TED TALKS: Sir Ken Robinson

                                                             REFLECTION
                                 SIR KEN ROBINSON: DO SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY?

        I would like to share my thoughts and feelings based on Sir Ken Robinsons’ speech which highlights key points regarding creativity and its effect in schools. Sir Ken Robinson describes creativity as ‘a process of having original ideas that have value’. I would describe creativity as an individual and personal thing which should be appreciated always. It is unique and I believe everyone should take an opportunity to explore their creative side. Sir Ken Robinson believes that schools kills creativity. He also adds that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated with the same status. I believe that with the national curriculum, there is much more emphasis on the core subjects being studied, often leaving the others behind. This can sometimes affect children who are struggling with the core subjects but enjoy and thrive at subjects such as art and music which are forgotten. This can affect their confidence as the subject that they are doing well at is assumed as less important than others but because they are underachieving in these main subjects, they have low self esteem and feel they are not as good as others. Arts, music or drama are seen in schools as not as valuable as other certain subjects such as English or Science. Personally, I see them as just as important. A child may be good at English, yet another may be just as good as in Art. Why is this different? Schools are being industrialised into preparing and setting a child up for work after school. They focus on achieving good grades in the core subjects and aim to encourage them to follow on to college or University to continue their education, enabling them to maintain a worthy career after graduating. However, this is not something everyone wants. Many children enjoy subjects such as art or drama and intend on pursing a career in this in the future Why is this not as important as getting a career as an English or Maths teacher? Sir Ken Robinson states that ‘in the next 30 years, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than since beginning of history’. This proves that there is such a stigma about children continuing onto college or University after school to obtain a degree that they obey what they should do and not what they actually want to do and enjoy. Children need to explore the world and experience it for themselves. This creates the imaginative aspect and enables them to interact with the outside world. Sitting in a classroom, reading a book or copying notes from a white board does not allow the creative mind to explore and investigate. In conclusion, I agree with Sir Ken Robinsons’ speech. I think there needs to be an equal focus on all subjects to acknowledge that they are all as important as each other and that whatever subject a child enjoys and feel they have an aptitude for, should be valued and respected.