There isn’t an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why?
Ken RobinsonRead
When my son, James, was doing homework for school, he would have five or six windows open on his computer, Instant Messenger was flashing continuously, his cell phone was constantly ringing, and he was downloading music and watching the TV over his shoulder. I don’t know if he was doing any homework, but he was running an empire as far as I could see, so I didn’t really care.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the distractions faced by students today while they attempt to focus on their homework.
Ken Robinson humorously describes the chaotic environment in which his son attempts to do homework, filled with distractions from technology and media. He suggests that while it may seem like his son is not focused on his schoolwork, he is actually managing a range of activities that reflect the multitasking nature of modern youth, ultimately implying that this may be a new form of engagement rather than a problem.
In practice
During a seminar on modern education, I shared this quote to illustrate the challenges students face with technology.
There isn’t an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why?
Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.
Creativity is the greatest gift of human intelligence.
Teaching for creativity aims to encourage self-confidence, independence of mind, and the capacity to think for oneself.
Helping people to connect with their personal creative capacities is the surest way to release the best they have to offer.
Creativity involves putting your imagination to work. In a sense, creativity is applied imagination.
Kids all want to look cool, as if knowledge is a great burden, but they're always looking around. They remember.
The man that I named the Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing. It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him choices. It gives him freedom. Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things. [from her Newberry Award acceptance speech]
Do we really need school? I don't mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don't hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest.
Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.
A book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us.
What you look for as a reader is somebody who is going to take you and say, 'C'mon. Come into the story. I'm going to show you what there is to see.' The guide who is going to tell you, 'Pay attention over there,' or, 'Do you remember that other thing? Now watch!'
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