I don’t read much about education – and I started reading the following because I was interested in the style of the video, not the content. But the more Sir Ken Robinson said, the greater my interest grew. Consider:
Children’s ‘short’ attention spans should be no surprise given our stimulus-filled world – but medication, and dulling creativity, is not the answer;
Working in groups has proven to be the most productive form of organisation, so why are schools not set up this way?;
Why do we still organise schools by the ages of children, rather than by their individual strengths, weaknesses or interests?
Because, says Robinson, we’re using a model developed during the west’s industrial revolution.
Watch this insightful, moving and humourous speech by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie about the power of stories and the power that controls stories.
Poster for Inside JobWatching this movie reminded me of a review I once read of ‘London Calling’, by The Clash. “Makes you feel like beating up a used-car salesman,” it said.
I don’t know why the reviewer chose a used-car salesman, but the album did generate that kind of fist-clenching energy that made you want to rush outside and start sweeping aside the rotten, old establishment.
I felt something similar watching Inside job: disgust at what Wall Street and its White House cronies got away with – and continue to get away with – and a wonder that it looks like nothing will change as a result.