Addressing the 2010 TED Conference, Sir Ken Robinson said that education for the 21st century needs to move away from the standardized to the personalized—away from McDonald’s to the Zagat. Robinson delivered a funny and refreshing look at education today, and how it needs to change.
“We have built our education system on the model of fast food,” said creativity expert Robinson, who led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education.
By moving from the industrial model of education, based on the mechanical, to an agricultural model, an organic process, we create the conditions to get students to flourish. We give students the guidance and the resources to grow. Passion is essential because it “excites our spirit and energy,” he said. And just because you have an aptitude for something doesn’t mean that you love what you happen to be good at.
“If you are doing something you love, an hour feels like five minutes. If you are doing something that doesn’t resonate with your spirit, five minutes feels like an hour.”
You see Robinson’s entire presentation on the TED Web site here.
Check out Robinson’s Changing Paradigms video that illustrates his ideas in a fun cartoon-drawing format.
