My friend Matt on his blog brought this to my attention.
Sir Ken Robinson gives a very interesting lecture in the RSA and argues that education is structured along production lines which was a structure of education designed during the Enlightenment and the inductrial revolution. He argues that children are being educated out of creativity through the very structures that are there to provide them with knowledge.
Is this something Northern Ireland can learn from? Certainly it hits a chord with me.
Whilst the Minister for Culture Arts and Leisure seems to regard innovation and creativity as important, I recognise pure enthusiasm for creativity and its potential is not a panacea to all our economic woes, it is a key ingredient. If Northern Ireland is to be at the leading edge of research, business and economic growth then it needs to be recognised that innovation and creativity will be extremely important. Lack of investment in our next generations will see a stagnation in lateral thinking, creativity and the ability to assess risk.
Let me explain a little. Hazard is the potential to cause harm; Risk is the likelihood of harm.
In our economically driven world a hazard is for instance going bust. That is a hazard every business has to face. Risk is the likelihood of going bust. In order to have the capabilities to manage risk, we need to have the ability to assess risk and even take a calculated risk in order to succeed. I think our education system, wonderful that it is and helped get me to where i am now, is woefully unprepared to provide for the creativity and risk taking that we need to succeed. We are driven towards inaction. Inaction means avoidance of risk, which means we do not go bust, which means we do not fail. The risk of failure and its stigma is putting people of following ideas that could be the next big thing.
I am not saying that our education is just producing mindless automatons but the overall aim of education needs to be rethought. Why do we have education? What is the actual point of education? If it is based around getting a job then why not apprentice from 11 onwards? Very Orwellian indeed.
As Yoda once said 'Do, or do not. There is no try'. Maybe our education system, with a little imagination, will produce well rounded kids who have confidence to 'Do' and take risks and create something great.
