree that we are in dire need of action along many dimensions of education, we simultaneously need to hear and consider what the visionaries tell us. I think we head directly for trouble when the visionaries and the action people are seen as mutually exclusive players on a field that needs both.

Darren Murtha (+38)
+4Reply
Jun 15 2010: Ken offers quite a few solutions, if you read his books.....he studied the education system of England and creativity for quite some time, and was knighted for it.


Csaba Szekely (+9)
+3Reply
Jun 16 2010: well it is very clear to me, and has been for the last 10 years, that marking exams became pointless, they do not serve any purpose other then what we have artificially created... further more not everyone needs to learn trigonometry if they are not going to use it... so we need a system where ppl learn what they like and everything that is needed for what they like... if you take a child, they love discovering and it is very easy to engage them if you make things playful, and they learn very easily too... you just have to play... fun is one thing that is missing from education very much... and I think you are wrong Revett, he told exactly what to do: do not come up with yet another "education plan" for the nation, it has to meet an individual!!! that is why it needs to be organic, but that goes back to what I said in the beginning... but companies need to cooperate, if they keep demanding a paper that has no real use, then it won't work...

L Henry (+2)
+2Reply
Jun 16 2010: must take issue with Revett's comment (May 27th) - an entertaining speech is much more memorable than a dry one - if that same talk was given by, for instance, Henry Kissinger I'd be asleep in a minute flat.
so what if the guy's popular? - doesn't stop him from making a valid point, and I'm pretty sure he didn't suggest that the "basics" are a waste of time, rather that the system is aimed at the wrong targets - not everyone can, or wants to, be a money grabbing "professional" but that's what seems to constitute a successful achievement according to many education institutions - good for him for highlighting the anomalies and, if something was done about it, then you might not have to suffer him so much - personally, I could listen to him all day long but - hey - that's just me (and several million other people....)


Richard tastas (+3)
+1Reply
Jun 17 2010: I think that the 'basics' are pretty overrated. In every other aspect of life people see education as individual, personalized and unique. It's everything, starting from simple discussion of this subject and ending with video games. This leads us to question the necessity of learning all of the basics while we could do so much more. Answer this: Is it better to have a community with people who all are average or a community where everyone is doing the things they love and are good at? (Professional education does not count as it still is the end of the road, where the beginning is learning the 'basics')
So the real question is - how do we make an education system for everyone that is highly effective and in the same time adaptive for each individual?

Simon Pitt (0)
0
Oct 1 2010: It's not so complex as people think.

Look at young guys for instance, what is it they want to do? They want to make things happen. Whether it is blowing something up or pulling things apart.

Maths, Physics, Chemistry and a whole range of skills can be taught through simple activities which engage young people.

An engaged student will learn more quickely then one who isn't. And he'll probably go home and google it to learn more. I know I would.


Damon Pourtahmaseb-Sasi (+155)
0Reply
Sep 1 2010: I think he might say that's another one of those ideas we're enthralled to and need to break: that there are basics that need to be covered, and that specializing too early wouldn't work.

Clearly we need to set a foundation, but the question is how much of one? Do ALL kids really need to learn calculus in High School? Do ALL kids really need four years of reading Shakespeare and Steinbeck? You may not have known what you wanted to do until you were 20, but surely you knew what you didn't like, and we have millions of teenagers frustrated and bored to tears with half of their curriculum full of things they don't care about.

And what else would we consider really essential, if we think about it? A year of Logic would be a great class for teenagers, the kind with real, engaging methods of learning based on everyday life. Or how about a year of Law? Most kids are more than willing to learn about the rules of society and how they're made, as long as they get to argue them too.

Josh Russell (0)
0Reply
Sep 8 2010: Of course kids won't choose a "career path" -- they don't know what a career path is. But if they are allowed to follow their own interests with encouragement and some minimal guidance, they will discover their own passions and eventually figure out what they should be doing as a career. If you let kids follow their interests, they will teach themselves everything they need to know, and do a better job of it. They will acquire the foundational stuff as they need it. You are worried about kids making the wrong choice -- they won't make the wrong choice if they can choose to do what they are interested in. The interest is the proof that it's not the wrong choice. And it's not like the kids could only make one choice. If they develop other interests, they can follow those as well. You say you didn't discover your passion until your 20s -- maybe you would have found it sooner if you had been allowed to. Also see ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

Jeremy Pryce (0)
0Reply
Sep 14 2010: @Revett: You make an interesting point about fundamentals. I like to look at fundamentals as the platform from which to create from. In sport, those that excell often have excellent fundamentals which makes them able to take advantage of a given situation. Someone once said "Luck is when being well prepared collides with opportunity". This might be a stretch, but you get my point.
Having said that, I think if you find your passion, the "drudgery" of mastering the fundamentals is erased. Wherever you find excellence, you will also find passion.

