Book Review - Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative

Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative
Ken Robinson
Capstone Publisher / 2nd Edition (March 8, 2011)

I first learned of Sir Ken Robinson, when I read his best selling book, "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything".  By the way, it was a fabulous read and if you can get hold of it on CD (which he narrates himself), you'll just love it.  The book is all about how schools kill creativity and the whole time you read it ... it will validate WHY you chose to homeschool your children.

In his latest book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, Robinson examines the role of creativity in both education and business.  He relates that organizations everywhere are having to deal with people who have come through the educational system and have no clue what their own creative abilities are.  And as such,we need to make changes with the way we are teaching the children of today. 

"It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way and you lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give people back to themselves. To realize  our true creative potential—in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities—we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative." - Ken Robinson 

For those of you, already familiar with Ken Robinson, I'm sure that you wouldn't be surprised to learn that  he is a big fan of homeschooling.  He likes the model of home-based learning because: it allows for personalized learning, flexibility of time, and encourages methods of teaching that are sensitive to the different learning styles of each student.  However, since homeschoolers make up only a small percent of the population, Ken Robinson has elected to dedicate his efforts to a revolution of the current Public Education model.  So even though his insights may be seen as "preaching to the choir", I think that homeschoolers can still glean some knowledge from his thoughts on creativity and education.

This RSA Animate video is a wonderful illustration of Sir Ken Robinson's theory of why the current model of Public Education is failing kids so miserably.  I encourage everyone to view this short film... and then run to their nearest library or bookstore to check out his books.

RSA Animate - Ken Robinson
Changing Education Paradigms