Do Schools Kill Our Kids’ Creativity?
This is a truly gripping 20 minute speech which seeks to put all the wrong doings of education right by cultivating our children's creativity rather than killing it.
Sir Ken Robinson, knighted by the Queen in 2003 for achievements in creativity, education and the arts, is an English gentleman with a charming wit and repartee that has an amazing vision to harvest creativity and create an amazing future for the world. He believes that CREATIVITY is as important as LITERACY and should be treated with the same status.
Ken Robinson, who lived in Stratford Upon Avon the home of Shakespeare for many years, begins by demonstrating the amazing creativity of children with numerous funny quips.
He shares a story of a 6 year old little girl who pays no attention in class except when she can draw. The Teacher asks what she is drawing and she claims to be drawing God:
The teacher asks: "BUT nobody knows what God looks like"
The girl replies "They will do in a minute"
This quip literally illustrates how children have no limits to their levels of creativity. Most kids are fearless and are never ever frightened to make mistakes. This leads to out of this world creativity. HOWEVER, our current education systems worldwide are making children lose this capacity to be creative.
You will literally be glued to the screen in this riveting 20 minute video
After you have viewed this clip I invite you to just imagine how much wonderful change we could bring to this world if we truly embraced these teachings!
I'm sure you'll agree that Ken delivers a highly entertaining, and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it.
Picasso once said:
All children are born artists, the problem is remaining an artist as we grow up.
This is the problem that Ken outlines quite brilliantly in his speech. We don't grow into creativity, We grow out of it. In fact Ken argues we are educated out of creativity.
Comments? Share Your thoughts
March 27th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
He is indeed very entertaining and I agree fully with his point of view. To develop educatinal systems should be one of the first things to do - now. The kid's themselves are more than ever "different" and I think they will no longer hear so much to authorities which try to give them their outdated rules. So if the systems do not change smoothly there will be a lot of unnecessary struggle. Unfortunately it seems so hard to open to new ideas and sometimes I have the impression that school teachers are the most resistant ones, or as our German poet Friedrich Schiller said already 200 years ago: "We need the ecucation of the educators!"
April 7th, 2007 at 6:46 am
This is absolutely correct in every way. I was a music teacher for over 20 years. They kicked me out of public schools because I thought and taught like Ted does. I was asked to lower my standards and stop teaching so much. That was from the administration- the kids came back year after year and thanked me. Who's right? I am almost afraid to see my 4 year old grandson go to school, because he is very bright and creative. I'm afraid that schools will stifle who he is and what he brings to the world. This is tremendously sad. Today I am a business woman, who delights in the creative process of mortgage loans and music, art and poetry for my own pleasure. WHAT BOX? Listen to Ted- he is telling the absolute truth!
May 7th, 2007 at 8:31 am
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