Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Responding to "Changing Education Paradigms"

Write your response here as a comment before class on Wednesday, February 22. See you then!


Here is the link to Sir Ken Robinson's lecture, Changing Education Paradigms

Here is the link for the graphic used in the lecture. (note this is a large Adobe .pdf  file and will take time to upload to your computer; save a copy to your own hard drive if you wish)

21 comments:

Brad said...

As a teacher, I am at the centre of this controversy but, as you can see, my bias is towards education reform rather than applying old ideas more forcefully. My children avoided the Grade 10 and 11 standardized tests, but barely. Given my son’s precarious journey through high school and his “poor test taker” nature, I wonder if poor results on the now mandatory tests would have demoralized him enough to quit school entirely. Although said sarcastically, I agree with Robinson about standards: “why would we lower them?” Making tests harder seems to me to result only in fewer qualified for higher education and, since the possession of a degree is no longer a guarantee of anything (besides a big loan to pay), perhaps it is understandable. Make it harder so fewer get in since opportunities are few. This avoids the question of why the opportunities have dried up. Since we need to face the new century together, I have opted to emphasize collaboration and agree wholeheartedly with Robinson’s claim that “great learning happens in groups.” Any culture where the most creative among us are in kindergarten cannot be in good shape! It is surely time to reform our badly outdated educational systems.—203 words

injapark said...

After I listened to Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture to emphasize education system reform, I fully agree with his mentions, “The current system was designed and conceived for a different age….” Depending on change of the times and society, the education system and teaching style should be reformed so that our children don’t feel the class boring and don’t drop their class. Moreover, the pyramid social structure accelerates their competitions and makes them try to adjust on only their teacher’s standards to get good marks rather than having their divergent thinking. His idea remained in my mind is that “The education system is based on the factory line concept.” The recent school is a factory to produce workers, not a place to educate for the whole man. To solve the current education problems: the more children are educated, the more their creativity decreases, children getting medicated, education drives them anesthetic, the education system and social environment that adults made should be amended by our hands. 165words

Berlin Chow said...

From the lecture of Sir Ken Robinson, I completely agree with the “Great learning happens in group.” It is an excellent way in physicists and scientists to practice for hundreds of years. Even a physicist, Albert Einstein, who needed much scientific work, was done in groups, where people collaborated with one another. If we learn in group, we would share our knowledge, skill, and imagination. Such as the leader of the University of Houston, Paul Chu, said, “We feel we have an advantage over some other groups because we are not confined to conventional thinking. We think wildly.” Our education need to reform from pyramidal style to group collaboration. We have to think and to learn differently about each of other capacity. Study in high school is only a part of our life. Marks of tests are not the important thing to decide the future of students. School Board needs to provide more creativity and energy to all the students. Boring teaching way would decrease students’ wildly imagination. A group of Students with different areas of specialization often work together to produce spectacular results.—184 words

Lucia said...

As a parent, I have been victimized by this controversy for a long time. I ideally focused on creativity of my children rather than their school marks since they were in the kindergarten, although the grade 5 and 7 standardized test results weren’t satisfied for me to be complimented as “smart students”. My younger daughter, hard-working secondary student, struggles with her marks and I have seen her self-esteem has been going down despite of all her excellence of writing stories and an achievement of overall outstanding in her middle school. Also I have witnessed that a university considers students’ marks above everything without a proof of “essential capacities for creativity” when my elder daughter applied for a university last year. I agree with Sir Robinson about “The arts are victims of the mentality.” Without aesthetic experience through dance and music, my children couldn’t have survived the educational chaos. Still I am so uncomfortable to realize that ”the school is organized on factory line”, however, I, a helpless parent, forcing to get better marks now rather than divergent thinking, should believe that my children keep continuing to discover their ideal of the education and a value of their identities throughout their university life.
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Hongxin Guo said...

Hong-xin Guo

I was deeply touched by the words, “Our children are living in a most intensely stimulating period…. They are being besieged with information, calls for their attention from every platform-computer, i-phone, and TV.” Such words are true! The side-effects of the information explosion are terrible. My grandson is a pupil indulging in computers and games. The long weekend may be a disaster for our family. He enjoys himself joyfully and goes to bed very late. His teacher told us that he daydreamed in class. This is very strange-after a long weekend, he has to recover from his “jet-lag”! At home, while he opens a computer or TV, it just likes the flood over the dam and out of control. When we shut down his computer, he cannot sit still –moving from one place to another- the bed room, sitting room, even washing room. He has hidden his cartoon books, toys and food in such places. He is really a little partisan carrying his guerrilla-ware. Another terrible thing is that his parents pushed him to learn painting, piano, swimming, English and Chinese. Why do they do that? “All Chinese families have done so!” is the “answer”. I agree with Robinson: helping children resist ADHA, but refuse drugs; changing our education both in and out of school.
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Nadia Siddiqi said...

