I had to share this TED talk with our readers because it really touched home. Sir Ken Robinson a former university professor examines how the school system stifles human creativity. By all means I am not saying that education is not important or valuable to our growth and development, but we are unique creatures and each one of us excels at a multitude of things. I myself have had a long standing relationship with the traditional education system, but it was not in the classroom where I found my calling. Over the years I have found that I excel at communicating, building relationships, and being compassionate. I can only imagine how my university professors would react if I told them that instead of writing my final exams I would rather spend that time building a relationship with them or that I couldn’t hand in my paper because I was too busy exercising compassion to the underprivileged and marginalized. I wonder where I could earn a PhD in compassion?
As a child I could never sit still, traditional subject matter frustrated me, I lost focus quickly and I was even tested for all the common learning and behavioural disabilities. It always took me longer than most to grasp concepts, and learning through reading has always been a struggle. Although I was never sent to the office or presented any real problem to my teacher or classmates, I lived with a constant internal frustration due to my lack of ability to excel at things that other kids seem to grasp so easily. The reason I bring this up is the other day I encountered a child who has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. He shows signs of the typical symptoms, he can’t sit still, can’t focus, does poorly in his academic program. What intrigued me was the fact that he excels at puzzles. He can sit for hours piecing these puzzles together without words or disruptions. He does this with ease, focus and with unimaginable speed. To me this was genius in the literal sense. This fascinates me as I feel we are systemically assassinating our creative genetics. We are herding children into a system that doesn’t allow them to explore these marvelous inherent characteristics that they have been blessed with. We honour the traditional minority and reprimand the unconventional majority. We are all genius in our own right and it is our creativity that is our most powerful tool in discovering the Einstein in all of us! Please check out what Ken Robinson has to say about this very subject.
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Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
I just came across this blog and I must say that I’m really enjoying it. I’m looking forward to continuing my readership – keep up the good work.
As for this particular post, I’ve long held that the traditional cookie-cutter method of one-style-fits-all education that has been prevalent until very recently is incorrect. All children are different and learn differently. Schools do personality testing to help children (and hopefully parents) understand how they learn best but there isn’t much follow through to help them learn using their strengths. I don’t think this is a failing of the schools but of the interest level that specific teachers have regarding their students. I’ve had teachers who can make a general lesson appeal to all three learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile) and others who were less inclined. In any event, well written!
Also – Ken Robinson is excellent. Conformity suppresses creativity, no creativity destroys the creation of art and the creation of art is the only hallmark of high culture. Nietzsche had a lot to say on this as well.
Thank you and welcome to thinkGood.
I’m loving what Ken Robinson is saying! Awesome post!!
Academics are amazing and all, but they should go hand in hand with creativity. The arts are as crucial as any science, math or English class out there. It’s a shame that the arts are never emphasized in schools.
I agree Jay-Oh…..and welcome to thinkGood.