Changing Education Paradigns

SUBHEAD: The waste in natural resources are more than matched by the waste of our human resources. Education has failed. By Staff on 27 December 2010 for the Guardian - (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/dec/27/1) Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

This presentation did not impress me in the least. Basically, Sir Ken Robinson whinges about the educational system without presenting even one creative, usable solution to the problems that he reports -- problems that every one of us is acutely aware of. Anyone can criticise the system but few can (or will, apparently) fix it.

What solutions do you think would address the problems that Robinson describes? I have many thoughts on this matter, having taught at several public universities on opposite coasts of the United States, but my arm is trapped in a plaster cast right now, so typing is not exactly something I can do for very long at the moment. However, that said, one pedagogy I've found effective is learning from our mistakes, and those made by others. (I link to that video as a way to jump-start the discussion).

This animation was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. See Ken Robinson's website at (http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/watch). Video above: "Changing Education Paradigns". From (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zDZFcDGpL4U#at=130). Video above: "Do Schools Kill Creativity". From (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY). [Editor's note: Thanks for the comment and the suggestion, John. However there is an error in your link. I think the above video is what you were aiming at.] .