Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson really struck a chord with me. He posed the question; ‘Do schools kill creativity?’ I am passionate about education and more that likely think I will become a teacher and therefore found his idea’s intriguing.

One thing I picked up from his work was the idea that children do not have the fear of failure like we do. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the ski fields. I recently went to Queenstown, New Zealand. When hitting the slopes we judge them based on difficulty. Green? Black? Blue? However without hesitation children zoom down the slopes as fast as possible not aware that there run is one of the hardest and generally speaking, they have the most success.

Robinson also talked about the hierarchy of education. Languages and maths at the top and dance and drama at the bottom. Dance and drama require; confidence, hard work, communication, development, compromise and creativity. If these skills were to be of a greater importance in schools, would we have a generally happier, more accepting society.

One of my best friends once mused that she wishes she possessed a visible skill. Those that are good at drawing, painting or singing can share there talent. Wfor someone studying Classics and Religion to share there essays. In society we celebrate creativity and the arts, so why not in schools?

In VCE I studied; English, Psychology, History, Art and Music. I recognise the importance of these subjects. However what is frustrating is the system does not. Art is marked down. Despite the hours I spent developing my ideas it was marked down and ultimately not counted towards my final score. How could young people not see this hierarchy of education in a more concrete way?