Blog Post #12

Watch this video by Sir Ken Robinson and share your opinions about this video. Do you agree/disagree with any of Sir Robinson's opinions?

We all know that I love Sir Ken Robinson's discussions. I think he's great! This video would also be great to watch along with Randy Pausch's Last Lecture because both videos encourage people to follow their dreams. Sir Robinson used Paul McCartney and Elvis as examples. He says that both McCartney and Elvis had teachers who believed that had no musical talent. What if they would have listened to their teachers? What would they have done with their lives without music? How would the music industry be affected without the influences of the Beatles and Elvis?

Also in this video, Sir Ken Robinson briefly discusses how California recently dispersed some of it's funds. California's jails received 3x times more money than their school systems! This always angers me when I think about it. Why was so much money needed for the prison system when it's apparent that America's education system needs all the money it can get? Our teachers are paid less than our basketball players! Some of America's schools are still using Windows ME while others still don't have computers! Yet, they would designate over $9 billion to a prison system? I know the guards and officers and kitchen staff need paychecks too. I also know that money is needed for maintanance on our jails, however, I feel if we are going to give $9 billion to them, there should be no school in America that's falling to pieces. Once when I was in high school, we had to miss a few days of classes because they found signs of asbestos in our school. I wonder if the county jail down the street from our school ever showed signs of asbestos...

This video was amazing! As always, Sir Ken Robinson makes you think and question behaviors and "epidemics" that are getting out of hand. One "epidemic" he discusses is the sudden increase in ADHD students in America. He has also discussed this is another video we've watched this semester called Changing Paradigms. I completely agree with his opinions about ADHD. I will not deny that some children do have a problem with paying attention but prescription drugs is not the solution. I do not believe that doctors are trying to prohibit creativity with these drugs, however, that is the effect they have. A 5 year old is not supposed to be calm and quiet and sit through a 7 hour school day. Why would you even want them to?

As always, Sir Ken Robinson was spectacular. I am currently watching all of his videos on YouTube. I'm even debating on purchasing one of his books.