Ted Talk: Ken Robinson

 Throughout my freshman year of college i have explored and discovered new ideas about myself and the world around me. I have developed thoughts and ways of thinking that i believed to be too complex for my understanding back in high school. I have tried new ideas that have sparked my interest such as playing multiple instruments, drawing, painting murals and martial arts. I have always asked myself  how i managed to obtain these skills and over night loose them. After i have watched Ken Robinson speak on Ted Talk, i have gained a better understanding as to why creativity can come and go within a blink of an eye.

Ken Robinson explained the connection between creativity, education, and societal values. He speaks about how education tends to frighten away creative talents in a child. Children have an extremely flexible mindset that has no limitations or boundaries. Children do not know what it means to be wrong, they simple do as they please and enjoy doing it. If children don't know what something is, they simply just go for it without the consent of what other people think or believe. The unfortunate part about it is that once children go to school the education system tends to slowly break down a child's creativity. This is done so very simply. In education the most valuable subjects are mathematics, languages, humanities and then creativity such as art, music, and dance. This is so because in education it is taught that learning the main subjects are more important than learning and exercising your inner creativity. What children think, feel, and believe is not valued in the education system and so, over time, children begin to grow out of their own creativity. Ken expresses this in more detail with an example of a famous dancer who, as a child, was believed to have some sort of learning disorder. After speaking with a doctor her parents put her in dance school and she turned out to be a professional ballet dancer and a multimillionaire. Ken goes on to say "Creativity in education is just as important as literacy and should be treated equally".

After seeing this Ted Talk i have begun to think about what i can begin to do for myself as well as my siblings and even my future children to help preserve their inner creativity which i also see as a child's spirit. Over time as a child grows and reaches higher levels of education, they get so worked up over the idea of being wrong, and doing things from the educations perspective. They loose sight of their own inner potential and ideas. Ken speaks about how undervalued a college education is today. Our society tells children that if they don't go to school and become doctors, lawyers and college professors, then they wont have a job or successful life at that. Because of this so many people are worked up over getting a college degree which, over time, means very little any more. We should encourage our children to pursue what they love and not allow them to fall under the pressure of discarding their creative aspects because society doesn't approve of them. Our children are the future of our societies and we need to let them know how much of a powerful gift that they are born with.