100 million views and counting… but

It’s been 18 years since Sir Ken Robinson delivered his “mic-drop moment” on the TED stage, asking whether schools kill creativity.

If you haven’t seen the video, it’s only 20 minutes long. Still, we thought it was worth sharing the tl;dr and reflecting on how it’s stood the test of time.

Since 2007, a staggering 77 million have watched the video on the TED website, plus another 24 million people on YouTube. The message is provocative, but the real eye-opener comes when you scroll down to the comments.

The top comments on YouTube span more than a dozen years, but they all say basically the same thing:

Here’s one from 8 years ago:

“Almost 10 years since this video was posted and unfortunately nothing has changed.”

Fast forward two years:

“Clap clap. 12 years have gone by, we’re still in the same boat.”

After Robinson’s passing in 2020, the video received a renewed flood of attention, and the chorus of frustration remains the same:

“It’s incredibly upsetting how old this is and how everything is still the same.”

That’s all for this edition.

How could Robinson’s remarks receive such a thunderous ovation in 2007 – both on stage and reverberating through YouTube – yet have so little effect on the educational system?

To understand this paradox, you first need to know who Ken Robinson was and why his words struck such a chord. Sir Ken wasn’t just another talking head. Knighted in 2003 for his services to the arts, Robinson was a professor of arts education who had advised governments, non-profits, and Fortune 500 companies on creative and cultural education.

His core message was that our schools are stuck in an industrial-age model, churning out conformity at a time when we need creativity more than ever.

“Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip-mine the earth for a particular commodity,” he observed.

It’s clear that the message resonates with anyone who’s ever felt stifled by standardized tests or wondered why art class always gets the short end of the budget stick.

Robinson’s most provocative claim was that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, “We get educated out of it.”

One way our current system educates kids out of creativity is by stigmatizing mistakes – creating an environment where taking risks becomes taboo.

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original,” he insisted.

This fear of failure, ingrained from an early age, stifles the very innovation our rapidly changing world demands.

As Robinson warned, “Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized.”

How many potential Steve Jobs, artists, or out-of-the-box thinkers have we lost to a system that prizes conformity over creativity?

Moreover, the gap between what schools teach and what the real world demands is widening. In an era of artificial intelligence and automation, rote learning and standardized testing have never been less relevant. Yet, our education system continues to churn out graduates ill-equipped for the challenges of the 21st century.

The frustration is palpable among educators, parents, and students alike. They see the mismatch between education and reality, but feel powerless to change a system with such strong inertia. It’s like trying to turn a massive ship with an undersized rudder – the change is slow, almost imperceptible, even as the iceberg looms ahead.

The timing of Robinson’s passing in August 2020 was tragically ironic – just as the world was primed for disruptive change, we lost a visionary who had been championing that change for decades.

Yet, all is not lost. While large-scale systemic change has been slow, a revolution is brewing at the margins. Parents and students, frustrated with the one-size-fits-all approach of traditional schooling, are taking matters into their own hands. We’re seeing a rise in homeschooling, virtual schools, unschooling, microschools, and alternative education models that prioritize creativity, individual talents, and real-world skills.

This is where OpenEd comes in. We believe in empowering families to create personalized learning journeys that nurture each child’s unique gifts and passions. Our program provides the tools and resources for parents to become the architects of their children’s education, much in the spirit of what Ken Robinson advocated.

After the Ovation

As we consider the state of education today, it’s worth reflecting on one last comment from the YouTube video:

“Modern education: Creating people who are smart enough to accurately repeat what they’re told and follow orders, but not smart enough to realize this doesn’t make them smarter than everyone else.”

The industrial model of education has shaped generations, including many of us who “succeeded” within its confines. But that doesn’t mean we’re doomed to perpetuate it. Even those of us who thrived in traditional schools can recognize its limitations and participate in crafting a more enlightened approach. We just have to get creative.

For parents and teachers, the education revolution doesn’t have to wait for slow-moving institutions to catch up. It can start in your home, in your classroom, in your community. Encourage creativity, even (especially!) when it leads to mistakes.

For policymakers and administrators, it’s time to reevaluate the hierarchy of subjects, to question the emphasis on standardized testing, to consider what education truly means in the 21st century.

For our friends in public education, consider this an invitation to innovation. How can you incorporate more personalized learning, even within the constraints of standardized curricula?

Sir Ken Robinson laid out the challenge nearly two decades ago. The world has changed dramatically since then. We don’t have to wait another two decades to see the change.

Until next time,

Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)