Blog # 12

How to escape education’s death valley

        The first video we watched this week was ”How to escape education’s death valley, by Sir Ken Robinson. In some parts of the country, 60% of kids drop out of high school. He said if we cut this number in half, it would create a new gain for the US economy over 10 years of almost $1 trillion. Ken Robinson says that this number is only the tip on an iceberg. The number only counts the children who are actually dropping out. What about the children who are in school, but are disengaged and are not learning? He says there three principles on which human life flourishes. They are contradictory by the culture of education on which teachers have to labor and students endure. The first is that humans are naturally different endeavors. He goes on to talk about how everyone is different, yet education is based on conformity. Schools find out what kids can do across a narrow spectrum. Real education should give equal exposure to math, art, physical education, reading; etc.
         Ken speaks about the overdiagnosis of ADD. He says they are not suffering from ADD, they are suffering from childhood. If you sit children down hour after hour, do not be surprised if they start to fidget. The second principle that drives human life is curiosity. It drives students to learn. It is the “engine of achievement”. Teaching is a creative profession. Great teachers mentor, provoke, engage, and stimulate. If there is no learning, there is no teaching. This brings him to testing. A problem is that there is a big focus on testing. Yes tests are important, but standardized tests have a place: they should be diagnostic.
         The third principle is human life is inherently created. Ken Robinson states that we each create own own life though imagining outcomes. This is why we are all so diverse. He questions. what role of education gives us these powers of creativity? Our culture is a culture of standardization. He says Finland comes number 1 in math science and reading. They do not have standardized testing, and they have a broad approach to education. Finland has no dropout rate. Any time a student is struggling, the support is amazing. Ken Robinson admits you cannot compare Finland to America, but you can compare it to a state in America. The big difference in FInland is that their education is engaging, individualized, and they receive constant support. The teachers and students are the only ones who can education successful.

My group believes that Ken Robinson brings a powerful message to education. We were astonished to see that the dropout rate is 60% in some parts of the country. After Ken spoke that number not counting students who are disengaged in school, it opened our eyes even more. We spoke about how school curriculum, and how we agree it is a conformed system. Every child is different, which is why we also think all subjects should have equal exposure. We definitely think students and teachers would become more engaged but doing this.
      When Ken spoke about the overdiagnosis of ADD it really grabbed our attention. We both think that children are ADD, but children are being medicated who do not need to be. We agree with all that Ken said about that subject.
      Teaching and creativity should definitely go hand in hand. With no creativity added to lessons, students will not learn. We both think that it is the teacher's job to embrace that creativity within the student. Teachers should do all they can to help their students succeed. When Ken started to talk about Finland, we were both a little shocked. How is there no dropout rate?! The educators must be amazing.

The Importance of Creativity

         The second video we watched by Sir Ken Robinson was called, Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity. In this video, Robinson talks about how schools are literally killing kid's creativity, leaving them with what the school system dictates is important: math and language. He says that creativity is as important as literacy, and after this video, we agree. Robinson defined creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. He talked about how children are not afraid to be wrong. They take chances and sometimes come up with a piece of work, more extraordinary than any other, because of their mistake. As they grow older, however, they become scared of making any sort of mistake. We have stigmatized mistakes as the worst things people can make, but if you are not prepared to make a mistake, you will never come up with anything original.
         The story that Robinson told, that made us think the most, was a child could not stop fidgeting around, so the teachers told her parents that they thought she had a learning disability. After taking her to a specialist, the doctor questioned the mother, and then the mother and doctor left the room, after turning on a radio. When the door was shut, the child immediately got up and started to dance. The doctor turned to the mother and said, “Your child does not have a learning disability, she is a dancer!” The parents took the girl to a dance studio, and she ended up becoming a millionaire that choreographed “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”.
         The story was so eye opening, because if it were any other doctor, he would have given the child medication and told her to calm down. Her talent would have been buried, and unfortunately that is the case is much of today’s society. We learned several things from Sir Ken Robinson. We learned to never doubt a child’s creative ability; the quiet, solitary child may be the future Picasso. We learned that if a child is fidgety, they might be the next star dancer of their time. Finally, we learned to never criticize a child’s mistake, that mistake might have been made on purpose, or it might just change your thinking on what is “right”.
         We think Sir Ken Robinson said it best when he said, "We are educating people out of their creativity." As future educators, we need to put an end the stigmatisms of what subjects we think are the only important ones, and give our students the opportunity of flourish in all areas.

Written by Meagan Freeman and Linda Check