How Do Schools Suffocate Creativity?

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Building A Better Classroom. Watch Sir Ken Robinson's full Talks — Schools Kill Creativity and Bring On The Learning Revolution -- on TED.com

About Sir Ken Robinson's Talks

In his first Talk, Schools Kill Creativity, education expert Sir Ken Robinson makes a moving case for creating an education system that nurtures, rather than undermines, creativity.

In the second Talk, Bring On The Learning Revolution, he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

About Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson is a creativity expert who challenges the way we're educating our children. He is a champion for a radical rethink of our school systems, aimed at cultivating creativity and acknowledging various types of intelligence.

Why don't we get the best out of people? Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers rather than creative thinkers. Instead of cultivating their energy and curiosity, he says students with restless minds and bodies are ignored — or even stigmatized — with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

A visionary cultural leader, Robinson led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education. As a result of that massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, he was knighted in 2003. His book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, takes a deep look at human creativity and education. He's also the author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, which explores why adults see themselves as less creative than they were as children, and how this loss of creativity and innovation impacts us globally.

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