Video: Innovation and Creativity in Schools

You absolutely must see this video.

Besides being very funny, Sir Ken Robinson gives a tremendously thought provoking speech at TED about innovation and creativity in schools and the education system in general:

"Creativity is as important as literacy and should have the same status."

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will not do anything original."

"Education has strip mined our minds like we do the earth for particular commodities."

While I certainly am not a product of a school system which churns out dancers or other artists (just ask my wife) many of his sentiments in this video are directly on the point of what we need to be thinking of.

This video comes from TED (Technology Education Design) conference, a virtual treasure trove of information in the TEDTalks section, featuring other videos from Al Gore, David Pogue, Tony Robbins, and Hans Rosling.

technorati tags:TED, Sir, Ken, Robinson, schools, creativity, innovation

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Comments

[Reggie]

Thanks for sharing the link to this video. I agree it's a must see. As an educator, I do agree but wonder how someone like myself that was brought up in this anti-creative system can now learn how to teach in this manner. I feel inadequate at promoting what I know is vital to this generation... all generations, actually.

[Tom]

Great video. He's a pretty funny guy and he really gets his point across.

I both agree and disagree with Reggie's comments. I feel inadequate when it comes to getting this generation, or any generation, what it needs. I don't feel like things are changing. They certainly aren't changing fast enough.

I don't think though that it's because I was brought up in the anti-creative system that I find doing this hard. I just think teaching, really teaching, is very hard. Teaching now is made harder because things are changing so fast and lately more and more the tide seems to be going the other way towards more anti-creativity rather than less, more standardized testing, more rigid rules, more pacing guides and less freedom to let kids explore their own talents.

"Jill, your dance talent isn't on our state test so it's not worth exploring, encouraging, certainly not worth funding. Sorry."