This is a really excellent talk* about how we educate, why we do so, and what has changed about what’s needed in education and society and why we may not have changed our methods enough to keep up with those needs. It is by Sir Ken Robinson, and was given at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) earlier this year. I love the way it is produced – using an animation/whiteboard-writing overlay for the visual concepts – partly because I had an idea of doing a series of short films with a filmmaker friend some years back that would do a similar thing (I had chalkboards)… but in a much less beautifully accomplished way than this! More examples are here. But, enjoy the talk… it is a superbly framed discussion, including many of the frustrations I’ve found myself expressing (sometimes here) about the system of which I am part! Thoughts welcome.
-cvj
*Thanks Ilaria!
Yes!! So perfectly described and displayed…Thank you for sharing with the greater blogosphere!
Beautifully put. I’ve had the privilege of watching my niece and nephew grow up in an alternative environment: they were both homeschooled, and in fact unschooled (the most radical form of homeschooling which is completely unstructured and child led). They are both accomplished thinkers at this point. My niece is studying costume design at FIDM, and my nephew graduated from UW last spring with a history degree. The process of watching them learn was an education for the adults in the family!
The issue of batching children particularly rings true: only in school will you be so socially limited by age and gender. Homeschoolers are so much more graceful in their interactions with adults.
Admittedly, they had some advantage since my parents are both educators and their mother has degrees in philosophy and psychology. My mother in fact probably inspired the departure from the traditional system by being a fan of John Holt.
The cost of college isn’t mentioned in this presentation, and in my experience the system of debt slavery for low income students is a huge factor too when young people are deciding what and where to study.