Thanks to Sophia for the pointer to the first video.
From my notes: the current educational system was built for a different age, in the interests of industrialism and modeled on its processes. Children compete with each other and study separate subjects and are run through in batches — and the most important thing about them is their production date! (how old they are).
Deep in the gene pool of current system: “academics” and not, “smart” and not. See video below: “academic” = “left brain.” This model has caused chaos for most people.
The plague of ADHD in America, and its “prescriptions.” I’m not qualified to say that there is no such thing as ADHD. But what I do know for a fact is that it’s not an epidemic. These kids are being medicated routinely because of medical fashion. Our children are living through the most intensely stimulating environment ever. And so they’re getting distracted. From what? From boring stuff. They are being given ritalin etc. to get them focused and settle down. But according to this map, ADHD increases as you travel east across the country! It’s a fictitious epidemic.”
We are getting our children “educated” by anesthetizing them rather than waking them up.
Divergent thinking: having original ideas, seeing lots of possible answers to a question, interpreting things laterally, to see multiple lines, not one. Necessary for creativity. In a longitudinal study, 1500 children, all kindergarteners, tested at 98%, genius level for divergent thinking. This capacity deteriorated over time, as they became “educated,” spending ten years learning there’s one answer. That’s in the gene pool of education.
Another view of the same, and what is needed now: Time to value both sides of our brains!
1 thought on “Ken Robinson: Industrial model schools kill children's creativity; we must transform the educational paradigm.”
I am not disagreeing with the divergent concept, but I think it is flawed as a study. I don’t think education gets you to one answer, but as you learn more you begin to focus your ideas. For example, you may not know the basic properties of matter or Newton’s Laws early on but as you learn you filter naturally. Given that many great inventions come out of the U.S. we still have the ability to be creative given what we learn, and it is also just as important to reach reasonable possibilities to achieve real results.