Sir Ken Robinson

This is for the videos we watched in class. I believe Ken Robinson has a point, and its something I've thought about for years. Its not the simple excuse,"When am I ever going to use this?" That was an excuse coined by students when they weren't doing well in math or science. Its more than that.

The subjects taught in schools these days are very similar to what was taught a long time ago, when if you didn't go to school, you didn't have a job. The bar has been raised since then. It became you had to go to college to get a job, then get a masters, or a doctrine. But, once everyone has those, who gets the jobs? There has to be something else other than being 'well trained'.

It seems to me that the school systems now are very outdated. We've been trained to think that we can't make a living being an artist, a sports player, a performer, or anything involving some kind of creativity or natural talent. Yes, there are people who are naturally talented at math, science, and english, but what about the other 'subjects' in school that are being thrown out because they 'aren't beneficial to the studen't?' Why isn't art class beneficial? Why is it that students can't learn something in gym class or drama? The truth is, WE CAN. Its old people from an era thats long past who say we can't, and therefore these areas are ignored and deemed unnecessary.

Also, every student is different, and schools are hypocritical when they say that they cater to each students individual needs. What about the student who's an artist but sucks at math? Or the one who can write songs but has trouble in science? And the soccer player that struggles in english? Not everyone can be good at everything, but everyone can be good at something. Why not 'train' them to excel in their strongest area rather than to be book-smart? Its not that the other subjects aren't important, but some people do lack any kind of affinity for science or english.

I agree with Sir Ken Robinson whole-heartedly. Younger generations are growing out of their creativity, and its not their fault. Parents and whoever run the school programs are taking the focus off of creative arts and placing it on generic subjects to prepare students for so called jobs, or college.

Its just like read-only culture vs read-write culture. The ability and freedom to express creativity is being taken away, and eventually, we won't be able to do anything, no matter how innovative.

That's all, folks!