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: Mmmm true. I train very hard with rockclimbing away from the wall, yet it isn't drudgery as my mind is focused on the prize.

The journey doesn't matter when the destination is worth it to the person.

Abraham Lincoln (+1)
+1Reply
Oct 9 2010: Older people are more prone to being enthralled by old useless ideas which belong to the last millennium.

Geniuses like Sir Robinson are hard to come by cos they have been resisting useless ideas with their minds throughout their lives and have managed to evolve their soul despite all the negative mental energies of ignorance and delusion around them.

To find an evolved soul like Sir Robinson who has lived such a long time on this prison planet but has managed to keep his soul intact .,,. it is rare indeed..

If you are old and can't see the light of Sir Robinson's speech, then it is obvious that you are passe.

Russel Abuyo (0)
0Reply
Oct 22 2010: It's not necessarily that Sir Robinson is saying throw away what education we have now and find out your true talents before. But rather, we need to adapt our learning system to those who can't sit down in a class and learn through lecture. I know I was that same type of child. I couldn't sit through a class and listen to a lecture at all very well, I learned best when I could sing and act and move my body. What Sir Robinson is saying then, rather is that our education system needs to be able to encompass those who learn that way. Education is so strong in trying to get kids into preparing for college at such a young age, it's mind-blowing. Kids who have dreams of becoming out of the social norm and becoming, for example in the talk, a fireman is rare. Children are bred into being do this and you'll be successful, and their dreams are lost. We need to adapt and reorganize, because we're simply breeding a bunch of consumers sitting at a desk for eight hours doing what simply pays them.

Bob Normal (+3)
0Reply
May 27 2010: "education has been around for so long a time and it has always been geared towards the end of the tunnel"

What? Always? Not even close... education has only recently taken on the enormous problem of scaling to everyone rather than only the privileged. As the speaker pointed out, and funny enough I made the same point on his old video not knowing about this new speech, we have bought into a fast-food solution to this NEW problem. And we now see this is not the right solution, so the system needs to be done anew.

I also agree with Eldred's point above - I felt like the entire speech I was thinking how although Robinson is a good speaker, he is not really solving this problem, he is just trying to bring the awareness of it up. I'm more interested in solutions, since I could already tell what the problem is. I want to hear what people propose to do about it (and before you ask, I would present my own ideas if I had the time to share them and the credentials, so people would listen).


david E (+17)
0Reply
Jun 12 2010: We would like to invite all the people interested to join us on facebook - The learning revolution; it must start here!
- http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=130475496965114
We plan to further this revolution and bring everyone interested on one common platform, which is more organised.
Thank you.

If you would like to see the Ted talk that inspired such action, Follow the link below.


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html


Roxana Fera (0)
0Reply
Sep 11 2010: I am in China and FACEBOOK IS BLOCKED here! How can we reach people living there (here for me) to join this "educational revolution"? There are many interested!! (it's a challenge - but we got to think creatively)


david E (+17)
-1Reply
Jun 12 2010: We would like to invite all the people interested to join us on facebook - The learning revolution; it must start here!
- http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=130475496965114
We plan to further this revolution and bring everyone interested on one common platform, which is more organised.
Thank you.

If you would like to see the Ted talk that inspired such action, Follow the link below.


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

Chris Ke-Sihai (+177)
+1Reply
Jul 3 2010: Would you PLEASE stop posting this exact same message here? It's becoming annoying to keep on reading it, it's spam.


Arthur Borges (+86)
0Reply
Jul 28 2010: Um, yes, employers like standardized products, whether it be for the purchase of raw materials or human resources. They must be forced out of this trap to consider each piece of human resources individually. Some hirers are bright enough to eventually discover that this will boost productivity and shareholder dividends.

But it will take time and barrelfuls of patience.


Shayn Barnes (+1)
+1Reply
4 days ago: “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that
you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
...-- Plato

Christopher Roszkowski (+1)
+1Reply
Nov 15 2010: I saw his last talk on how school kills creativity about 3 years ago. I told myself that was i wasn't going to turn out like that, i would think differently, create something, find my talent(s). I even made a presentation on that talk for my high school humanities class. Now, 3 years later, here i am, and nothing has changed. While i was watching this video i was thinking to myself that i really need to change the way i think, act, and how i live my life. But who am i kidding, after tonight i will forget about this and i will go back to "the real world" and just wait for the weekend. I'm probably going to be writing another message like this one in 3 years. What's even sadder than my actions (or lack of it) is that i realize it and i don't do anything about it.


