Ken
Robinson’s Ted Talk, “Changing Education Paradigms,” discusses how “every
country on earth, at the moment, is reforming public education” (Robinson
0:17-0:20). What I want to know is
why are
they reforming public education? Why is there a need for change? What is this need for
change? What caused it?
According to Robinson, “The current system was designed and conceived and structured for a different age” (2:00-2:03) and in this age, academic ability is based on two things: knowledge of the classics and deductive reasoning. The original educational system categorized people into two groups: the academic and the non-academic. Now, the system is “trying to make the future by doing what they did in the past” (1:05-1:10), except modern society is nothing like what it was in the past. We are living in a generation filled with technology, and because of this, distractions are more prevalent than ever before.
Moreover, resources are more prevalent than ever before. Children become unfocused, and because they are more amused by video games and movies than textbooks, adults categorize them as non-academic and feel the need to medicate. This is what Robinson refers to as the modern epidemic: “the plague of ADHD” (3:50-3:53).
Robinson suggests that “we are getting our children through education by anesthetizing them when we should be waking them up to what is inside of themselves” (6:28-6:32). He believes that we should be working to develop the system in the opposite direction of standardization. Although I do agree with him that this generation is over-medicating and over-diagnosing learning disabilities, I disagree with his points regarding many of the changes he feels should be made to structure of schools.
While I do believe that there should be more options for students to learn in a variety of ways, I think that students should be educated by age, especially during elementary, middle, and high school.
Though minds develop at different rates, “Most great learning happens in groups” (10:52-10:54).
In many schools, students are grouped by age and level. For instance, you can be in 5th grade and though all your classes are full of other 12-year-olds, you have the opportunity to be placed into Honors or regular courses. In this way, you develop alongside students who share both your age, maturity level, and level of expertise.
As we get older, we are granted more freedom to learn what we want, where we want, and with whom we want. For instance, as a freshman at the University of Michigan, I am taking a variety of eclectic classes full of under and upperclassmen students of all ages. My classes are not grouped by age, and I have never felt that this has had a major or even relevant impact on my ability to learn here.
Robinson suggests that modern education is stifling divergent and creative thinking, but I politely have to disagree with this assumption. Though we may have high levels of creativity as young children, this is because our cerebral cortexes have not completely developed.
As we grow older, it is only logical for our imagination to weaken as we move toward thinking more academically and maturely. So what defines mature thought? How do we learn to think critically while still thinking creatively? I think that the system needs to be altered to offer a larger variety of classes, but I do not feel that it needs to be changed entirely.
The brain has both left and right hemispheres. Although some individuals may possess a higher affinity to think with one side, we all have the ability to access both. We all have the ability to think both logically and creatively.
So how do we strengthen one without weakening the other? Instead of shifting the entire academic system toward more divergent thought, we need to find a balance between both divergent and logical thought. We need to mediate the system, not abolish and recreate it.
