The
Prabhava
School
The Forum
Do schools kill creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson
Sir Kenneth Robinson is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education who was knighted in 2003 for his services to education. In this popular TED talk, he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
Quotes from the Video:
"My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."
"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."
"Shakespeare being seven? I never thought of it. I mean, he was seven at some point. He was in somebody's English class, wasn't he?"
" The purpose, the aim and drive of these schools, is to equip the child with the most excellent technological proficiency so that the student may function with clarity and efficiency in the modern world. A far more important purpose than this is to create the right climate and environment so that the child may develop fully as a complete human being. This means giving the child the opportunity to flower in goodness so that he or she is rightly related to people, things and ideas, to the whole of life. To live is to be related. There is no right relationship to anything if there is not the right feeling for beauty, a response to nature, to music and art - a highly developed aesthetic sense.
I think it is fairly clear that competitive education and the development of the student in that process . . . are very, very destructive. We must be very clear in ourselves what we want - clear that a human being must be the total human being, not just a technological human being. If we concentrate very much on examinations, on technological information, on making the child clever, proficient in acquiring knowledge while we neglect the other side, then the child will grow up into a one-sided human being. When we talk about a total human being, we mean not only a human being with inward understanding, with a capacity to explore, to examine his or her inward state and the capacity of going beyond it, but also someone who is good in what he does outwardly. The two must go together. That is the real issue in education: to see that when the child leaves the school, he is well established in goodness, both outwardly and inwardly. "
Note: The schools Krishnamurti refers to are the schools run by the Krishnamurti Foundation.
An Excerpt from Krishnamurti On Education
J Krishnamurthy
The Purpose of Education
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher,cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, and mass media, and is the author of over 100 books. He has been described as a prominent cultural figure, and he was voted the "world's top public intellectual" in a 2005 poll. This video offers Chomsky's interesting insights into the purpose of education, the impact of technology, the issue of whether education should be perceived as a cost or an investment and the value of standardized assessment.
Quote from the Video:
"...science couldn't progress unless it was based on inculcation of the urge to challenge, to question authority, search for alternatives, use your imagination, act freely under your own impulses, co-operative work with others... that's my view of what an educational system should be like right down to kindergarten."
Bring on the learning revolution !
Sir Ken Robinson
In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.
Quotes from the video
"You know, to me, human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability. And at the heart of our challenges -- (applause) At the heart of the challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability and of intelligence. This linearity thing is a problem."
"We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish."
How to live before you die
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs was an American entrepreneur and inventor, best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. This inspiring video is the commencement speech given by Steve Jobs in Stanford University in June 2005.
Quote from the video:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Secrets of Success in 8 words,
3 minutes.
Richard St. John
Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.
A self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success -- and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book.
The Real Revolution
J Krishnamurthy
Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian speaker and writer on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of mind, meditation, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about positive social change. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social. This video is one of two videos that constitute one part of a documentary made in 1966.
Quote from the video:
"We are the product of the society in which we live... the experience, the knowledge and the rest of it and there is nothing original, we repeat repeat repeat and to find out anything new requires tremendous inquiry and meditation."
Why I hate school but love education
This video made by a reflecting college graduate offers interesting food for thought. It is presented in spoken word which is a performance art that is word based and is often subject to collaboration and experimentation with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance.
Quotes from the video:
"Education is about inspiring ones mind not just filling their head"(sic)
" There is a saying that says, "If you don't build your dreams, someone else will hire you to build theirs." "