An analysis of modern education by Sir Ken Robinson

Oh. My. Goodness. Back to listening to Sir Ken Robinson. (Last visited in October 2008.)

Stunned. And entertained. And inspired!



I'm bummed that the RSA Animate people quit animating before Sir Robinson finished his talk!

Below, I have also included the original, very much longer (and slower, but still extremely pleasant and inspiring!) version of the talk--including many more practical illustrations and sidelight bunny-trails.

If you want to "get right into it" from the point where he begins his talk above, start listening at 12:47:



The animated version "finishes" at 50:56 in the orginal!

If you want to see how he ends the speech, I'd suggest "checking back in" at 52:02.

Enjoy!

--Thanks, Keith, for the initial link!

Oh. PS. At about 9:00 into the animated version, the illustrator fails to convey a few pieces of essential information that you know Robinson is showing his original audience. He's talking about the percentage of people, at different ages, tested at the genius level for divergent thinking.

By watching the original speech (at around the 49:00 mark), I discovered that the statistics were the following:

Age	Divergent Thinking Geniuses
3-5	98%
8-10	32%
13-15	10%
25+	2%

Brilliant viral marketing

Love him or hate him (i.e., I hope, love or hate his proposed policies), Obama's campaign has done a brilliant job of marketing.

Who would have thought? --For the price of an iPod Nano and a little website development, you can create this kind of outpouring of creative "love"?

Yes, We Carve! -- Carve your own Barack-o'-Lantern:

Fighting with the classroom school system? Not enjoying your homeschool experience? Ken Robinson offers some words of hope and inspiration

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you will not come up with anything original," says Sir Ken Robinson in this inspiring video about education.

"We educate people out of their creative capacities by stigmatizing mistakes," he says.

Inspiring, witty, and, I expect, well worth the 16 minutes it will take you to watch:



By the way: I have pre-ordered a copy of his soon-to-be-released book, mentioned in the video, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

MathTacular! --Sometimes it's a lot of fun to own a company

Our son, the video production guy, sent us some proposed trailers for a couple of math videos he just completed and that are just now coming available at our homeschool site.

Sarita asked him to create a quick-and-dirty trailer . . . which he did . . . and then asked us for our feedback: "How is this for a Trailer? Good to post?"

Here's what he sent. [If you're short on time, you may want to skip this video, though it's only a very short 50 seconds.]



What do you think?

I wrote back:

Ummmm . . . really cute, but I'm afraid it doesn't really say anything. For those "in the know," of course, it may generate some saliva. But for anyone else, it only raises questions and certainly does not create in me any--any--interest to buy. You've given me no reason to buy.

Perhaps you need a voice-over? And/or some words on the screens interspersed between the moving pictures?

One last concern: in the last scene, just before Justin runs out the door, Amber is standing there holding some kind of sign. I couldn't read it. I don't think anyone else will be able to read it either.

Bummer!

Sorry.

And I was. I hate telling my kids that I don't think they've done a great job.

But then, this morning, I got a second email:

Better?

And this was attached:



Same video, as far as I can tell upon a cursory glance, but, oh, wow! What a difference a voice-over makes!

"That is GREAT!" I wrote back.

Perfect! Wonderful! I love it! Thank you!

(Mom says she already said much the same thing. But. Just in case.)

Truly. I laughed out loud . . . and was intrigued by the real content you provided.

And then tonight.

I got home and saw he had sent a third email:

This one good enough to post?

And he attached this video:



Oh, wow!

I laughed out loud!

I replied:

Love it, Luke!

Really great!

Dad

As I said in my title: Sometimes it's a lot of fun to own a company . . . to see and experience and encourage excellent creativity early on . . . to see your own kids (both Luke and Justin) blossom in their individual areas of capability.

--Just thought you might enjoy the smile along with me.

Oh. And just in case you'd like to pick up a copy of either or both videos, MathTacular2 is available at www.sonlight.com/RM33.html, and MathTacular3 at www.sonlight.com/RM37.html.