I agree, it's time to reform public education system, but the big question is how we educate our children in order to be a successful person in future? The answer is not very simple. To know the answer it is necessary to know the reasons. Many children drop out of school for many reasons, they find their classes are boring and seems irrelevant to their life. At some point they know their caliber of learning and quit which we named academic struggle. The standard system makes them try to get good marks,if they get poor result on the mandatory test they get dishearten and quit school all together. Our teaching style and material should be reformed so they don’t find their classes boring. I also agree with Sir Ken Robinson “to raise standard of education.” But it should not mean analyzing kids by writing harder tests. In today’s life there are so many gadgets to distract kids from focusing on the core educational goal. This results in kids adapting a different path in life. It’s really time to reform our education system.

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Ryan Parker said...

After watching Sir Ken Robinson’s video lecture of reforming public schools, a few details had interested me. I understood that public education had followed the ways of the past of getting an education to promise a job afterwards but with the changes in culture and economy being unpredictable, i agree that public education had to raise their standards to adjust. Back then, the system was basic and easy to follow although there were fewer options comparing then to now including self awareness of what career to study on. The past assumed that the future would have a “modeled mind” with academic smarts not much on the strengths of an individual’s ability which has been accepted in the present day, which I am happy to be in a more universal and divergent age. Another point that came across the lecture was that in some part in history, they thought ADHD students were better off drugged to keep them being distracted when our narrator had brought up the point we are making the students with ADHD focus more on stuff they would find boring when they would rather be somewhere they are more interested with, to me it sounds like the choice of choosing post-secondary education or doing something more active, but neither would mean that we are not smart in our own ways, to become more awake because we are interested than full of a drug to focus something we do not desire. 242 words

Unknown said...

After watching the Sir Ken Robison’s lecture, it had appeared many ideas that we should think about. The most important part is that since the society is different from the past, and we should also change the way of the teaching. So, when Sir Ken Robison mentioned “the current system was designed and conceived for different age”, I had been touched and fully agree with him. In the old days, teacher always said that only studying hard can get a job, and students would totally believe that. But nowadays, students don’t believe it anymore. Giving pills to children can let them stay in the class quietly, but pills also have some greatly damage to the brain, especially; when children are still not fully development. Moreover, the technology devices like computer or cell phone makes a greatest distraction to children. In students’ eyes, school is the least thing they want to do and like a prison they trying to escape. As a student who had been through the factory way of education, I also felt boring during sitting in the classroom and had thought about dropping classes. There is no doubt that our education system is outdated and need to reform.

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Sabiha said...

I agree with the point that “current system of education was designed….” where some people used to believe that the education is not for all, still the situation is same. Now it exists as academic and non academic in our society. Today people’s intelligence is measured through their profession or degree not by their role in the society. All human are equal then why do we discriminate people by judging their profession, if they don’t have degree they are considered nothing, and designated as labours class. This particular view of mind has divided the whole world in two groups like “smart and non smart people” said by Sir Robinson, My questions are: why don’t we have any degree programs for working class people? Why don’t we give them respect as we give to a degree holder? All have one answer proposed by Sir Robinson which is reforming public education. We should build the education system in such a manner where every one is benefited with his own capacity of learning. Beside this, I also agree with Sir Robinson’s view which is “We still educate children by batches”, we should not keep age barrier to stop the creativity of mind.


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Grace Liu said...

According to Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture,”Great learning happens in groups.” Students can learn more by stimulating each other when they are divided into groups to discuss. I’m glad to know my children study in their elementary, secondary, and university through group work. That’s how they learn to respect and cooperate by teamwork. It also helps their relationships grow well. When my children were in elementary, their teachers told me they were artistic which we were proud of. “When senses are operating at their peak,” my daughters developed their “aesthetic experience” very well. But, after my first daughter entered UBC to study sciences, she seems to have lost her keen sense to arts. She even told me that smart students study science or business so that they can earn more money in the future. Does our school encourage our students to think that way? What on earth is the crucial purpose our children learning in school? I don’t want my children produced by poor educational system to merely know how to make money for big companies or capitalists. What she is is more important than what she has for her whole life. Therefore, I agree our educational system should be reformed.

