Ken is a very fast talker and has an endless supply of thought provoking statements! In this talk, Ken goes on to tell us the history of how we were taught and basically it's all messed up... More students are labeled ADHD and on some type of medication to help them "focus". Ken argues that what these students really need is an outlet to release their energy, for example in an art form of some type.
Ken suggests that we need to go the opposite direction in which we're going to reach students maximum potential. I don't have an example for this-- he just goes on to share a study that was done on 1500 kindergarteners that concluded 98% of the 5 yr. olds ranked at the genius level for divergent thinking. The same students were tested 5 years later and again 5 years after that and they continued to lose their divergent thinking power.
I watched two talks by Ken Robinson and I noticed he was not very helpful when it came to the solutions to his problems he spouted off. But the reason I watched these video talks was for the connections I made and the questions I asked myself. For example, medicating children to help them focus... I would agree that there is definitely a need to do so in some children, but does that mean I give up and I don't want to try new ways to engage that student. Ken Robinson thinks this is not the way to help our children. I don't want to medicate children, but sometimes that seems to be what is best for most people!
Maybe in Ken's next video he'll start giving some ideas on how to combat all these problems with education he riddled off.
Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
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