Living in Wonderlands

Blog #1

        Response:

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk conveyed one main idea: education is sucking the creativity out of students. I agree with him because from a high school students’ perspective, I feel as though I have become less and less creative because of the type and amount of education I receive. Although I think that education is very crucial even as it stands today, I think Sir Ken Robinson has a valid point. I think education are something that will get you where you need to go in life, but if our society is going where Daniel Pink and others predict then education needs to change. (Conceptual Age)

 When I was in third grade I used to sit down at the computer and write little stories or poems I thought of. One instance I sat down and typed all the numbers out to 1,000 just because I wanted to learn. Sometimes I would draw something or paint something, but now all that time to think and process has gone to hours of classes and other high school activities such as sports. I’m a student who loves art and I think that it has changed my life, but now I figure it is more important to do well in classes than focus on art. Of course students have the opportunity to take art classes, sit down and read a book, but in my case my “creative” time has been swapped with stress and pressure to do well because of the competition posed in the education system.

His presentation makes me think of Alice and Wonderland and the boundless amounts of creativity and beauty in the mind of a child.Alice in Wonderland -Wikipedia

Education should not depress this art and beauty within the brain, it should enforce it. As Alice says, "If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" She exemplifies learning out  of curiosity and the greatness of thinking where no one has thought before. Robinson states, "They're not frightened of being wrong" because children are willing to take those risks and learn new things in that way. Maybe society and education needs to take a step back and adjust their willingness to take those risks of everyday life. Maybe then, everyone can find their wonderland of creativity. Will you find yours?

Presentation:  I specifically noticed the humor that Sir Ken Robinson used in his presentation. It was an effective and useful tool. Humor connected him to the audience and also made him seem less forcing but suggestive of his ideas. It is important that he not shove his ideas down the audiences throats and repeat his thesis like a maniac. He skewed from the main topic but stayed relative as well, keeping the audience engaged and listening. Robinson did a great job of enforcing his topic and well as satisfying the audience no matter what their opinions are.