Kevin Navarrete
Sir Ken Robinson first proposed the question of educational reform in TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks 2005, saying that schools kill creativity. According to him, our global goal in education is focused on math and literature. Our educational system needs to be restructured in order to feed the creative minds of tomorrow, through unorthodox learning, flexible classrooms and the ability to experience life and not just live it.Thomas Edison, inventor, entrepreneur, philosopher and a great American icon, is proof that the system of which our educational structure is based on is flawed.
If Thomas Edison would have been born to our generation, he would have been labeled as ADHD, been given adderral, and told to sit down, shut up and do his work. It was his mother who changed the way Edison would learn taking him out of a conventional learning environment and teaching him in a way in which would be personalized. Also, his father encouraged him to learn on his own by reading books and giving him 10 cents for each one he completed (Josephson 12-42). Edison’s childhood must have been a formidable way of growing up, since his learning was unconventional and his education a facsimile of the Mobious strip, an object which can only exist in the 4th dimension. It was this style education which lead to Edison’s greatness in his field, by altering the dimension of which his neuropathways connected. It was these neuropathways which granted him the mind of an inventor than that of kids who would go on to have “proper schooling”. This form of schooling expanded the creative side of his brain and allowed his inner inventor, his trial and error, his longing to see outside the box, his questioning of all things electrical ending in the triumph over even the most well educated people. He ruled his life not through arbitrary inhibitions, but through objectivity and perseverance. The classic schooling system would have rendered him an automaton, incapable of creative thought, afraid of being wrong or called hyperactive, a label we use frequently in today’s society.
School systems need to be reformed in order for students, such as Thomas Edison, to lead a full and creative life full of innovation. Today, with technologies at our disposal which make it possible to modify our educational environment, schools around the country should find ways to bring the ADHD, Dyslexic and even Autistic students a more personalized way of study.(Peppler)This can be accomplished various ways, but one in particular is famed already. The Khan Academy, founder Salman Khan, provides a database of online tutorials from math, science, history, banking, commerce, economy and other studies. What Salman argues is by using his educational system model, a teacher can now have the lectures out-side of class and more time in class for group projects, and have more time to go one on one with struggling students. Since the student is now in control of his or her learning environment and is able to repeat over and over again any video lecture in which the sutdent is finding a concept hard to understand; then the student is enabled to learn at their own pace.
Innate artistic ability is not necessarily artistic creativity as described by Amy Tan, TED Talks. Tan is a philosopher and published writer. She describes how people connect to creative thought through emotion and not reason. This poses an interesting question, can we teach creativity? You cannot teach creativity, you can only nurture it. We learn it through observation, imitation and life experience. If we are to instigate creativity in students at school it needs to be through doing and not through the conventional classroom. Someone might be an amazing artist but not a creative artist; if the artist has not experienced anything farther than the classroom and homework, then their work will have had absolutely no emotional or creative effect. To push students to become creative it means pushing them to do something of emotional value, such as introducing them to culture, music, travel, volunteering and group projects. The most valuable of all is working as a group in a project to achieve a common goal as this is the goal of a society.
Creativity needs to be addressed in our schools as much as math or grammar. Creativity has been suppressed through school in order to fill the demand of the working middle class, or white collar workers. This conclusion is derived from logos, taking into consideration all root aspects of society. By focusing students on only one aspect of their curriculum rooted in math and grammar, logos, creating a less than normal Ethos mind and stunting the creative growth that comes from pathos, by diverting energy and costs of pathos,. Our school system stagnates individuals who are wrong, training them to be afraid of being wrong. Children are not afraid to be wrong so it is imperative to nurture this ability. Adding, supporting and teaching dance, arts, theatre, music, chemistry, literature and other such classes with the same validity as math and grammar; instigate thought and creation, redirecting neural-pathways and forming a newer way of thinking, one which will more than likely succeed in creating rather than renewing, innovate rather than stagnate and morph an uninventive society into one were creative minds flourish.
When Sir Ken Robinson proposed his question of educational reform during TED Talks, he left the audience asking, How? Thomas Edison would say, “Through hard work and perseverance.” These words would not have come to light if he would have stayed in school. Though a bit dogmatic, it is essential to understand that the future of the world depends on capable minds to do creative things. Without this much needed reform our educated class will no longer have an innovative attitude. An emotional learning, a harnessing and nurturing of our creative minds must not be taken lightly but must appreciated for its delicacy. Thomas Edison was one of the few who was able to harness his own creative mind and focus on invention invention, even though the odds of succeeding without an education were against him. The restructuring of schools can be done; as Edison’s experience it must be done for the sake of future generations.
Works Cited
Josephson, Matthew. Edison: A Biography. New York: Wiley 1992. Print.
Khan, Salman. “Khan Academy: Educational Restructuring.” Ted Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading.
TED, Aug. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
Kylie A., Peppler, and Solomou Maria. “Building Creativity: Collaborative Learning and
Creativity in Social Media Environments.” On the Horizon 19.1 (2011): 13-23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
Robinson, Ken. “Schools Kill Creativity.” TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading. TED, Nov.
2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
Tan, Amy. “Creativity and its Process.” TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading. TED, Aug. 2010.
Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
