Changing Paradigms

I once saw Sir Ken Robinson talk live about his view of the need to change education paradigms. It was the best talk I'd ever seen. And it remains so to this day. If, by some freak of nature, you haven't seen his two TED talks on how schools kill creativity and on bringing on a revolution in learning, do yourself a favour and take forty minutes. They are witty, erudite, moving, entertaining. But best of all they speak of a fundamental truth. I've been known to bore people with my enthusiasm for his point of view, but I make no apology for posting this RSA Animate of his recent speech at the Royal Society.

The themes are just so apposite, and not just to education: a current system, built on deductive thinking, that is designed and conceived in a different age using assumptions around structure and capacity that are now flawed; that tries to make a future by doing what it did in the past, and along the way alienates the very people it is trying to reach out to; whose route to success marginalises a lot of the things that people believe are important to themselves; that overvalues standardisation and conformity as much as it undervalues the potential of what happens when people come together in the right way.

It's kind of interesting that small children have an inate capacity for many of the things that we now recognise to have huge value in the world in which our businesses operate - like prototyping, and divergent thinking. And so wrong that over time, this seems to deteriorate as we become 'educated'. As it is in education, so it is in business it seems.

Comments

[Viv McWaters]

Agreed. I'm a fan of Ken Robinson too - he makes his case in such a compelling way. I once heard someone describe our organisations as being 'run by dead people' - in recognition of the fact that many of the systems we still depend on were developed at the beginning of the last century. It's certainly long overdue to rethink our schools AND organisations, and move beyond the deductive thinking that plagues us still.
Cheers, Viv

[Valeria Maltoni]

Thank you for collecting these links, Neil. He brings up such powerful concepts: linearity vs. dimensional learning, common sense not being so common, different filters, how we learn and express creativity, etc. that have been long time hot buttons of mine. I was lucky, going through school when I did, and being my parents' daughter. I have since adopted literacy in the sense he expresses it as a lifelong cause.

[neilperkin]

Thanks for the comment Viv

[neilperkin]

Thanks for the comment and for stopping by Valeria. Adopting lifelong learning in the way you suggest is such a commendable and worthwhile goal. Makes me wonder about how many organisations think of themselves as real 'learning organisatons'.

[claudio alegre]

I've seen both Neil and your are right, they are classics.

On anything education and creativity I don't hesitate to point to these two vids ...

Thanks bud!

[Andrés Goldsworthy]

Great video and great blog!
Thanks for share this info...
From Colombia,
Andrés.

[Eddie]

I saw this animation on another blog and I really enjoyed it. It really gives you a different perspective of things.