Video: Public Schools - Do They Crush Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson gave a speech at TED 2006, a conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design. While I'm unaware of his politics, Sir Robinson has an amazing ability to engage his audience and convey his point of view. His thoughts on whether the public education system kills creativity are much along the lines of my own. I believe we would diverge in how to foster better creativity, but I would encourage every homeschooling parent to watch this 20 minute video. I will come back below the video with some concluding thoughts. Please, take the time to watch it.



Sir Robinson is right. The public education model was designed to meet the needs of the industrial revolution. It was not designed to create great poets, artists, dancers or playwrights. What amazes me is the quantity of entrepreneurs and other creative thinkers that are coming out of homeschooling. Could it be the individualized education opportunities, the self-motivated learning, or the student to teacher ratio? In a word, yes. Homeschool students are among the first to be able to work in a flexible education environment in over a century in America. Creativity is embraced and parents have the option of teaching them dance, pottery and music on an equal footing with math, language, and science. While Sir Robinson is on a quest to see this change in the public schools, it is happening already in homeschools across the nation. I believe homeschooled children will be better equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century because, in part, they are more creative and capable of articulating their ideas.