Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED
The most-watched TED Talk ever, in which Robinson argues that education systems worldwide systematically destroy the creative capacities children are born with — and that this is a civilizational mistake we can no longer afford.
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Key points
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Robinson contends that creativity is now as important in education as literacy and should be treated with the same status.
He argues that education systems worldwide share the same subject hierarchy, with arts at the bottom, and no system teaches dance daily the way it teaches mathematics.
Robinson says education systems were built to serve industrialism, causing many talented, creative people to believe they are not intelligent because their abilities were not valued at school.
He defines intelligence as diverse, dynamic, and distinct, arguing creativity arises from interaction between different disciplinary ways of seeing things.
Robinson tells how Gillian Lynne, labelled as having a learning disorder, was recognised by a doctor as a dancer, leading her to found a dance company and create hugely successful musical theatre productions.
The five worth keeping
If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity.
In context
I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original -- if you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities.
you'll never come up with anything original -- If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity.
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We don't grow into creativity — we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.
In context
where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this, he said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it. So why is this? I lived in Stratford-on-Avon until about five years ago. In fact, we moved from Stratford to Los Angeles. So you can imagine what a seamless transition this was. (Laughter)
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Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip-mine the earth for a particular commodity.
In context
What I think it comes to is this: Al Gore spoke the other night about ecology and the revolution that was triggered by Rachel Carson. I believe our only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology, one in which we start to reconstitute our conception of the richness of human capacity. Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip-mine the earth for a particular commodity. And for the future, it won't serve us. We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we're educating our children.
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Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not — because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized.
In context
because the universities design the system in their image. If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can't afford to go on that way. In the next 30 years, according to UNESCO, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than since the beginning of history. More people.
Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not — because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized.
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Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.
In context
She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School, founded the Gillian Lynne Dance Company, met Andrew Lloyd Webber. She's been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, she's given pleasure to millions, and she's a multimillionaire. Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down. (Applause) What I think it comes to is this: Al Gore spoke the other night about ecology and the revolution that was triggered by Rachel Carson. I believe our only hope for the future
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