Sir Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson promotes his ideas by supporting them with stories and certain truths that seem to be universal. He speaks in a very passionate, purposeful way. To get his point across he uses evidence that relates to his audience and is relatively well-known. He engages his audience in his production, talking to them about what they can do, not simply say what he think should be done. This speaking style makes his performance interesting to watch and easy to understand. Here are a few of his points:

One of the most interesting points that Sir Ken Robinson brings up is that the world will change and we have to be able to recognize that the only way for us to survive is to change the way we are approaching the future. A lot of what we need to do change is our perceptions of the world that are so ingrained in us that we do not question them. Statements such as "creativity just as important as literacy" may seem illogical, but such a statement certainly does evoke some thought over how our education system is set up. It helps us to begin to question the way the education system works. Sir Ken Robinson claims that the education system today educates creativity out of students be discouraging mistakes and wrong answers. Before children are taught in this way, if they don’t know something, they will try it to see if they will succeed or not, but as they get older they grow out of this childish fantasy and accept that you cannot be wrong because being wrong would mean the end of your future. Schools today are set up in a way that discourages students that are not already good at things from attempting them because if they do they might make a mistake. But, according to Robinson, if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you cannot really accomplish anything in life other than what you already could do. He points out that there is the same level of importance placed on all subjects in all countries,  not just a few. The reason for this, he says, is that the education system is educating students to become people who can meet the needs of the industrial era, in other words, people who “live in their heads and slightly to one side.” The real challenge is getting a job that reflects your strengths as an individual. To do this you must acknowledge your brilliance (creative, logical, sequential or abstract), and realize that no longer do degrees have the same pull as they used to. To survive in today’s day and age, you must accept your inner intelligence. Robinson also remarks that intelligence is dynamic and distinct. It is not something limited to who you are today. Intelligence is simply the "Process of having original ideas that have value." That leaves you with two challenges: discovering your talent and preparing for the future. To find your talent, you simply need to utilize the gift of imagination. The key to the future is to see today’s children as hope, and to help them make their whole future with their whole mind.

Watch the entire video at: Sir Ken Robinson