Nick Groen (+5)
+1Reply
6 days ago: To quote Hugh MacLeod "Great ideas alter the balance in relationships. That is why great ideas are initially resisted." The old system to which we are a part of resists change. And we believe that it will take large, radical acts to generate change. Here is the thing, a single person cannot generate this change alone. But they can lead it.

If you choose to alter the balance, go to the community. Seth Godin's talk about tribes may inspire you to go to the community with your ideas. Eventually you will find people who see eye to eye, and will help design that relationship, build it, and create change. A dent in the universe, no. But if you can affect even 15 lives in a meaningful way in your humanities class each year, what will that do with time?


Richard Wilson (+5)
0Reply
4 days ago: As Ken says, most education moulds us rather than encouraging us to find out what we love to do so most of us endure work rather than enjoying it. The difficulty of repairing the damage is increased by the habits ingrained by the system which operates to serve business need for workers to conform and perform. To find your talents normally requires reaching deep not least because of the covering regimentation drummed into you.


Victoria Chan (+1)
+1Reply
4 days ago: It is important to teach children how to nurture their own talents. They should learn how to actively seek knowledge and acquire skills independently without expecting everything to be fed to them in a classroom environment. They should learn to be creative about learning.

This post has been removed by the author.

Radix Hidayat (+2)
0Reply
5 days ago: Well for me, being in Indonesia, I found this is very thought-provoking. Indonesia, honestly, still suffers what I call it "one right path" --> you're enrolled at fave schools, you admitted at top universities, you worked at top company, with prestige positions and high salary. And I believe that's something wrong with that, especially if one finds that it's NOT right for them.

C'mon, everyone is different. Tomatoes can't be nurtured in the conditions engineered for cabbages. And I think, that is the role of a teacher: to find out what is a child's true potentials, and helping to achieve something that child really potent AND interested.

Dark Star (+1)
0Reply
Nov 16 2010: 40+ and I don't wear a watch!

I do what I love which is programming and have been doing it since I was 14. I did absolutely HORRIBLE in school and instead focused all my energy on learning programming, which lead to math, math lead to physics, physics lead to chemistry, chemistry lead to biology, biology lead to evolutionary sciences, evolution lead to abiogenesis, and along the way I picked up a pretty sketchy view of history (a weak point in my studies but I continue to learn). So I've learned a few Important things about a lot of different subjects but my focus remains on programming.

I read a LOT, used to be books but now I read ideas on the internet. Debate is so critical to learning, that is one of the things I enjoy most about the internet.

#1 thing I think is they need to STOP treating children like cogs in a wheel. A single curriculum does not fit all children equally. I could have flourished in the right environment (as I have in my computer work).

paco arana (0)
0Reply
Nov 14 2010: http://madrid.the-hub.net/profiles/paco.arana

My creativity vision share to human kind.

...Thanks to silence.

James Mason (0)
0Reply
Nov 13 2010: So other than becoming a teacher, how else can we get involved?


Benjamin Sargent (0)
0Reply
Nov 13 2010: Start mentoring. If you embrace his idea of non-linear education, just jump into the process whenever you can. You don't have to walk into a classroom to alter a child's education, take the time to teach them skills outside of the classroom by volunteering in youth organizations and mentoring those that are already a part of your life. Teach them the ideas that made a difference in YOUR life, the subject matter in which you are already a qualified expert. I't snot for everyone but if you teach them to ask the questions and seek out new ideas, you open them to continue the process when you aren't around.

NaNa Sd (0)
0Reply
Nov 12 2010: Well I think Sir Robinson's speech was rather remarkable..and many of the comments here are complicating what he's trying to say here.. I think that the message he simply wants to convey to people around the world is that : Not attending a university isn't the end of the world and yes as he said life isn't linear and the meaning of eduaction shouldn't be narrowed down to university..besides weren't most of the world's genious inventors and contributers to this world school drop outs??


Theodore A. Hoppe (+585)
0Reply
Nov 11 2010: Sir Ken Robinson followed up this talk with one on "divergent thinking" at the Royal Society of Arts in Oct. 2010. In this short animated video he examines in more detail the root causing of the problems in education; how we are using the wrong model, how we medicate children, and how we diminish nature ability. Highly informative and entertaining.

http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

Morgan Fisher (+1)
+1Reply
Oct 27 2010: A beautiful heartfelt ending, and then BAM!!! the usual thundering TED fanfare, ruining a lovely moment of introspection.

