Week 2 Discussion
In the TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson articulates multiple aspects of arts in school and how the education system embraced in most countries like the US and the UK treat arts with contempt and prioritize literacy and academic excellence over creativity. One compelling assertion that Sir Robinson (2007) puts across is that the current education system in most countries tests the learners’ ability to retain new information in literacy but suppresses creativity. In his observation, Sir Robinson (2007) notes that when individuals are born, “they grow innately with aspects of creativity but the educations system they find in place grow them out of creativity.” Such an assertion is grounded on the observation that as learners start attending school, they are indoctrinated to a well-established, and prescriptive curriculum that prioritizes literacy over art-related disciplines are overlooked.
Again, the other compelling part is when Sir Robinson (2007) notes that the education system in public schools ranks the subjects differently with “art-based subjects such as music are ranked lowly while other subjects such as languages, mathematics, and science are highly ranked in the schools” and given ample time in class. According to Sir Robinson (2007), the time and frequency given to music lessons are relatively low compared to that given to other subjects such as languages and mathematics that are taught daily and prioritized. Worse, the learners are often discouraged with utterances like “even if you study music, you will not be a musician.” Such declarations show the extent to which the education offered in public schools is bent on teaching the prescriptive learning at the expense of nurturing creativity through the promotion of art-based disciplines and prioritizing holistic learning and not using academic excellence as a yardstick for measuring learning ability of learners.
One aspect that makes me suspicious is, as Sir Robinson (2007) alludes, that over 80 percent of indigenous Americans drop out of school annually as they do not proceed to colleges. The assertion is not backed with any source, and even if the source was present, it is a fact that could open a platform upon which disparity in access to education in the US could be examined. It is a deliberate attempt to rig out the indigenous Americans from education. The current education system does not take into account the holistic aspects of learning, leading to such massive school dropouts? Such questions coalesce in suspicion, and they form a basis upon which the inequality in education could be viewed.
Reference
Robinson, K. (2007). Sir Ken Robinson Ted Talks: Do schools kill creativity? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY