If you went to a “normal” school, chances are you’ll answer yes without hesitation. I know that I would. In this 20 minute talk, Ken Robinson helps us to understand why this is the case and how tragic it is.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY[/youtube]
There’s a lot I could say, but it would be much better to let this brilliant video speak for itself. I will say this though: I am strongly attracted to the idea of home schooling or other alternative forms of education. This isn’t because I’m afraid of the big bad secular schools, but rather because our children are getting a crap education there.
6 responses to “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
I totally agree with this guy.
I can very well remember how un-creative and un-engaging public school was. And partly because I spent four post-secondary years in a wonderful design school that cultivated creativity and partly because I still think like a kid, I can easily imagine an alternative.
I always thought I would never homeschool because 1. it can produce socially inept children
and 2. it puts a lot of stress on one parent to be wholly responsible for education.(yikes!)
However, imagine homeschooling with 3, 4, or 5 families. Parents can not only share the responsibilities, but share their broad range of gifts, whether it be music and math, or gardening and knitting. And children can now learn the invaluable skills of teamwork and collaboration.
I’m sure people somewhere are doing this stuff already, but to me this is a new concept.
Actually wait, this reminds me of the aboriginal approach to education, where the youth in the community learned the wisdom and skills of the elders.
Instead, we ship our kids AND our elders off to institutions. Ha! that’s whacked.
Great idea Jac. I think we’ve talked about this before and several others here agree with you! It can be done. We just can’t keep moving to other parts of the world like we are!
Is anyone planning on living in Winnipeg? hahaha
Hmmm, it’s definitely like we’ve talked about this before. ;)
Maria, you’re definitely onto something here: this would require commitment. Our 21st century tendencies of living as perpetual nomads would make this impossible.
Great clip.
wow….. i never really thought too deeply about this until now. I’m awestruck at how well this man explained how shcool is killing our creativity. I’ll definately be sending this video to many, many people. this is so true seeing how i am one of those people that was crushed by the foot of basic learning.
gaaraoutcast101: try not so much to think of yourself as crushed. instead, realize that school is far from perfect–and that your teachers are just as trapped in the system as you are! you are responsible for what you get out of school. try to enroll in as many creative-type programs as you can. :)