Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Education vs. Creativity


We all agree that education is the basis of personnality. It builds us, guides us, makes us who we are to become, different grown-ups. That's where it all starts.

Our tastes, our skills, our choices.

The educational system hasn't been rethought even though it's pretty obvious that a lot of children cannot adapt to this system and instead of being listened to, we want them to bend to it and succeed or be considered as dunces, for years.


Of course, similar ways of seeing and doing things means similar people and unquestionable results. Good or bad. Yes or no. You know the answer or you don't.


But what about creativity ? Inner talents never revealed ? All this is bridled very early.

Knowledge isn't everything, we can even say that it's nothing if we are not free to do something with it. And our vision of intelligence and our way to measure it is absolutely not unchanging. Truth isn't in the hands of the people who decide all this.

Narrowness is so dangerous.


See the people who grew up out of the marks, developped their own mind and succeeded by themselves because the educational system didn't want them :

Bill Gates
François Pinault
Richard Branson
Amancio Ortega
Ingvar Kamprad ...



Here's an entertaining and profound talk I love about education and creativity by Sir Ken Robinson at the TED conference, of course.







3 comments:

  1. Keep on going,, Louise, open the wiondows and let in the air!

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  2. I wanted to say also that eductaion need not be the way you describe.
    I was lucky enough to attend a U.K. grammar school in the 60s where we were taught that there is no answer...just a justifiable way of arriving at valid conclusions.
    Sadly, looking at friends' kids and their experience, this has gone by the board. Education now seems to be a system of achieving goals by ticking the right box...a surefire recipe for closed minds.

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  3. I agree with you and I thank you for the encouraging comment and your contribution to this post.
    We keep hearing the word "progress" but I seriously doubt the meaning of it and I share your sadness.

    Thanks again.

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