“Creativity, now, is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with that same status.”
Sir Ken Robinson
Sir Ken Robinson is presenting the argument that the world’s public education system needs to be re-worked because it surpresses creativity in children. He has been both a student and professor, which means he understands both aspects of the education system and their shortcomings. Because of this, his target audience is adults who can influence change in the academic system – he is also sending this message to parents to encourage creativity and reinventive ways of thinking in their children. The context of his argument is that it is brought up on his own will in light of what he has experienced in himself and his children.
Robinson’s main argument is that every major public education system in the world discourages creativity and enforces conformative thinking instead of expressive thinking. He makes the claim that the hierarchy of schooling always goes like this: Mathatics, literature, history, then the arts are always at the bottom if they are even taught at all, which surpresses students’ creative thinking abilities. The evidence he uses is mostly anecdotal – in one of which he explains an interview discussing a girl who was thought to have a mental disorder similar to ADHD but was really just a professional dancer in the making. Her need to move to think deviated from the “meta” of standardized schooling and was thought to be a mental disorder instead of uniqueness and creativity.
Robinson’s arguments are all sound and applicable to our real-life scenario except for one of his larger pieces of support: The dancer who was thought to be mentally ill instead of creative. While logical in its reasoning, the incident itself dates all the way back to the 1930s and most likely doesn’t represent our current medical diagnostics nor education system. This leads to flaws in his reasoning because of the lack of proper evidence.
Robinson’s credibility on this subject is fantastic – he has been both a student and professor, so he understands both sides of the coin regarding the issue of poorly idealized education. Telling this to the receivers of his message allows us to gain his trust and value what he has to say about the system he has been a part of for decades. Without this, we would think less of him and not understand his connection to the world of education.
He uses various emotional phrases that describe how children have extraordinary capacities for innovation and creative thinking. He uses quotes from artists such as Pablo Picasso: “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist when we grow up.” Robinson then continues to elaborate on how nowadays we grow out of the creativity we once had and public education plays a big part in that loss.
All terms he used were easily understood by the audience because we are all familiar with the education system. Because the dilemma is revolving around an essential everyday part of life, it is easy to understand and get behind.
“We don’t grow into creativity – we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.”
Sir Ken Robinson
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Ben's Blog 