Sir Ken Robinson Thinks We Are “Out of Our Minds”

A few education related thoughts by Sir Ken Robinson from his book “Out Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative.”

“The dominant ideologies of education are now defeating their most urgent purpose: to develop people who can cope with and contribute to the breathless rate of change in the 21st century—people who are flexible, creative, and have found their talents.”

“The relationship between education and the world we actually live in are being stretched to breaking point. They need now to be entirely rethought. This process should begin by reframing the abilities we all have, and reassessing the skills and aptitude that are now most needed for personal fulfillment and for economic success. The preoccupation with academic ability is an example of a functional fallacy: the tendency to confuse a particular purpose with a general one. One of the functions of education is to develop academic abilities. This does not mean that the function of is wholly academic. Education has an economic function: this does not in mean that the functions of education are wholly economic. Education has many social, personal and community purposes that have to be balanced with broader economic functions. Human intelligence includes the capacity for academic activity; this does not mean that academic activity is the whole of intelligence. To educate people for the future, we must see through the academic illusion to their real abilities, and how these different elements of human capacity enhance rather than detract from each other.”