Sir Ken Robinson presents an intriguing critique of the education system in his Ted Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?”. He is confident that, in education, creativity is equally important as literacy, which implies that the two need to be treated in the same manner. In the current education system, schools mainly teach or train students out of their creative ability since all children are talented differently. Sir Ken Robinson gives an example of Gillian Lynne, a young girl who her school viewed as the one having a learning disorder (TED, 2007). She could not sit still and concentrate, hence her teachers had concluded she had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nevertheless, the girl later succeeded in life through her dancing talent despite being labeled unfit for learning. This example illustrates how schools have a singular focus on academic achievement without considering their abilities and creativity.
The three critical elements of intelligence that Sir Ken Robinson identifies are distinct, dynamic, and diverse. People think in different ways, including abstract, visually, or in sound. The fact that ideas come from many various forms of viewing things explains why intelligence is dynamic. Indeed, there is a need to redefine the current education system to utilize creativity and imagination wisely. The benchmark of creativity should audit the curriculum’s depth being offered to ensure that all disciplines follow an epistemically broad way of teaching. The current education system instills the fear of being wrong in the students, which hinders their potential of becoming creative. Therefore, there is a need to cultivate creativity in schools and reevaluate the fundamental education principles in order to stop viewing it as a deviant form of intelligence.
Reference
TED. (2007). Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson [Video]. Web.