Last week, as we were riding the 1 train up to Central Park with my friend Jamie and her son Ben, Jamie began chatting about some of the things that went on at the parents’ meeting for Ben’s new preschool. She dropped a name that the school’s founders had, in turn, dropped: Sir Ken Robinson.
Ahem, who? She’d had the same reaction.
A little snippet from Sir Ken’s talk at the TED conference back in 2003:
“Creativity is as important as literacy in education, and we should treat it as such….If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
SWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOON!
When I mention to people that I’m thinking of homeschooling my children here in New York City, they give me the polite stink-eye. Is it really so insane? I would never want to trade the time we spend having morning dance parties, reading 10-15 books a day, acting out stories, crafting odds and ends, singing, running outside, and whatever else we dream up. Totally not for everyone, but right up our alley.
The way we learn is so diverse, so individual. For me, it’s always been movement that connects me to understanding what I feel about something, much less what I think about it. It’s the sensual, the creative aspect of cooking that, even in the daily grind and even when it turns into a frustrating mess, remains endlessly magical.
Get up from your desk now, and shake it in Sir Ken’s name.
On that note, I think it’s best to share the love and pass on these links:
