Thursday, October 28, 2010
Is an Education Worth It If It Makes You Stupider?
Well I have watched the video and must say Sir Ken Robinson is absolutely right; but also paints a disturbing picture of what our educational system has become and that it sometimes closely resembles the world of Brave New World. Sir Robinson as a part of his discussion describes the so called "ADHD Epidemic." He tells us that ADHD medication is given out to kids who just can't sit still or concentrate; but why can't they do this. Robinson poses that it is not a legitimate medical reason but that the curriculum and entire learning experience is boring. So what do we do, feed them drugs to calm them down; and stifle their active imaginations at the same time. And well in Brave New World there is "...always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon; returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction..." The people of the novel utterly disappear in this substance and become restrained by it; and of course it sponsored and handed out by the government. The only difference here is that the government knowingly restricts the peoples minds. At another point in his discussion, Robinson also discusses how the schools are now organized on factory lines, we educate children batches, and its as if their "date of manufacture" (age) is most important. In Brave New World, these are things necessary to their world motto is "Community, Identity, Stability." It is scary to see these parallels and we need to find a way to escape the hold of these wrong teachings and ideals hopefully escaping these parallels to Brave New World and hopefully find safety and a different way.
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