Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution

I think this was a great follow-up to Ken's schools killing creativity lecture. He began by saying we make poor use of our talents, and poor use of our students talents. One thing Ken discussed hit me particularly hard; he said we often go through life without knowing our true talents. I have always personally felt this way. While there are many things I believe I am very good at, was there something I was not exposed to as a child that would have uncovered a true gift or talent. Was I meant to be a musician, an artist, etc? While I find his point personally applicable, it makes me think about my teaching. Am I exposing my students to a variety of material which will enable them to find their own gifts or talents? The point that Ken makes about children and talents is completely relevant to all teachers. It is our job, meaning the school district and other personnel, to expose students to the arts and sciences, as well as the other core subjects we have labeled more important.

In continuing his point, later in his lecture he talks about education not being a straight track to college. College does not begin in Kindergarten. He is right; schools are obsessed with getting children to college. One of the elementary schools I have subbed for has a massive program designed to send every one of their students to college. They have classrooms adopt colleges the students may go to someday. However, is college the only path for these students? Ken told the story of a fan wanting all his life to be a fireman. His teachers told him this was a waste of time and he needed to go to college. This story made me think of an activity another elementary school requires of its students. At the end of each year from 4-6^th grades, the students must research careers they are interested in for the future. There were so many obvious flaws to this mandatory activity. First, the websites the students were supposed to use were all college type careers. There were no trade type careers. Second, the form the district issued for these students to fill out had questions such as, What subjects in school do I need to be very good at to do this job (a somewhat benign question unless you look into it a little bit), and How many years in college do you need in order to have this career, and How much money can you make in this career? I believe these questions and this activity reinforces Ken's point. First, the kid is told he must already be good at certain subjects for this job or he/she can cross this one off the list, secondly, college is necessary if you want a "valid" career, and thirdly, it is the money that validates you as a person. I had one boy who comes from a very poor background who said he wanted to be a babysitter. This certainly is not what the school is looking for in this activity. He obviously could not find any information from the websites we gave him to use. As a new teacher, I went to a colleague and she told me to have him pick something else. The district did not want these types of answers. However, this is probably the career someone in his family has and what he has been exposed to. Maybe the babysitter he is familiar with has a great life and is successful. This was a very difficult day as a teacher, as I let him leave babysitter on his form and gave him an alternate website to use. It is exactly what Ken was saying, we have a fast-food type of education, it is standardized, not individualized.