Creative learning
Several months ago I was over at 18th Street Arts Center knocking around ideas with my friends there. This year is the center’s 20th anniversary, and clearly a celebration is in order, and preferably one that raises money as well. At one point, one of them volunteered that he knew Sir Ken Robinson, and perhaps Sir Ken would agree to speak at a fundraising dinner.
“You know Sir Ken Robinson?” I sputtered. I’m not given to sputtering, but in this case I did.
Sir Ken Robinson is one of the world’s foremost authorities on creativity and innovation; his principle bailiwick is creativity in education, a field in which his endeavors resulted in a knighthood. (Don’t take my word for it; consult Wikipedia.) Here in the U.S., he is an ardent foe of No Child Left Behind, a pernicious system that has further regimented lower education and has served to hamstring even the best of teachers. And he’s a witty speaker, as demonstrated by this video I posted a year ago this month. Did I want to meet him? You bet.
Then yesterday 18th Street’s executive director (and longtime friend and comrade-in-arms) Jan Williamson was kind enough to call me on my cellphone to tell me that she was seating me next to Sir Ken Robinson at the dinner. Being the first to buy a ticket ($250) was good, but I think sputtering was even more helpful. Never forget: Enthusiasm always gets you far.
I was also eager to speak with him because education has been much on my mind lately. I agreed several months ago to serve on the budget committee for the Burbank Unified School District. As I’m sure you can imagine, this year any recommendations we make are going to be in the form of budget cuts. I didn’t expect this particular community service to be easy or fun, but I felt that I owed something to the system. All three of my kids are in Burbank schools, and they are receiving fine educations. We always hear the negative — about bad public schools — but my experience with my kids is precisely the opposite. The teachers they’ve had and the education they’ve received far outstrips anything I got when I was a kid. Every kid should be so lucky.
Sir Ken was absolutely delightful to dine with last night, and in his remarks after dinner. A Liverpool native who moved to Los Angeles shortly after September 11, 2001, he noted ruefully that until recently his entire time living in the U.S. has been under the Bush Administration, and he was just sure we weren’t really like that. He mocked the idea of testing kids to get into elite preschools (“They’re three years old!”) and the lockstep notion that one has to set a life plan from Day One. He quoted Erma Bombeck, who didn’t start to write until she was in her 50’s. Throughout life, people should be encouraged to go where they’re interested, he said, and that’s where they’ll flourish. It’s always important to encourage creativity.
(Most of us reading this know this. But it always bears reinforcing.)
Over dinner, I shared a story with him.
Last month, it was Back to School night for my two elementary-school children. When I went into my 10-year-old daughter’s science classroom, I did a doubletake. There was some sort of Andy Warhol project all over the room. All different sorts of pictures done in Warhol’s pop-art style. Wasn’t this a science class? Then I noticed that every project looked at first glance like an art project. (The other major theme was comic-book heroes.)
“Isn’t this the science class?” I asked my wife.
“Ask the teacher about how he teaches,” she said.
What I got from the teacher was what I thought was a very smart answer about whole learning, the scientific underpinnings of all these projects, how best to teach analysis and synthesis, and keeping kids interested. “I’m meeting all the state guidelines for science instruction,” he said. “But if I did it the way the state wanted, I’d need 30 sleeping bags.” And sure enough, to my daughter it seems like a great art class, but I see the science she’s learning.
Yesterday when she learned whom I was having dinner with, my wife added the kicker to this story: the next day, the principal had received complaints from parents that that didn’t look like a science class. I shared this with Sir Ken.
“Yes,” he said. “You see the depth of the problem.”
April 13th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
When I started my current job seven years ago there were many things done in a certain way. Coming from another company I asked why things were done in a certain way. I was told we’ll we’ve always done it this way there’s no need to change it. I could see a better way of doing things and was met with resistance to change even though what I tried to do was easier.
It’s the same with teaching. Parents remember sitting in a boring class and think that’s the way things should always be. When a teacher tries to change the way a class is taught it runs into resistance and that is a shame.
I wonder if teachers don’t try new things because of fear of complaints and that it may take longer to do something new rather than the old ways.
All of us could benefit from kids being taught things in new ways.