Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

Quite an old video, but I find it still interesting and relevant in today's education environment, especially in Malaysia.

In my opinion, parents nowadays should be more proactive in their children's education, or rather more accurately, teaching them the skills of learning. Schools do not teach that. Today, more than ever, schools have become too exam oriented. The method of instruction play a crucial role. Currently, school children are not encouraged to be creative, to experience & experiment, to discover. These are skills that will provide them with the right attitude and capacity to seek knowledge for themselves.

The interesting is, when left alone, without any adult interference in their learning experience, they are actually able to learn faster. It's as if kids are born with a natural ability to learn on their own. Below is a video titled: Sugata Mitra's new experiments in self-teaching.

In the working world, we often see employees waiting to be given instructions and directions from their superiors or employer. Why? Because they were conditioned since they were young. How the brain develops during childhood will determine the outcome in adulthood.

New Perspectives on Early Brain Development

Of all the discoveries that have come out of brain research in recent years, one of the most intriguing has been a hint of how the neural circuitry develops. The “wiring” of the brain is an amazing phenomenon of precision considering that the mature brain contains in excess of 100 billion neurons that are intricately connected with one another in ways that make possible the amazing functions underlying human behavior. Each neuron links up with thousands of other neurons to form trillions of connections. The total length of “wiring” between neurons is estimated at 62,000 miles (Coveney & Highfield, 1995).

As early as 15 years ago researchers believed that the wiring diagram for each person was primarily “programmed” by one’s genetic blueprints, much like the wiring of a new house before being occupied. However, the contemporary view is that while the main circuits may be prewired, such as for breathing, control of heart beat, and reflexes, other basic pathways are quite rudimentary, containing trillions of finer “unprogrammed” tentative connections. These connections are dependent upon stimulation from the environment and experience in the environment. It is this stimulation that completes the architecture of the brain.

Scientists now believe that to achieve the precision of the mature brain, stimulation in the form of movement and sensory experiences during the early developing years is necessary (Greenough & Black, 1992; Shatz, 1992). Experience appears to exert its effects by strengthening and bonding synapses, which are the connections that are made between neurons. Connections that are not made by activity, or are weak, are “pruned away,” much like the pruning of dead or weak branches of a tree. If the neurons are used, they become integrated into the circuitry of the brain. Due to differences in experience, not even identical twins are wired the same (Chugani, 1998).

 Source: Optimizing Early Brain and Motor Development Through Movement