Is education designed to limit our growth and control the ability to expand the minds of our youth?
This is something I personally felt during my years in the institution of elementary to higher learning… yet it wasn’t until Sir Ken Robinson’s fantastic Ted Talk that I truly realized the archaic nature of our education systems and its true effects.
In my personal experience and view our academic programs are so insidiously designed to not inspire “out of the box thinking” but to instead “train the mind” to think in very specific and limited ways. Schooling systems program minds, they infiltrate mental memory banks and instill key concepts beliefs and (yes) a few important tools; what they don’t do is stimulate imaginations, encourage expansive thinking and challenge perspectives.
In my view education should break paradigms and work with our unique mind capabilities… yet it fails in this endeavor. Check out the attached video (Sir Ken’s video re-done in a beautifully visually descriptive method by RSA Animate) and let me know your thoughts!
Much Love,
Alessandra Sagredo
www.spiritualhedonist.me
First, the video is fabulous! Thanks for sharing. Second, when you think of most of our “great minds” throughout history, and even today, they did not go to college or they dropped out. Why? Because they weren’t allowed to think outside the box. I’ve always felt that children who can’t be “controlled” and then are given medications are just children who are bored out of their minds and are starving for someone to tap into whatever it is they’re thinking, and tell them it’s ok. Outside the box thinking is not the norm, and we are wasting so many great minds and talent by not utilizing it and allowing them to flourish.I get to say good-bye to the K-12 world on June 1st, and I couldn’t be happier! Raising 3 bright daughters in the confines of traditional education has been frustrating and exhausting. Thankfully, their creativity and ability to think outside the box has been preserved, not by our educational system, but by 2 parents who allowed them to express their creativity and frustration in constructive ways, knowing one day they would be released from the educational shackles. There must be a better way.
While home schooling has its positive attributes, children need to have the interaction of other children to encompass socialization skills necessary in their adult lives. Unfortunately, children are learning how to take tests and educators are directed to follow this method. This leaving our educational system in a poor condition. Kindergarteners are now able to look at the play sets , kitchen sets but are not able to play in them. Not everyone learns in the same fashion. There are more visual thinkers vs. auditory thinkers, however, children have flourished with the SummerHill philosophy designed by A.S. Neil and the Reggio Emilia philosophy developed in Reggio Italy. Many children are home schooled in Canada and are doing very well, however, statistics indicate that their ability to interact with their peers is not at the level expected with those children who are engaged in a classroom setting. Let’s consider removing the ELA’S and standardized tests in order to bring “Hands on ” experiences back into the classrooms.
Fascinating talk and concepts. I was especially struck by the percentage of kids who score at genius level as divergent thinkers, and how that number drops as the children grow older and more educated. I also find interesting the number of children who are home schooled and to me, they seem extraordinarily bright, on the whole, more so than kids who have attended traditional schools. After watching the video, it makes sense.