Monday, September 5, 2011
Sir Ken and Revolutionizing the Way We Teach
Hi Everyone,
I must admit I clicked on the link to the ted website with more than a hint of skepticism. I have found in my years of higher education that professors like to open the year with a speaker, author, or educator who they find personally inspiring. Sometimes the person or performance is entertaining or resonates with why you are in grad school and putting in a lot of hours on top of your job, often enough it misses the mark. Usually the best bet as a student is to give the canned "I liked it"response, as not to disagree with the prof. But Kenneth Robinson was in all honesty entertainingly thought provoking.
I watched the videos in the top-to-bottom sequence they were listed on the site. In his lecture at the ted conference he won me over pretty fast with his idea that we are only teaching to half of the head. I am a big advocate of children having a well-rounded educational experience. I have problems with the hierarchy of subjects that take place in schools, and how the first thing to be compromised is the arts. The school culture somewhat promotes this inequality between subjects. In my high school we were required to take 4 year long English classes while only required to take 2 semesters of art, health, computers, and other associate classes. The fact that the schedule is set up with "associate" block periods that fall around "core" block periods speaks to the importance of their respective subjects. I often refer to "subject snobs" as the people who I observe in faculty meetings that marginalize the arts.
However, it does not seem like Robinson is for a balanced education, but rather for catering to the interests of the child. I am going to play devil's advocate to Mr. Robinson and say that while I do believe children should follow their passion, there is merit in having a marketable skill or knowledge. As he told the story of he girl who danced for the royal ballet, I couldn't help but think that there are a lot of dancers who are waiting tables while they hope their big break comes. I don't know if that statement is an example of the "enthralled" patterns that Robinson wants to deconstruct. But I do think that there are a good deal more art majors that are making lattes rather than opening galleries in a recession.
As a child through my teenage years I wanted to be an professional football player. It was my passion, my challenge, my love. I don't think that means I should go to football school in place of pre-algebra.
I would bet that if you polled today's students on what they would like to if they could do anything, one of the most popular answers would be a rapper. If schools began teaching students only poetry, linguistics, and hip-hop classes, the music industry might be better but we're probably gonna have a ton of out of work rappers.
Ultimately I think Robinson is important for his thought provoking ideas about breaking down paradigms is our educational system. Moreover, I respect the guy for wanting to revolutionize education in hopes of raising the quality of people's educational experience.
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You do make a good point, Chuck....about marketable skills...I appreciate that you played devil's advocate. I do have a tendency to get all starry-eyed about the arts. These days, marketable skills include creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, etc. I think with the right approach to teaching (less lecture and more project based learning experiences) the arts naturally/organically become a part of what students experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the marketable traits. When I was growing up I took horse back riding lessons so my dream job would be to become a professional equestrian. But the reality of pursuing that profession is almost impossible. They are very few riders who actually get to ride horses for a living.
ReplyDeleteEncouraging everyone's interests while teaching them useful skills for the work place would be the perfect marriage of all the subjects.
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ReplyDeleteExcellent to see a devil's advocate approach, those are important.
ReplyDeleteI agree that schools must walk a fine line in what is offered/encouraged/required for a student's education, and while of course the goal of leaving school with a marketable skill is important, the impression I get from Ken's speeches is that we need to prevent schools from squelching the interests kids may have in the Arts due to more and more rigid focus on academics that produce those "marketable skills".
It's easy to dismiss a so-called childish notion of a kid wanting to be a rock star/ballet dancer/cowboy-astronaut as being unrealistic or impossible to attain. But just because one person in a million becomes a famous rapper doesn't mean that a child shouldn't pursue an interest in music, language, or even recording production. Those are emerging fields, with thousands of people pursuing successful careers in them.
I think, like sports and other activities, arts must be allowed to make up a part of the well-rounded education we have promised to provide to the kids today.
I found myself nodding along with a lot of what you had to say. My aunt (who is only a couple of years older than I am) is a professional dancer, a pretty successful one at that (she was a Rockette and a dance lead in several broadway shows) but now that she is in her mid thirties, she's finding it harder and finder to get jobs. Here I am, just embarking on a new career and hers is already waning. Fortunately, she is smart and educated and should be able to do many things once she is Too Old for dancing.
ReplyDeleteI think that while we shouldn't squash our students' dreams, we still need to give them a broad base of knowledge to be successful outside of their dreams if those dreams do not pan out (like most show business dreams) or become unattainable due to something out of their control, like an injury. If we create a buffet-style education system in which students can pick and choose what they want from it, far too many will load up on "dessert" courses and leave the "veggies" for someone else. There's a lot to be said for dessert, but it should be part of a well-rounded diet. We can't live on ice cream alone, nor can students succeed with only the classes that they deem fun.