Could you not learn to tread softly too, as Sir Ken suggests?

Thank you.

Pavel Bykov (+1)
+1Reply
Nov 7 2010: Imagine if advertisers would have to tread lightly. We would seldom view any advertisement at all! ... Or, the advertisements would have to become much more engaging and interesting.

Michelle Maddocks (+1)
+1Reply
Oct 30 2010: I've just watched "Like Stars on Earth" - "Taare Zameen Paar" - a 'Bollywood' film by Aamir Kahn, about a child who learns differently (has dyslexia) and the teacher who discovers his artistic talents. I believe the fear of change, if we wish to call it that, in our societies, be they wealthy or otherwise, goes back to the fear and anxiety of the father in this film, after being confronted with the idea that his child is not like all the other children, when he says to the concerned teacher, "How is he to succeed in the world? Am I to care for him for the rest of his life?" People in general are afraid that if children are allowed to pursue their passions, then they will be artists, local musicians, small team athletes, one of a myriad backup actors - and others who cannot support themselves and a family financially, but will have to live off of their parents, or the government. It's not a wish for the child to do well, but for them to support themselves so 'we' don't have to. :(

Sarah McUmber-House (0)
0Reply
Oct 19 2010: Revamping education in this nation is an avalanche waiting for that final shout that looses the load. Learning doesn't start or end at any preset point in life, and it's time we turned from cookie-cutter/make-those-square-pegs-fit-the-round-holes methods of schooling, and started looking at ways to centralize resources for lifelong learning. Interactivity between ages, mentoring and apprenticeship are ideas we've forgotten, but are still worthy of attention. Recognizing the interests and talents of a student of any age, and helping them find the tools to reach their own goals, is a world apart from our standing tradition of forcing them to choose from a limited number of options, based on standardized tests and jaded expectations.


Linn Gustavsson (0)
0Reply
Oct 18 2010: Amazing talk!

jiseok ha (-1)
0Reply
Oct 17 2010: I see this presentation as one of the most common demand in our modern days.
Since we are satisfied with quantity, we are now demanding for quality.

Industrialization brought us quantity, which brought revolution.
However, we humans are not satisfied yet.
Therefore, we now start to criticize fast foods, public educations and etc.

Ken Robinson's point is simple: Public education is inefficient and we want privatized education, but in a different way than what we had until now. We want to encourage free-will to encourage creativity.

Abu Sofian Eunos (0)
0Reply
Oct 11 2010: I feel that Sir Ken has a keen sense of humour. He lays out his points with an easy way of comprehension and injects bits of humour to keep this stereotypically serious topic a light hearted affair. Sure, education has and always will be pivotal in the intellectual and successful prowess of every individual but I think what Sir Ken has said aptly states that we need to learn to appreciate diversity.

I have always been chained to this preconceived notion that you only succeed when you grasp a University's Degree in your hands or when you get a 9-6 paying office job. One question that I asked myself was this : How can I develop my strengths on a daily basis and provide service to people? I guess the proper footing has to be in place. That is, to realize that we all possess unique and untapped talents. Success in humanity happens when we celebrate diversity of talents not copies of mediocrity.

Great Speech!


Arthur C (+2)
+2Reply
Oct 11 2010: Personally I feel that it's not only the educational system that has been flawed. Typically the school is not dictated by the principal alone, but by the board of directors--which mostly consists of parents. Here in conservative Asia, awful backlashes often occur when parents try to control their children at all times. If Asian children--stereotypically the most tragic victims of academic inflation--are to be able to succeed, I believe that we parents ought to be more liberal in terms of guiding our children to their own future. I believe that we parents ought to change our own beliefs and attitudes first, in order to better prepare our children for the years to come, not the past years in which we lived, and take action upon listening to such a marvelous TED talk.

Nalini Jeet (+1)
0Reply
Oct 9 2010: This was a brilliant talk!!!

George Ha (+3)
0Reply
Oct 4 2010: How many years did you spend in education? I spent 12 years from elementary school to seniro high school, then 4 years in college, and early year 2000 I spent 3 years for my dual master MBA and Master of Management in Marketing in Macquarie University, I told a far relative of mine who came to see me today.It was 19 years! Still I am not so sucessful as I expect. But I ask myself this question recently, how sucessful is sucessful? Schools and colleges are places for us to grow up whether they are great, good or poor. Educaiton revolution or tranformation is a global wide issue not just in UK, US and China. Hope the kids can have better education than we do!


