Sir Ken Robinson's SpeechDo Schools Kills Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson's main point of his TED Talk is that school systems, worldwide, segregate the arts to a lower level of learning. This segregation of the arts in schools drains students of creativity.

Do Schools Kill Creativity? TED is a non-profit organization that serves to present ideas that are worth spreading through strong rhetoric and persuasive appeals. In his eminent Ted Talk, Sir Ken Robinson discusses how public education systems today disregard creativity as an important component within the academic growth of students. Robinson focuses on the importance of creativity by creating a variety of arguments, which persuades the audience to take action upon this heavily ignored issue. His use of pathos, ethos, and logos makes an entertaining case for creating an education system that nurtures rather than undermines creativity. Throughout his speech, Robinson emphasizes pathos by his use of humor and discussion of personal

In the TED talk video "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" by Ken Robinson, his main argument is the lack of focus of art in the education system in favor for activities that rely mainly upon the use of the brain. The stigma against pursuing careers in the arts according to Robinson causes a child to lose their creativity, he states that because of the stigma the child will never discover talents that they may have. The main point in his argument is his criticism of the education system that his striped people out of creativity in focus on an ideal commodity. Robinson states that “So you were probably steered benignly away from things at school when you were a kid, things you liked, claiming you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? Don't do music, you're not going to be a musician; don't do art, you won't be an artist.” Throughout, his speech Robinson uses a variety of ethos, pathos, and logos to get his main point across, that the education system is killing creativity. A big portion of Robinson’s speech relies heavily on humor to help deliver his message that the school system disregards creativity.

Children are no longer encouraged to be creative in the test prep environment. Instead, they are being taught to perform well on standardized tests and are labeled as unintelligent if they don’t. Young children are born with creativity and we see that when they are playing and pretending. According to Sir Ken Robinson, in Slon’s (2013) article, “by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity” to be creative. The fundamentals of creation and experimentation are not part of the standardized testing mechanism.

Kaufman and Beghetto (2014) further suggest that creativity can be fostered in children to a certain extent by providing them with opportunities to express their own unique ideas.

The school must discipline creative thinking, as it will play a crucial role for the future. Bronson and Merryman report in their article that an

Education has tarnished the idea of an original thought and has caused us to “grow out of creativity.” An idea that I am now convinced is a possible reality due to the intellectual, thought-provoking argument made by Sir Ken Robinson that schools do restrain creativity. In Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” Robinson argues that schools do kill creativity by addressing his audience in a sophisticated yet playful tone that keeps the audience entertained and invested in what is being discussed. Robinson connects with the audience by telling jokes, using simple reasoning, facts, and personal stories that allows the audience to be emotionally moved by the argument. Robinson is able to open up the audience to a reasonable idea with only one reasonable solution, and it just so happens to be his. Obviously, a bit biased, Robinson steers clear of self-promotion by recalling stories of other’s accounts and relating to people as a professor instead of a person.

If you search almost anywhere on the internet about creativity and public schools you will run into a video by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. He emphasizes that schools kill creativity in every way. On the other hand, President Barack Obama disagrees whole heartedly. Both of these men agree that creativity is important to children and schools but they disagree on whether or not creativity is being implemented in schools. Robinson stated in his lectured at TED 2006, “I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it” (Ken Robinson. TED2006). He goes to say that

Many people today have the right to be heard on what they say. Also, there are some people that should keep their mouth shut. The question is what gives a person the right to be heard or no be heard. Today, this essay is going to focus on a Ted Talk that had Sir Ken Robinson talks about the question; do schools kill creativity? If you are currently in school you are going to give the obvious answer of yes, a little piece of me dies every day in that place. By you giving that statement does that give you the right to be heard?

At a local level and as an educator and parent, I see no indication that schooling is preparing students for innovation and creativity. Even when influenced by constructivist or universal design ideas, school tasks - starting in elementary school, up until CEGEP- are generally highly structured, predictable and offered in cookie cutter format. There is little room for creativity and few subjects are regularly offered, such as music or visual arts, that support creativity and out of the box thinking to allow for a more well-rounded approach to education as suggested in the discussion forum (Hector,

Do schools kill creativity? This is the question speaker Ken Robinson asks during his speech. He explores how schools and education impact creativity in children and how if effects them later in life. He speaks of the extraordinary capability of human creativity, education, and the future. He does an excellent job of connecting with the audience, and capturing and holding the audiences attention throughout the speech. Ken Robinson is an excellent public speaker that grabs the audience in the introduction, carries them through the body, and keeps them until the conclusion.

Today’s education system has become focused on standardized intelligence testing and what works best for the majority. This system, although created to help the masses, is impersonal and only benefits a specific group of students who learn the best through testing. Those students who think creatively and use imagination are left behind. This is why intelligence tests are not accurate measurement of a child’s knowledge as it does not account for creativity and the child’s individual strengths. Changes need to be made within the school system. Instead of focusing on what is “correct” schools should be encouraging problem-solving through the process of making mistakes and failing. This challenges a student to learn about themselves and the world around them. When everything is already laid out for them it is easy to follow. There is no single way of thinking. By making a student have to think on their own it stimulates creativity and allows them to better connect concepts to real world situations.

He finishes the Ted Talk by mentioning how creativity needs to be as important as literacy because we are entering a new generation where people are getting the jobs that they were often told not to go for such as music or art. Creativity is as important as literacy because all kids have creativity within them. Creativity

Creativity is equally as important as literacy, and we need to start treating it that way in schools around the world. According to Ken Robinson’s claim in his, “How Schools Kill Creativity” speech, he believes this to be exceptionally true. All children are creative and talented, however, we have grown up in a world where we believe that it’s wrong to exemplify our creativity. Robinson uses both, pathos, and ethos to help make his claim. He arises emotion in you; he causes you to really think, to trust him, and to question ultimately, how things are being done in the educational system. We as a world have become so consumed with the idea of putting each child into a category of what they’re going to be successful in, regardless of their creativity or passions. You’re either good at math, science, or English; everything is based on your academic ability. What happens then to the people who aren’t academically smart, but are more creative? They are then made to feel that what they have to offer the world simply isn’t good enough, but the truth is, it is good enough. Over time however, we are taught out of our creativity. Schools around the world kill creativity by instilling a sense of fear in the child that what they are doing, and how they feel is wrong, this ultimately discourages them, and they fall victim to the industrialized educational system that we have present day. Robinson believes now more than

I selected this talk because "Schools Kill Creativity" by Ken Robinson was an extremely interesting and engrossing tackle how our training framework isn't changing to fit needs in the public arena. Much of what Robinson is stating applies to me and my life. Realizing that the