Sunday, August 23, 2009

Ken Robinson speech

I thought Ken Robinson's speech about education and how we kill many of our students creativity was great. Towards the front of the speech he talked about the play where the student forgot his line so he just made up something instead. Robinson spoke of how when we are young we are not afraid of making mistakes. He makes a great point because I know if I were in a play today and didn't know my line, I would just not say anything at all out of fear of being embarrassed. Why is that? I honestly don't know if it's our own nature to make fun of each other when we are wrong or because we are taught the importance of doing things the right way.

Another thing Mr. Robinson spoke about was how arts are at the bottom of the list when it came to importance in school. Obviously math and english are very important subjects, but really how important is it that students must know calculus and trigonometry? For those that want to engineers or mathematicians sure, they are extremely important. For those that will not be in a math field when they grow up, why is that so much more important than art or music? Both art and music are so much more than drawing and singing. It brings out emotions from every aspect of life. You could argue that it is every bit as important as math.

2 comments:

  1. Why are mistakes used as learning devices in sports and art but not in a lot of other classes? I think we have TRAINED our students in school that it is bad to make mistakes rather that to search them out and learn from them! An interesting situation!

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  2. I agree that one can argue the arts are just as important as other subjects and this arguement will always be around until society as a whole accepts the arts as a major influence on society. On one hand, we think movies and actors are outstanding; on the other, we ridicule a little boy for wanting to act instead of play football. People don't realize that the actor they idolize is that same little boy they scrutinized.

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