Irfan Keshavjee (+26)
+4Reply
Jun 5 2010: Right now, many lowly paid teachers work at McSchool churning out prescribed information - because the system is structured so. What if, instead, a talented group of teachers opened a ‘gourmet learning’ centre, tailor-made to find and nurture your kids talents, and to search for ways to link those talents to benefit society… perhaps there will be a time where teachers are really highly paid, commensurate with the value they add (or could add) to society. Perhaps the problem is not one of 'the education system' or 'society', but one of innovation.


Ryan Chatterton (+39)
+3Reply
Jun 5 2010: I think, Irfan, that you hit the nail on the head. What is needed is innovation within the education community and this means innovating the education system.

I really really like your language when you describe a 'gourmet learning' center. It made me think of a cafe, where fine coffees and teas are served. Mostly it was a feeling. It's that feeling you get when you have nothing better to do but explore all the things the world has to offer. I propose that we treat our students like explorers and provide this 'gourmet learning' center for them to grow. Growth and education are so reliant on environment. I really like your take on this.

Sinead Carolan (+2)
+2Reply
Sep 26 2010: Such a place exists -it's called a Montessori classroom, and they've been around for 100 years. Check one out!


Ryan Porter (+1)
0Reply
Aug 4 2010: Irfan, I love the idea...
I believe, as Ryan C has mentioned also in another one of his comments, that GOOD teachers are not being paid well enough. That being said, there is hardly any system in place to evaluate teachers, make them accountable for how they are helping their students and reward them for doing it well. The evaluation system could get messy and there are a ton of intangibles that would need to be taken into consideration... but teachers need to be accountable.

The model of: go to school to have information given to those who don't have it at home, is dead. We need to visit how we can guide students through experiences, allow them connect to something they are passionate and aid them in using information to connect the dots.

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: Systems create results. Create the right system and Bobs your uncle.

That may seem rather simplistic. But then so are the laws which govern the physical properties of our universe.


Josh Miller (0)
0Reply
Aug 4 2010: Luckily, my friend, this has already been done!

It's called private school.

Lyla R Folkins (0)
0Reply
Aug 6 2010: Private Montessori School-YES; Private schools moving through their own linear scopes & sequences -no. Considering the masses, we educators may think that "differentiated instruction" which engages the learner is a good start...the challenge is for us to dig deeper: to stand up to negative peer pressure (it's what we tell our kids to do) by finding one other person in our day-to-day circle that will at least risk the discussion. At their start, revolutions seem to spread under ground. The challenge for some educators is whether they will elect to be part of the underground.


Joachim Schoder (+50)
0Reply
Sep 29 2010: In Germany a teacher actually got fired because she made her students interested in math which resulted in everyone of them receiving good grades. The current system is not about nourishing potential but about separating the "good" apples from the "bad" ones.

Norm Hull (0)
0Reply
Sep 14 2010: I did not read thru all the posts but I did enjoy many. I have worked with over 3,000,000 young people in the last 30 years. I provide school assemblies and keynotes for leadership associations. If you walk down a hallway in High School and look in a classroom you might be disappointed and worried- kids are not engaged in their own learning. Paying the teacher more is not going to solve that problem. Imagine being taught one teaching style and you have 12 learning styles your class. Some kids will love you, the rest tolerate you. Imagine being the newbie teacher who volunteers for everything- dance chaperone, club advisors and you have the older teachers telling you to stop doing so much and leave at 3pm when bell rings. You get beat into submission. You have a great principal and 2 years later they are gone because district wants them in the main headquarters- schools pay the price for a successful people manager. I could go on but..time for new thinking and a real restructure

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: By "real restructure" do you mean a rethinking of the premises which have created the current education system?

persona non grata (0)
0Reply
Sep 22 2010: I agree that he makes an excellent point but we cannot 'shut down' schools and than re-think the educational sistem. and i don't understand home school..who is teaching who?


Heavin Taylor (+6)
0Reply
Sep 22 2010: You have a point. But I don't think that he is saying to shut down schools...I view it as more he is saying that teachers need to view students as individuals, rather than as a whole "student body." And home school is very controversial, there is always question about the quality of education, but there are times when home schooling has proven to be more effective than public schooling. Rethinking the entire educational system of the country would be extremely expensive and time consuming, but doing it on a small level would be doable.

