Wired Magazine: Standardisation broke education. Here's how we can fix our schools
I was delighted to write this short piece for Wired UK, and hope you find it useful
Standardisation broke education. Here's how we can fix our schools
"The movement towards personalisation is already advancing in medicine. We must move quickly in that direction in education, too"
We are all born with fathomless capacities, but what we make of them has everything to do with education. One role of education is to help people develop their natural talents and abilities; the other is to help them make their way in the world around them. Too often, education falls short on both counts. As we face an increasingly febrile future, it’s vital to do better. For that to happen, education has to be urgently transformed. We have the resources and the expertise, but now we need the vision and commitment.
In my book, You, Your Child and School, I make a distinction between learning, education and school. Learning is acquiring new skills and understanding; education is an organised system of learning; a school is a community of learners. All children love to learn, but many have a hard time with education and some have big problems with school.
Usually, the problem is not the learners – it’s the inherent bias of education and the enforced culture of schools. For generations, formal education has been systematically biased towards narrow forms of academic ability. The result is that it largely disregards the marvellous diversity of human talents and interests.
For the past generation especially, politicians have been smothering schools in a depressing culture of standardisation. As a result, they have been marginalising the very capabilities our children need to create a more equitable and sustainable world – by which I mean creativity, compassion citizenship and collaboration...
Please continue to read the full article on the Wired UK website.
Podcast: Wisdom On The Intersection Of Education, Leadership, And The Environment
The two climate crises. I enjoyed this conversation with @spodek on Education, Leadership and the Environment. Hope you do.
Please listen to the interview here
"As a professor of leadership, host of this podcast, and constant student of acting by my environmental values, I live and work in the intersection of leadership, education, and the environment.
Ken Robinson does too, but with a big difference: he's been here for decades longer, actively practicing in each. This episode approaches each of education, leadership, and the environment from several perspectives.
I can't say anything better than his voice carries the wisdom and vitality of someone who has worked here for longer and with greater passion than maybe anyone I've met and I'm in this world.
I'll keep this writing brief. Let's listen to Ken Robinson.
One last caveat: our schedules meant recording by phone, meaning the audio quality isn't like being in a studio, but I believe you'll find Ken's message transcends the medium and hope you listen for what he says, not the equipment.
Show Notes :
- Most Likely to Succeed movie
- Ken's Do Schools Kill Creativity TED talk
Here is the Robert Ardrey quote from the 1961 book African Genesis that Ken said at the end:
But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses."
Movie: In Search of Greatness
If you haven’t seen it yet - take a look at In Search of Greatness from @gabepolsky. The unbeatable power of creativity and passion at the heart of sport. @greatnessmovie
"He realized the limitations of his own physique and developed a whole new style of boxing that suited him."
Unearth the secrets of greatness. Available for pre-order in iTunes: https://apple.co/2Uqojbp
Podcast: The TED Interview
I greatly enjoyed this conversation and the chance to talk about “that talk” 12 years on and what has and hasn’t changed! Many thanks for all you do at TED.
How are educators thinking about creativity these days? Why should creativity be a focus at all? In this episode of #TheTEDInterview, @TEDchris sits down with @sirkenrobinson to discuss his viral 2006 TED Talk and how his thinking has changed since: http://t.ted.com/WRIG9SC
Top Hat Interview: From Special Ed To Academic Royalty
Not sure about the royalty allusion, but enjoyed this conversation with TopHat about my own roots and trajectory in education.
Top Hat is the active learning platform that makes it easy for professors to engage students and build comprehension before, during and after class. This interview is part of our recurring series “Academic Admissions” where we ask interesting people to tell us about the transformative role education has played in their lives.
Internationally known as an authority on creativity and innovation in education, Sir Ken Robinson is the first to admit he didn’t arrive fully formed. As he tells it, his ideas about education reform were shaped by his own history: Growing up with polio in working class Liverpool he knew he’d have to earn a living by using his head, not his hands, so he worked hard to differentiate himself academically.
He took it upon himself to add culture to the grammar schools he attended and never ceased to be fascinated by the diversity and potential of the people around him. His passion for pursuing ideas that interest him has led Robinson from Liverpool to the international spotlight—the author of multiple bestselling books, including The Element and most recently, Creative Schools, he’s advised governments and cultural agencies on educational reform, delivered the most-watched TED Talk of all time and been knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his services to the arts.