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soltana said...

Soltana ID 41515

After I listened Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture. I definitely agree with his idea “Great learn happened in group”. Students can improve their knowledge by learn from each other point of view, AL so the result will be better. In deed, study in collaboration has two kind of advantage. first; they gain their knowledge and enjoy social life. In fact, when students study in group they can share their life experience that is anther beneficial for them, to keep them away from anesthetic life against of family and society. In addition, improvement of science and technology has effect on their education system as Robinson said, students are disturbing by computer, I phone, 100 channels TV. The school board should provide a system that make the school not boring stuff any more .Al so the student enjoy going school and the result of drop school become decrease. As Robinson mention in his lecture on the old education system after you get degree college, university it was grantee to reach your goal, but new it not grantee to the job. In fact, I should mention it is interesting lecture.

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Harith said...

As a student, I have been in schools, college and university for the last 20 years of my life. I want to know if there is another system for studying. So I watch Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture (Changing education paradigms). I was amazed with these new ideas. One of the points that he mentioned was “DIVERGENT THINKING”, which is to solve a problem in many different ways and thinking laterally. There was a test for the divergent thinking. The result was 98% of kindergarten scored as a genius, 50% for children with age of 8-10 scored as genius too, and it kept getting less and less with older students. This shows that the current education system become like a factory gives us one answer which thought to be the best for each problem. But student who was still new for this system was more creative and had multiple answers and ideas for the same problem. Then I looked at the point when he talked about “EDUCATION IS MODELED ON THE INTERESTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION”, standardization and how to change the paradigm. It is true that there are many differences for students in the same age. They have a different way of thinking. It is really sensitive point and have to be solve. It will take long time to see students separated depending on their mentality not their age.
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DANA QIU said...

I was readily consent by the words,” the process of having original ideas that have value an essential capacity for creativity.” Creativity is the most important capabilities of the 21st century. But we face the fact: grow older, our ability to create gradual decline. As a parent, I have often been impressed by my son, the 7-year-old child. His imagination can always give us an unexpected surprise. But, as you can see, adults have lost this ability. I worry about my son in the next decade in a high school education. Feeling the class boring, losing interest in learning, dropping their class and turning to computer games. Our badly outdated educational systems can not meet the needs of students. We need to face the new century together. I agree with Robinson about standards that “great learning happens in groups”. On the one hand, I think that schools should like a magician, with attractive and instructive .Helping children’s divergent thinking, changing our education both in and out of school, educating our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century. 183 words

melanie said...

Reforming our public education is the best way to fix our education system. Recognized what Robinson said “Great learning happens in group” it is different from the normal process of deliberate education. Like watching our young children happening to learn, it is possible that learning might be. As we can see and experience today, there are problems of school dropouts rate and college admission rate. Why? Maybe of high standard of education. Like Robinson's said, “ Why would we lower them?” so that our children would value our education. If we could do this, one thing it would greatly decrease our social problems, drug and alcohol dependencies, crime, and social outcasts; and greatly increase learning ability, success in school and life. When Robinson's said that “Current systems was designed and conceived for a different age,” I agree with him. That our old system is like a factory. When some goods are rejected, it's just like an student were “ rejects” who couldn't make a good grade, and they were thrown on the scrap or dropped out. So, there is no doubt that our education system must change to have a good opportunities. (190 words)

Yu-Min, beautiful World 郁敏的世界風情 said...

I agree to the view of changing education paradigms by Ken Bobinson. He addressed that " Arts are victims of this mentality. According to my educating experience, I found that the kids who had arts talent were mischievous and idea. The most teachers didn't like these students, for their actions and ideas usually interfered and interrupted the teaching procedure. The teachers usually forbad their expression. These students sometimes had no chance to present their creative and peculiar ideas. They thirsted to teachers' attention and encouragement. However, they usually were disappointed and upset. It caused they didn't love their teachers and study. Therefore, they got the low learning achievement and even reject to study. They became to the group of non academic, non smart people. Perhaps, some creative students loss their learning chance and pipeline. Finally, these creative and intelligent students are victims of their mentality. I think it is time to reform our education system.155 words

Farzad said...

