A Learning Revolution

Sir Ken Robinson spoke recently at the TED Conference about the need for a revolution in education. Some highlights:

And human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them. They're not just lying around on the surface. You have to created the circumstances where they show themselves. And you might imagine education would be the way that happens. But too often, it's not. Every education system in the world is being reformed at the moment. And it's not enough. Reform is no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model. What we need, and the word's been used many times during the course of the past few days. Is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.

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A friend of mine once said, "You know, a three year-old is not half a six year-old." (Laughter) (Applause) They're three. But as we just heard in this last session, there's such competition now to get to kindergarten, to get to the right kindergarten, that people are being interviewed for it at three. Kids sitting in front of unimpressed panels, you know, with their resumes, (Laughter) flipping through and saying, "Well, this is it?" (Laughter) (Applause) "You've been around for 36 months, and this is it?" (Laughter) "You've achieved nothing, commit. Spent the first six months breastfeeding, the way I can see it." (Laughter) See, it's outrageous as a conception, but it attracts people.

The other big issue is conformity. We have built our education systems on the model of fast food. This is something Jamie Oliver talked about the other day. You know there are two models of quality assurance in catering. One is fast food, where everything is standardized. The other are things like Zagat and Michelin restaurants, where everything is not standardized, they're customized to local circumstances. And we have sold ourselves into a fast food model of education. And it's impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies.

I think any of us who have gone through the public education system understands exactly what he is talking about. The change he is hoping for is drastic, and since it would involve many decisions by bureaucrats, it certainly won't be easy. So, meanwhile, I think I'll opt for educating my kids at home.