What is school for? We must find a new purpose for school.
What is school for? This is the question and Seth weaves a story to explain how we got here and why we must be courageous enough to confront the reality of our school system as it currently exists.
One of the most striking points in this talk is how we have been taught to fear being wrong, to comply, to be obedient so that we will be employable for an industrial society. Obedience is not the same thing as being respectful to ourselves and to others. He also speaks about the impact of technology in education. Technology “links us all” by making knowledge accessible to all.
It is time to stop teaching children as though they lack the ability to think and problem solve in new and interesting ways. This video is from 2012, and the work of transforming our world continues to unfold.
Ted talk by Sir Ken Robinson. It is a seven year old talk which if anything is even more relevant today! Had to post this one.. He has several wonderful talks posted at TED.
Two quotes:
“…all kids have tremendous talents — and we squander them pretty ruthlessly.” – Sir Ken Robinson
“My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.” – Sir Ken Robinson
Ken Robinson gives an insightful explanation regarding the origin of our educational system. A system that was created to serve the needs of the industrial revolution. That seems a key perspective to keep in mind when we examine the systems that are currently being created. It was appropriate at the turn of the century, but now it is time to grow beyond educating people for “jobs” in a hierarchical society. We will be allowing more of humanity to show our wings.
I laughed so hard when he was talking about thinking of Shakespeare being a seven year old boy in school. I had never thought of him as a child either. “he was in somebody’s English class wasn’t he?! How annoying would that be?”
Why not dance too!? We are in a wonderful cultural revolution that is just beginning.
