Quick Summary
Modern schools educate children out of their creative capabilities.
To best equip our children to succeed in an unpredictable future, the task of education should be to educate the whole child, making the best of our children’s talents and creativity, and not just educating a child’s brain with a singular focus on academic achievement.
A Few More Words
In his popular, funny Ted talk (see video below), teacher, writer, and educationalist Sir Ken Robinson highlights our uncertainty in knowing the skills our children will need to face an unknown, unpredictable future.
He says:
In education, creativity is as important as literacy.
All kids have talent and creativity, and are willing to take chances without fear of being wrong. That lack of fear enables the possibility of original thought, which is a key element required to face the future.
Many view education as the key to enabling our children’s success.
However…
As children grow up, we start to educate them progressively from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side.
…instead of embracing and educating a child’s whole being.
Educated Out of Creativity
As children get older, our schools educate them out of their creative capacities.
Robinson says we don’t grow in to creativity – instead, we grow out of it via education.
There isn’t an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why?
Re-Thinking Intelligence and Creativity
Creativity – which Robinson defines as the process of having original ideas that have value – often results from the interaction of different disciplines.
As a result, we need to re-think our views about intelligence and creativity. Instead of compartmentalizing the brain into subjects, schools need to focus on the overall richness of human capacity, and re-think the fundamental principles on which we educate our children.