A child was working diligently on a drawing in art class. The teacher asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”
This is just one of the stories that Ken Robinson tells when he speaks of children’s creativity and willingness to take risks. Robinson used to live in Stratford-on-Avon and in another anecdote he imagines the seven year old Shakepeare in English class, and as a child being sent to bed. And his comments on academics and university professors are hilarious.
Last week I started re-reading Out of Our Minds, his extraordinary book on the nature and importance of creativity. And today a visitor to my office gave me this link to a presentation Robinson made earlier this year at the TED conference in Monterey, California.
“Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status”- one assertion from this truly stimulating and very funny talk. Robinson is witty, provocative and deadly serious. We can hear and see for ourselves – click below and watch on-line, or download the audio or video podcast. Highly recommended.
