I learned how to read a newspaper when I was barely eight years old. I learned that there are different ways of pronouncing 'the' depending on whether it precedes a vowel or a consonant at the age of seven. I saw my Mom read classics by Shakespeare. I watched her write folk stories in a counter book-that had blue pages and heard her sing out the songs to us every evening. I will never be you, so why do you struggle to make me like you?
Susan Cain, on TED : Ideas Worth Spreading, gives a talk on what it means to be different and especially on the importance of embracing introverts .She calls for three things: first we need to stop pushing people into depending on groupwork, second is everyone needs to find their own revelation and third we all need to take a good look inside ourselves and find a way of staying true to ourselves.
But, I am mostly taken by Sir Ken Robinson who says that Schools kill Creativity . Ever since the age of Industrialization all over the world, eduaction has often prepared people for work and the university. This is obvious in which subjects are given the highest priority. You will find the caste system in education as follows:
- Math & Sciences
- Languages
- Humanities
- Arts & Music
In Kenya, by the end of the year 2000, HomeScience, Arts & Crafts, and Music were scrapped off the Primary school education curriculum. The reason: they were no longer of use. Fast track into Highschool and in 2003, Social Education and Ethics was scrapped off- reason, well it was no longer of use. But forget all that- now in 2012, research in Kenya from Employer surveys shows that they have employees who are lacking in social skills and critical thinking skills, so...what about those subjects that were no longer of use? I know of people who can wear clothes, but they know not how to sew a button, let alone the process of ironing a shirt! But there's something very funny here, about Arts and Music-how many people do you recall from High school? If you were in high school-you'd realize that the popular students were in Drama, Music, or took part in an Arts event. If you focus your attention fully, you will realize that knowing the latest dance moves, songs, movies, and being able to express yourself this way made you cool. I picked my brain for not seeing this earlier. In High school (the greatest stage of rebellion and exploration) teens are busy trying to tell the society that 'hey! we are good at other things and you don't have to force Calculus and Fasihi down our throats!" But sadly so, no one is listening.
In the 18th and early 19th Century you had a degree and you got a job, why? That was the age of Industralization . Now, you have a degree and a masters, but it's nothing-you are either volunteering, or staying home hoping something comes along, why? Because this is the age of Revolution . People are all about doing what they like-what they are good at and not what some system forced down their throat as being right. So, if you have an education-then you have just a bunch of opinions, get your own and be your own person-go for what you love and excel from there. If there's anything I know about intelligence and I credit Sir Ken Robinson for this is that, Intelligence is : diverse, dynamic and distinct. You may not be book smart, but you are witty and street smart-that is intelligence. You many not be as good a business man and mogul as Sir Richard Branson, but you can surely get people to buy stuff from you even in the rain as they dash for shelter!
I leave you with this "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." Sir Ken Robinson
How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody?
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