Editor's Note: Is Sir Ken Robinson, an international educator and author of Let Nature Be Free, known as the "Minister of World Education"? On August 2, 2020, he died of cancer. His classic speech at TED, How Schools Kill Creativity, is still thought-provoking after being washed away by the surging new educational trends such as maker, hands-on and STEAM.
Sir Ken Robinson, an international educator known as the "Minister of Education in the World", shared his parenting experience for the first time in an exclusive interview with Time magazine.
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Robinson, who was excellent in character and scholarship since childhood, studied for a doctorate all the way, and then successfully entered the university to teach; However, in the past 10 years, he not only actively advocated non-traditional education, but also set up relevant organizations to lead innovative education in Britain, encouraging students to dare to experiment and break through the framework, not limited by standardized examinations and learning methods. The inspiration behind this actually comes from his daughter Kate.
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Robinson also said in his book "Let Children Fly: Don't Let Rigid Systems Kill Children's Future" that Kate's learning process is contrary to her own, and she can't force herself to stay in the academic-oriented education system. Kate once mentioned that every high school student studying in Los Angeles only wants to enter an Ivy League school after graduation, and will collapse and cry on the spot because he only got 95 points in the exam. These are different from Kate's value choices. Robinson allowed her to leave the campus when she was 16 years old. With the advice and company of her parents, she began to arrange self-study courses, volunteer and contact with work.
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During high school, Kate studied jewelry design and hand knitting online, and entered the local community college to study children's psychology related courses, signed up for a public lecture at UCLA, and worked in a record company in her spare time. Her class schedule is completely arranged according to her own wishes, and every time after class, Kate will arrange her plush toys in a row and act as a teacher to teach the dolls in a way that she understands.
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Now, she works as a consultant in an innovative educational institution. Kate said that her life has started again because of self-study. All these attempts aroused her enthusiasm for learning. She tries to get in touch with new things as much as possible and feels very happy.
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Parents should understand the learning mode suitable for their children.
Robinson specifically mentioned that not all families can let their children choose to leave school, but he encouraged parents to think carefully about what kind of learning model is really suitable for their children when they constantly resist the education system that only values intellectual development and academic performance.
In addition, both public and private schools should have perfect courses so that children can enjoy their study. Besides cultivating their abilities in Chinese, mathematics, science, humanities, art and sports, they should also enrich their life education in financial management concepts and nutrition knowledge. If the school curriculum is insufficient, parents can also suggest that the school supplement their children's learning in this area outside the school, or combine other educational methods instead of forcing their children to enter an integrated and applicable education system.
There are nearly 2 million students in America.
In 20 12, according to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, nearly1800,000 students chose to study at home, which was more than twice that of 1999. Robinson believes that the proportion of children who are allowed to study at home according to their interests will certainly continue to climb.
In fact, the child's words and deeds are telling parents what they are interested in and what is different. Just like many children love to play with Lego bricks, but children who are really interested in architecture will use Lego bricks to build their ideal community. Many children like painting, but children who embark on the road of cartoonists in the future will add a creative hand-drawn graffiti to the cover or edge of every book and notebook.
Pay attention to children, carefully tap their interests and help them shine on the road of learning. The growth of children will surprise you.