Posts Tagged ‘Mulla Nasrudin’

Bring on the learning revolution!

May 27, 2010

Following on from my 1 April post – Do schools kill creativity? – I discovered the other day that a sequel by Sir Ken Robinson has been posted on TED this month. ‘Bring on the learning revolution!’ was recorded in February of this year, and is as inspiring and entertaining as the 2006 forerunner. The following points were highlights for me:

  • Educational reform is not sufficient: it is ‘improving a broken model’ – what is required is revolution, not evolution.
  • There is a ‘tyranny of common sense’ – the idea that things can’t be done any other way.
  • We have a fast-food model of education – where everything is standardised.
  • ‘The reason so many people are opting out of education is because it doesn’t feed their spirit, it doesn’t feed their energy or their passion.’
  • We have to change from an industrial model of education, based on linearity and conformity, and batching people, to a model based on principles derived from agriculture.
  • Human flourishing is an organic process rather than a mechanical one.
  • You cannot predict the outcome of human development – all you can do is create the conditions under which people can flourish.
  • Education must be customised and personalised to the people who are being taught.
  • Technology should be used to accomplish this.

    • The story that Robinson tells about the fireman reminded me of one of the tales of Mulla Nasrudin, the fabled Sufi character who often instructs through jokes:

    Nasrudin sometimes took people for trips in his boat. One day a fussy pedagogue hired him to ferry him across a very wide river. As soon as they were afloat, the scholar asked whether it was going to be rough. ‘Don’t ask me nothing about it,’ said Nasrudin. ‘Have you never studied grammar?’ ‘No,’ said the Mulla. ‘In that case, half your life has been wasted.’ The Mulla said nothing. Soon a terrible storm blew up. The Mulla’s crazy cockleshell was filling with water. He leaned over towards his companion. ‘Have you ever learnt to swim?’ ‘No,’ said the pedant. ‘In that case, schoolmaster, ALL your life is lost, for we are sinking.’

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