Sir Ken Robinson ends his TED talk in 2010 with this poem by William Butler Yeats and his own words:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths, Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
And every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. And we should tread softly!
In this 18 minute TED talk he addresses how human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability. At the heart of the challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability and of intelligence. The linearity thing is a problem. We have to move away from the industrial model. Read more on the transcript and watch the video below! Did you know that you can click on any phrase to play the video from that point? And they have subtitles available in 50 languages!
I’m a real fan of Ken Robinson and particularly of this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
He argues that creativity is important in the same way as literacy and numeracy and that unless it is taught and valued in schools young people may lack the adaptability to effectively face their futures. Persuasive stuff!
I agree, Ken Robinson in one of my favourite. I just bought his new book too and look forward to reading it soon.