The problem is that now, anyone that gives a TEDTalk (I've given two) has in the back of their mind that they might become the next Sir Ken Robinson.
In the ten years since the launch of No Child Left Behind, these efforts have intensified. The results have been unimpressive. Graduation rates continue to falter and students and teachers alike are becoming more disaffected. So what's the real problem here?
One of the deep problems of the standards and testing movement is that it promotes a very narrow view of ability in schools and a culture of conformity. The fact is that all students are different.
You're already paying them to do a job. Why not educate them so they can do it better? It doesn't have to cost you a lot of money -- and the dividends you'll gain are incalculable.
Government leaders, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the world's leading cultural organizations are increasingly turning to Sir Ken Robinson for advice on creativity, education, and the economy.
Systematic pursuit of children's wellbeing and happiness in secure environments takes precedence over measured academic achievements in Finnish schools, according to Pasi Sahlberg, author of the award-winning book, Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
Our educational system evolved to produce workers; it was not devised to facilitate genius or what we consider to be "outside the box" thinking. Our educational system is the box.
Most people tend to run from failure as though it were some kind of disease -- a life sentence. Yet, it is anything but that. In order to change the system, to help the "square peg" kids, our national conversation needs to be turned towards failure.
When my son was in the fourth grade, his class did a short version of Romeo and Juliet. I don't know why that play was decided on for the fourth grade, but I believe his teacher was a romantic and liked the idea of little kids acting out this play of love and glory.
Sir Ken Robinson notes the universal but rarely acknowledged hierarchy of the subjects, in which math is esteemed most, followed by the sciences and then the humanities, and the theatrical arts the least. Hierarchies, however, crush creativity.
More neuroscientists, psychologists, educators and others are finding that the arts help nurture the right hemisphere of the brain, and is exactly what the more left brained curriculum needs to create the new thinking skills leading to creativity.
Many of us imagine that creativity involves a sudden flash of insight; that it comes as a gift, without much effort; and we believe that expertise and learning blocks creativity. But these beliefs are just myths.
Sir Ken's talk is a reminder that people everywhere recognize that there is no issue more important to our future than the education of our newest generations. And his message, fittingly, is that we are the people we've been waiting for all along.
Research demonstrates that the aspirations for schools that Sir Ken Robinson sets forward in his TEDTalk are by no means unattainable. Unfortunately, the vast majority of schools -- private as well as public -- still adhere to the traditional industrial model that relies on self-contained classrooms.
It's easy and tempting to blame teachers or unions or professors for the problems in education, but the reality is that here -- as in the political institutions about which we so passionately complain -- we get what we deserve, or rather, we get the natural result of the choices we make.
There is a reason that every graphic software has "brush" tools: it is because technology is trying very, very hard to emulate the subtlety of expression that only a physical brush applied a human hand to actual materials can truly offer.
This is the latest installment in a new series where the HuffPost Teen editors round up five things they're excited about each week -- from new video ...
It would be truly unfortunate if twenty years from now we woke up to the realization that U.S. prominence in the world's economy had dropped even farther from where it stood today, because we made the mistake of shortchanging our educational systems.
Let's not wait another 50 years to reform the primary and secondary education systems in this country, because we can't afford not to. Let's start now.
How do you train an innovator? Which schools are doing it better than others? Are teachers equipped with the new skills required to educate students in this decade? Are curricula incorporating the essential content that will help young people become more innovative?
Lately I have been lying awake at night thinking about basic skills. To be precise, I am wondering what you -- or I -- would do if we were in charge of getting America "back to basics" in education.
As a society, we have been systematically wired and re-wired to abhor failure. But amongst all of this stigmatisation we have forgotten one fundamental fact: the greatest innovations arise from a process of trial and error.
What do we mean when we say that beyond skills and knowledge, an arts education better prepares students for the 21st century?
Michael Fullan has been working to identify the right drivers for whole system education reform. His paper, "Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole System Reform," has stimulated considerable interest from educators around the world.
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, is one of the internationally recognized leaders in the development of education creativity and innovation. Here he explains what an arts curriculum should look.
