I heard on the radio some weeks ago that recent surveys suggest that when posed the "what do you want to be when you grow up" question, most children answered "famous". Having never been famous, I cannot say whether that is a good or bad thing.
What amazed me though was that there was no requirement or intent to specify anything beyond being "famous". Not even saying footballer, fashion designer, musician, author or actor...
Dr Harold Shipman is famous - not exactly the best role model out there (that being said, he was a Leeds Uni graduate so he did something right!).
To clarify, I may well be being totally ignorant to the education sector in the remainder of this post. However these are my views as an outsider and I welcome any and all feedback on where I'm wrong!
Does the modern education framework allow for creativity? Are kids coached out of it?
Modern education takes its roots from the industrial revolution. All work items are specialised and partitioned. Children are input into the education factory (school) to generate an output: teenagers with qualifications to benefit them as the enter the wider world and become more economically active.
Obviously one could argue a certain level of education is mandatory and protects society's interests. However once that level is achieved (or during its attainment) should the focus then shift to inspiration? Is it even possible to do both simultaneously in the current framework?
I think politics has shaped education much more than anything else in recent history. In my lifetime, qualifications have been re-branded and re-parametered whilst budgets and curriculums have suffered cuts and restrictions.
No education minister can come in, undo it all and start afresh which is a real shame but a fact of life I suppose.
The fact you hear the phrase "exam coaching" in education is surely proof enough that the underlying philosophy of education has been diluted.
I have an unbounded appreciation of the teaching profession. They do a terrific job in most instances, shaping lives and influencing good behaviours but can they inspire creativity or the passion for learning when ultimately test results are seen as of political importance and dictate budgets within local government and ultimately the education system?
The counter argument would be that the best teachers find that balance between curriculum and creativity. I'm lucky enough to have seen examples of that in my own educational experience but I think that's something many miss out on.
I stumbled across a perfect quote quite by chance. It's from William Bruce Cameron’s 1963 text “Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking” and it contained the following passage:
It would be nice if all of the data which sociologists require could be enumerated because then we could run them through IBM machines and draw charts as the economists do. However, not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.You can count bums on seats, test scores and attendance records. You cannot count inspiration or creativity.Many of you will have watched Educating Yorkshire and that highlights the efforts of staff in one school to show there is more to education than just passing the tests. There will be countless examples like that without camera crews but there may just as well be hidden schools, who pass the tests and inspections but ultimately fail their students.If people who are creative can exceed expectations, why shouldn't the government be creative: take a risk, really learn from mistakes rather than spoon-feed the masses and take away individuality.My conclusion is that it's not necessarily Yorkshire that needs educating but rather the educational framework which needs re-imagining, allowing teachers to be tangential, spontaneous and inspire creativity.When (if) I grow up, I want to see more creativity in the world - and education seems the best platform to make that possible. As Hector from History Boys says:Pass the parcel. That's sometimes all you can do.In my mind, that parcel is inspiration. We should pass on the passion, the yearning for learning and give kids questions not just answers x
