I have a lot of time for Sir Ken Robinson. Here he is essentially promoting his new book The Element which champions the notion that education should first and foremost be about self discovery and self development, actively supporting us as individuals to discover our talents and passionate interests. He does so with wit and with a quiet persuasion that really needs a wider audience if the changes he calls for are to be realised.
But I share his belief that real, tangible, fundamental change is drawing closer, and the fearful ostrich that is our education system can no longer hide its head in the sands of inertia.
Some of my choice quotes from the video above:
"Education should be about promoting diversity rather than conformance."
"Education is not about standardising, it's about raising standards - something very different."
"People are only transformed when they are engaged."
As he points out, it's a sad endictment of our times when the US state of California will, in 2010, spend more on its prison system than on education. And perhaps the "epidemic" of kids diagnosed with attention deficiency disorder (8 million) in the US is more a sign of a desperate attempt to hold a broken system together.
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