Addressing a Pet Peeve
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 2/27/2010 11:37 AM 
Categories: thoughts, Stupidity, Experiences, People, Ideas, Books, Passions
Categories: thoughts, Stupidity, Experiences, People, Ideas, Books, Passions
I have always griped about some of the schooling I was subjected to back in the day and that seemed not to have changed one iota for my children. And I venture to say in recent times has changed for the worse -- thank you, GWB!
Now, surprisingly, I find a headline: "How Schools Stifle Creativity," and I dive into the article that tells me about the talk that Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, gave in '06 at the big Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference. His areas of expertise -- creativity, innovation and human resources.
At this time he is exploring why the messages in his 18-minute talk have resonated with audiences -- to the tune of 3 million 500 thousand downloads in 200 countries!
The simple premise: We are all born with immense natural talents! And then what happens? Schools tend to stifle them.
Robinson's indictment is thorough. "The narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work ... arid approaches to teaching math and sciences ... the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs ... an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests."
He emphasizes, "The result is a disastrous waste of talent among students and their teachers." And he believes this situation has arisen because our education system is "rooted in the values and demands of industrialism ... linear, mechanistic and focused on conformity and standardization ... nowadays buttressed by major commercial interests ..."
As Robinson explains, "The tragedy is that meeting the many social, economic, spiritual and environmental challenges we now face depends absolutely on the very capacities of insight, creativity and innovation that these systems are systematically suppressing ... Education is about developing human beings, and human development is not mechanical or linear. It is organic and dynamic."
Ah, but there is hope, as in Robinson's book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Viking). And the bottom line:
"All of us ... must nurture creativity systematically and not kill it unwittingly."
Positively,
Carolan
Now, surprisingly, I find a headline: "How Schools Stifle Creativity," and I dive into the article that tells me about the talk that Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, gave in '06 at the big Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference. His areas of expertise -- creativity, innovation and human resources.
At this time he is exploring why the messages in his 18-minute talk have resonated with audiences -- to the tune of 3 million 500 thousand downloads in 200 countries!
The simple premise: We are all born with immense natural talents! And then what happens? Schools tend to stifle them.
Robinson's indictment is thorough. "The narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work ... arid approaches to teaching math and sciences ... the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs ... an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests."
He emphasizes, "The result is a disastrous waste of talent among students and their teachers." And he believes this situation has arisen because our education system is "rooted in the values and demands of industrialism ... linear, mechanistic and focused on conformity and standardization ... nowadays buttressed by major commercial interests ..."
As Robinson explains, "The tragedy is that meeting the many social, economic, spiritual and environmental challenges we now face depends absolutely on the very capacities of insight, creativity and innovation that these systems are systematically suppressing ... Education is about developing human beings, and human development is not mechanical or linear. It is organic and dynamic."
Ah, but there is hope, as in Robinson's book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Viking). And the bottom line:
"All of us ... must nurture creativity systematically and not kill it unwittingly."
Positively,
Carolan
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