A new way to think about education?

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” – Sir Ken Robinson

I have watched this TED talk multiple times in my life including before my children were in school and multiple times after. I remember that before my eldest went to school I would watch the video and nod agreeing with the things Ken would say. I now have 2 children in school and when I watch this talk I’m still nodding but I also want to jump through the screen, give Ken a high 5 and share this video with all the people involved in putting together our education system.

Ken said, “Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not – because the thing they were good at, at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatised.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement. How many times in a lesson were you scared to answer a question in case you were wrong? Or maybe you had failed a Math or English test so many times you made to feel “dumb” and therefore had your confidence stripped away. I can slowly see this happening with my son and my biggest fear is that his funny personality and unique talents will disintegrate in an effort to fit in with what is considered the norm.

Below is a quick summary of Louis Mobley 6 creative insights. Louis’ teachings led to the creation of the IBM Executive School and I truly believe that incorporating them into our education system would have such a positive impact on our children and the future of the world.

1. Traditional teaching methods, like testing and memorisation, were more than worthless. These systems were counterproductive to creativity and forced students to think linearly, when instead they should be thinking in a non-linear manner.

2. The process of becoming creative is an unlearning process. Instead expecting students to think within preconceived assumptions, he wanted them to overturn existing beliefs.

3. Being creative can’t be learned, it’s within us and must be released by doing it.

4. Hanging around creatives was the best way to inspire creativity.

5. Creativity is highly associated with self-knowledge – it is impossible to overcome biases if we’re not aware of them.

6. You’re allowed to be wrong. Every great idea grows from the potting soil of hundreds of bad ones, and the single biggest reason why most of us never live up to our potential is from fear of making a fool out of ourselves.

The full article can be read here. Are there any choices you would have made differently if you weren’t afraid of failure?

Thanks for reading and make sure you share your smile with the world today ☮

#Creativity #Education #School