Week Six Reflection

EDU 309 Tech Integration

Ceraiah Green

October 7, 2023

For this assignment, I watched both Ken Robinson Ted Talks, the first one being ‘Do

Schools Kill Creativity?’ second being ‘How to Escape Education’s Death Valley’. Robinson

was a very entertaining speaker, and I took away a lot from his videos on how the U.S. views

education in comparison to other countries. In the first video, ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’,

Robinson presented three important themes to apply to education. These were the evidence of

human creativity, the notion that we cannot know the future, and to never underestimate the

capacity for innovation in children. These are important because they are briefly encompass the

idea that the world is changing, and that creativity will ultimate steer the direction of that change,

if we cultivate it instead of squandering it.

Creativity is just as important in education as literacy and should be treated as such,

however, American culture is programmed to educate the creativity out of our students.

Developed in the 19th century, the American public education system was created to meet the

needs of industrialism, teaching students to abandon their creativity and learn skills that lead

them to getting a job. Robinson believes that American public education focuses on churning out

scholars who “live in their heads”. People who are highly intelligent, but are disconnected from

the rest of themselves.

 The second video, ‘How to Escape Education’s Death Valley’ included another three key

principals that drive human life. The first point is that human beings are naturally different and

diverse, the second is that children are naturally curious, and the third is that human life is

inherently creative. Education should honor these three points and integrate them into the

structure of their curriculum. Robinson believes that American culture has de-professionalized

teachers and the power of creativity. In this video, he stated that education – when done right –

has a roll in awakening and developing creativity, and while testing is important, it should not be

the focal point of education.

I agreed with almost every one of his points, and found some of the information he

presented to be shocking. I did not know that 60% of students drop out of high school, nor that

80% of Native American students drop out. I loved his point about intelligence being diverse,

dynamic, and distinct and that there is no “right” way to learn. The arts are just as important to

learn as math and science, and they actually increase engagement. His quote about kids and how

“if they don’t know, they’ll have a go” perfectly sums up my own experience with children.

Children are not scared to create, they are not scared to be wrong, they are not scared to be

different. It isn’t until we teach them to be afraid of these things that they fear these things. But

what if we didn’t even teach them that? What if instead, we taught them the power of mistakes

and how important that they are to learning? What if we taught them the greatness of their

minds?