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: We humans tend to have rather short lives individually. Yet as a species we've been around for a fair while. Probably be around for a fair while longer too.

My point being that this isn't about the next 10-20 years ahead, but about refining the education system for the long term.

There are a lot of changes that need to be made. We are far from complete in our understanding of the human mind and how best we can teach and learn.

But step by step we shall reach our goal.

eric ortego (0)
0Reply
Sep 23 2010: Have you seen this one? http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html


Heavin Taylor (+6)
0Reply
Sep 24 2010: Just watched it. That was incredible!

Hayden Ellison (0)
0Reply
Sep 27 2010: I have had a very positive experience with homeschool. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, my mother taught me and my siblings at various points in my primary schooling. My mother is a qualified teacher, she managed to form an 'organic' style of education. We started with a research project, and as we discovered new things about the subject, we (she) allowed the the subject focus to change as our interest was taken by various elements of the origional subject matter. As a result, we as students remained interested and motivated, and many of the things I learnt back then I still remember today. It worked for us, but I can see there may be difficulties in applying this to the 'normal' school format currently used. I wonder if this could work in an environment with a higher student to teacher ratio?


Joachim Schoder (+50)
+1Reply
Sep 29 2010: I think he is more talking about a gradual change in policy. It would be naive to believe that this change could be done very fast or easily.

Chris Khoo (+21)
0Reply
Sep 27 2010: The majority of kids I talk to, from 8 years to 18 years do not have a clue of what they want to do with their lives. And I don't think it's their fault - they just follow what their numbing education system gives. Well, the education system as well as their parent's wishes, which are usually based on what provides the greatest economic benefits - e.g. currently dentistry, medicine, maybe law, etc.

I believe this can somewhat be rectified by a broader and more flexible curriculum. Broader meaning much greater choice in subjects, and flexible meaning the ability to change subjects more often. The goal is essentially to facilitate discovery and recognition of their talents (i.e. passion), and then find a suitable application for society (i.e. productivity). Then we have happy citizens maximising their productivity - imagine that!


Joachim Schoder (+50)
0Reply
Sep 29 2010: I think the system should start of with giving them a broad spectrum of options and slowly concentrating on the topics/interests they have the strongest passion about. (Always including some basic understanding of other topics.)

Of course there are limitations of intellect or available jobs.

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: Should we be teaching knowledge in the first place?

I wonder, if it's not what we learn, but how we learn that really matters. How quickely we understand a new concept determines how much we learn overall.

I'd be interested to hear more about studies into the developement of the human mind.

Simon Pitt (0)
0Reply
Oct 1 2010: The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a flame to be lit.

Shu Yun Heng (+3)
+2Reply
Sep 25 2010: I really admire Sir Ken Robinson 's ideals for a radical shift in our education system for personalised learning. Considering the feasibility of his idea, I believe that the institution and the quality of teachers do not define everything for a student. What is more pertinent is that a sense of curiosity is invoked in the student. I think this would involve emotional learning where the student sees the learning of the subject not as a means to an end, but having a purpose in it. This is when lifelong learning can take place.

Marcel Paans (+18)
0Reply
Sep 30 2010: I totally agree. I just dreaded sitting hours in classes that I had no interest in, and I did miserable. Because of that, I developed a serious depression.. which noone seemed to notice, not even myself.. i just kinda resigned to it..

Anyway, I've always been eager to learn stuff that interest me. And I never got any help from anyone learning the skills I have today that I use to make a living. When you're actually interested in something, you don't really need a teacher anymore. With the vast amount of information on the internet, and putting people with the same interests together, they'll learn on their own. I think a teacher should be a professional in the field where he/she worked (or works) in. Like a master / apprentice. They'd point you in the right direction when you're stuck, and you can learn SO much from actual experience. 'Cos I often felt that what I learned in school hardly applied in real life..


Joachim Schoder (+50)
+1Reply
Sep 29 2010: The quote at the end almost had me in tears.

I completely agree with him: What is the purpose of choosing a job you don't love doing? You will spend a major amount of your time on your job and this time shouldn't be wasted.

Carmen Martín Robledo (0)
0Reply
Sep 27 2010: The spanish translation have one mistake. Kindergarden its about education: Jardín de Infancia.


Heavin Taylor (+6)
0Reply
Sep 22 2010: He makes an excellent point in quoting the poem by W.B. Yeats. "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams..." What a brilliant thinker and speaker. I love the emphasis placed on creativity. I believe that every educator should see this video.

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