Sharing a gift fresh from this morning's email inbox. Headlining this week's TED newsletter is Ken Robinson's follow up to his legendary 2006 talk on education reform. Now that it's 2010, he appends: forget evolution, today's kids need an education revolution.
He touches on what he calls "the tyranny of common sense" which is basically how people are afraid to let go of industrial age education paradigms that value conformity and linearity. Such as... Standardized tests! Punishing homework! Dogmas kids must never question! Never mind that this is the kind of education that dislocates so many people from their natural talents while stifling creativity and free-thinking. Listen to the man himself and click that PLAY button.
In a place like Manila where appearances, conformity, tradition and dogma still reign... Ken Robinson is practically subversive. But thankfully the revolution is afoot in our little part of the world.
This leads me to the April 2010 issue of Working Mom Magazine. If you're curious about progressive education in our own setting, they have two articles you might want to read.
One is called Traditional vs. Progressive where writer Minnie Francia debunks a few myths about alternative schools in Manila that are veering away from the old industrial model Robinson talks about. Another is called Teaching Life Lessons, where Angela Abaya, Christian Pangilinan and Minnie Francia share insights gathered from parents who decided to send their kids to progressive schools.
Read if you're open to... well, opening your minds. Warning: I was one of the parents interviewed for the Teaching Life Lessons article. Advanced apologies, in case our two-centavos-worth make you feel like putting your head in the oven!
7 comments:
Such an inspiration, Nona! Although unfortunate that good education in our small part of the world is all private, we are lucky to have so many choices.
We ARE lucky, our kids can have it better than us education-wise. But Rone, give yourself some credit too... for learning how to be "disenthralled" : )
As for those who can't afford private education, I am a big believer in vocational education, early arts education, technology, workshops, etc. which are inherently progressive and can give any person the skills and knowledge to flourish. That is so doable in our public education system! Okay enough : )
Inspiring talk from Sir Robinson. Thanks for sharing, Nona! I loved every second of the video!
Galing ni Ken! Galing ng TED!
Nona, bucket list. We must get our a$$es to attend a TED conference once in our lives. Now to figure out how.
Already on the list. It's already a very, very long list. Bahala na : )
I wanna WORK for TED. Oh well. Glad you and Didi got your voices out there to demystify progressive schools. I think it's still very fuzzy in people's minds. Keep writing and speaking out and ranting when necessary!
OMG Barni, I have the exact same wish... toss up between Babble, Salon and TED. We can all DREAM : )
And yeah, it's still hard for a lot of people to grasp. As Robinson says, it's the tyranny of common sense.
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