I strongly disagree with giving drugs to children to get them focus on their study, because we are destroying their life by letting this happen. As Sir Ken Robinson mentioned in his lecture “we are getting our children through education by anaesthetising them; we are putting them in sleep instead of waking them up to what is inside of themselves.” In my opinion every human being needs to feel and act natural otherwise they are not themselves and that would cause troubles. Same thing for our children if they are being push to do something, it will eventually become boring for them which feels like being a machine not a human.
The biggest problem nowadays is the media. We don’t realize what the media is doing to our younger generation. We are deeply focused into it and believe what we see and hear. That is causing the distraction from being focused at school.
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Jane Li said...

After to finish watching video, “changing education paradigms”, I have a strong feeling same as
Mr. Ken Robinson. For sure, everyone have different abilities to learn technology and
knowledge. Just as Mr. Robinson explained, “Someone is academic, smart and someone is not”.
My daughter is interest in playing violin, so she successfully received grade 10 RCM exams after
five years practicing. Even she got a good mark on academics, but she worked very hard on it.
Before any testing, she wrote a list of all questions and then just remembered them mechanically.
I told her if she wanted keep them in her mind forever, she had to understand them. However, I
truly clear it is difficult to know those abstract theory without copying answers from the
book. When I used to be a student, I mostly did same things as my daughter did. I also
agree with Mr. Robinson about changing habits of institution and cultivating creativity,
“Creativity is essential capacity of human”. If students are interesting in doing something, it will
stimulate their creativity. Mr. Bill gates and Steven Jobs are excellent instance for people
considering how school system is changed from now. I hope all students have a joyful and easy
life in future. (205 words)

Yu-Min, beautiful World 郁敏的世界風情 said...

I agree with the view of changing education paradigms by Ken Robinson. He addressed that “Arts are victims of this mentality.” According to my educational experience, I found that the kids who had arts talent were mischievous and full of ideas. Most teachers didn't like these students, for their actions and ideas usually interfered and interrupted the teaching procedure. The teachers usually forbade their expression. These students sometimes had no chance to present their creative and peculiar ideas. They thirsted for the teachers' attention and encouragement. However, they usually were disappointed and upset. It caused them not to love their teachers or study. Therefore, they got the low learning achievement and even rejected to study. They became the group of no- academic, non-smart people. Perhaps, some creative students lose their learning chance and pipeline. Finally, these creative and intelligent students are victims of their mentality. I think it is time to reform our education system.155 words

CCH5214ART said...

As an artist and art educator for more than 30 years, I would strongly agree with the view point: “Arts are victims of this mentality.” In his lecture "Changing Education Paradigms" Ken Robinson lays out the troubling trends of schools' dwindling stake in the arts. In our education system we are concerned language, education and mathematics, as the main subjects and disregard the arts. Most parents ask about the marks in mathematics and don't care about how their child is doing in the music class. We acknowledge the importance of creativity in this new century, but we neglect the effectiveness of arts. Albert Einstein once said: Imagination is more important than knowledge. Many inventors' creations were based on science but inspired by imagination. The ability of imagination is developed through arts. We seek the same answers in science and math but encourage the diversity of results in arts. We enjoy the achievements of creativity in our modern lives, so we cannot ignore the arts education anymore. Ironically, I think the lecture is so powerful, for it was presented in animation-the effect of arts.
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young said...

Lately, education among students is a big problem. Each student is unique and has a different ability and talent. Modern education system is designed and is considered more economic reasons that 25 or 30 students are learning many subjects that have to be achieved over the competition go to a higher education system which is connected to a future position. Rather than being taught in a creative environment, these days education is industrialized to have a good career. The teacher cannot give enough attention to every student in his or her class, and students who have trouble following clear direction in his or her teacher’s instruction might do badly in school. Also, the students who are too active in a quiet school environment would be distracted to a teacher may feel singled out in a class because his teacher’s point in the class. As a result, students who lose interest in studying could end up quitting school. However, the olden days’ education system accepted each person’s diversity and talent that could have brought more efficiency for students in learning. So the school system needs to be changed.
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Unknown said...

I am fully agreed with Sir Ken Robinson’s of sharing “the Media’s distraction.” The problem is the people are getting richer and richer, so they provide their children the best. However, they don’t know how those facilities can change their kid’s life. Nowadays, the technology is getting bigger, simpler, faster, and easier, so the children fell in love with it really comfortable. In deep inside our thought, teachers and parents are telling us to study hard, get a better grade, and have a great job. After all these brain filling, we started to think is it really? For the young generation young, they get distracted by the text massages, phone call, and email in the class, so after awhile they start to lose interest and think the learning is not useful to their life. Then they will pay more attention to the media. Furthermore, the school system is failed.

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