I continue to think about how schools might/could/should/will change to meet the needs of a 21st century global economy. This week I have come upon two interesting resources that address this question.
1. Do Schools Kill Creativity?
The first is a video of a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken asks the question: "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" He is an excellent and entertaining speaker. I highly recommend listening to his entire talk. Some things that struck me: "Creativity is as important as literacy," "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." Thanks to Jo McLeay for pointing me to this one (via Twitter of course;).
2. Tom Friedman on Education in the ‘Flat World’: A discussion with author Daniel Pink on curiosity, passion and the politics of school reform in the global marketplace.
In this article from the February 2008 issue of School Administrator Magazine, Tom Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, and Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, discuss the future of schools.
Here are a few quotes that stood out for me:
"...if we live in a flat world where whatever can be done will be done, guess who’s going to win? People who get the signals first, who do it before it’s done to them." - Friedman
"In a world where information was scarce, schools operated as kind of a repository of that precious resource. But now information is abundant. A school doesn’t have to harvest and distribute this scarce resource. It has to serve some other kind of function." -PinkThis last quote seems particularly appropriate for those of us voting today on Super Tuesday.
"The president has to be someone who inspires on the big issues, one who can lay out projects that really stimulate education all the way down the line. Today, the president’s got to be our chief education officer." - FriedmanWhat do you think? Are schools killing creativity? Are we preparing students to thrive in a world where information is abundant? If not, what can we do to change that?
1 comment:
If you were intrigued by Ken Robinson's presentation you can learn more about his thinking from his book "Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative." A single word of endorsement from John Cleese on the book's cover, "Brilliant"
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