This
speech was given as part of a TV Special: TED Talks Education given in May of
2013. The focus of the speeches were on how to create an educational system
that works for kids instead of against them. Ken Robinson did an incredible job
of focusing on this topic while using Dr. BJ Fogg's Behavioral Change
Model as he spoke. Dr. Ken Robinson believes that human beings are naturally
diverse and different. He believes that curiosity is how we light the spark in
children who are natural learners. He also believes that human life is
creative. Through his speech he persuades his audience to change the way they
view education and help them understand that education is about people and not
about data or test results.
BJ Fogg
would say that there are three elements that must converge at the same moment
for a behavior to occur. The first thing necessary to change behavior is to
have the motivation to change. We want to avoid pain and have pleasure in life.
We are pain avoiders. Dr. Robinson gives
us specific examples of the future pain we want to avoid when we educate our
students strictly on test scores and grades. He says we should have the motivation to
improve the educational system for our children and grandchildren and the motivation
to improve overall education to help with our future. He suggests that the way
to educate students that will bring pleasure to both students and educators is
to give equal weight to arts, humanity, and physical education and not just
focus on math and science.
Dr. Fogg also
says we should have hope and not fear. We as humans want to have something to
look forward to. Dr. Robinson points out
that the way our education system is currently moving should cause us some
fear. We should want better education because we want a better future for our
children and society. Toward the end of his speech Dr. Robinson gives us that
hope. He suggests changes that can be made to help the education system. He compares
education to Death Valley. He told how it is named that because it is the
hottest, driest place on earth where nothing grows. He told the audience that
in the fall of 2004 it rained 7 inches and so in the spring of 2015 flowers
grew on the floor of Death Valley. He recognizes that effective and proper
public education is not dead it is just dormant. The surface of education has
the seeds that are just waiting for the conditions to change and the rain to
come so that our education system and our students can blossom and grow in the
desert they currently exist in.
Another
part of Fogg’s motivation is cohesion or association with others. He believes
that people want to be accepted and not rejected. Robinson points out that our
current educational system is rejecting those students who do not fit the
institutionalized mold. Those students who do not sit still and buy in to all
that is taught are now medicated and labeled ADHD. They are given bad grades
and they eventually drop out believing that they cannot be successful without a
college degree. Robinson gave an example of a young girl who could not sit
still and who ended up being an amazing dancer and a world famous
choreographer. She is very successful and wealthy now. She has found a place
where she is accepted.
The second
element that must converge is abilities. Fogg believes that in order to change
behavior a person must have the ability to do so. He says the hard way is to
train people to give them more skill, but suggests the easier thing to do is to
simplify what they must do. He also says that time and money can be involved in
abilities. If a person does not have the time or the money to change their
behavior then it is not possible. Robinson claims that making changes to the
education system is simply a matter of climate control. He says that now there
is command and control in the schools and the way we educate. He suggests changing
the climate to accept that humans are naturally diverse and different, curiosity
is the way natural learners achieve, and human life is creative. He wants to put
control back in the classrooms. He reminds us that education is simply about
people.
The third
element that must be present is a trigger. Fogg says that without a trigger the
behavior will not happen. Triggers can be cues, prompts, requests, offers, and
so on. The three specific triggers that Fogg mentions are facilitator, signal
and spark. Robinson does a great job of being a facilitator and tapping in at
the intrinsic level. He inspires people to believe that America can have a
great educational system like Finland. He tells the audience to think about the
simple things done in Finland where they have high test scores and no drop
outs. He says it is as simple as individualizing teaching, attributing high
status to the teaching profession, and dissolving the responsibility to the
school for getting the job done.
Robinson is very persuasive and constructs all of the
process premises in his speech. He helps us see that we all have a need to
improve the education system in the United States for the emotional security
and creative outlets of our students. Changing the education system will help students’
self-esteem and sense of belonging. They will feel safer in school and be more
willing to take risks and be creative.
The second
process premise he helps us see is that of emotions. He uses the fear of
negative results in the future as well as giving us the feeling of pride that
we can improve and do better. He really focuses on how much happier students
and educators will be when these tiny changes are made.
The third
process premise of attitudes is easy to see when you pay attention to how
Robinson frames the problem with our educational system. He shares his opinion
and has us see how we agree with him. We know that we can improve and do better
and we feel like we want to help be part of the change. We can understand the
simple behavioral changes that need to take place so we can help make the
change.
The final
Premise is consistency. Robinson points out that we are uncertain about the
future with our educational system we currently have. He talks about how many
children are really getting left behind. He talks about the economic loss we
face with our current system and how we are not the top nation in education.
For those who believe that our education system is fine and that we are moving
in the right direction this conversation might cause some dissonance. Because
of his research and the way he presents his message it is compelling and moves
one to change their belief and want to help make a change.
I could not agree more with this! The question now is how do we create the movement? How do we create that organic environment?
ReplyDeleteI am glad that this is being discussed. Our class rooms and teacher awareness has come a long way, but having a child who does not fit the educational mold that is available to us I know first hand how important it is for us to have alternative learning solutions. We need to remember how boring our world would be if everyone learned and experienced life in the same way. We should be constantly looking for ways to use medical and psychological research to improve our children's educational experience.
ReplyDeleteThats the problem, legislation. It needs to stop being about legislation and really about the people. Term limits! Earl Nightingale states that conformity is the opposite of success, interesting that is what the government wants from us as citizens to be part of the norm not an outlier but average. I love the speakers use of humor to get us to laugh at the realization of our circumstances that need to change. Great speech with good humor that kept my attention good example.
ReplyDeleteGina, I loved this talk! He made some very good points! I have several children who have been in public school as well as homeschooled. My youngest, in second grade, had a homeschool curriculum which included math, language arts, history, science, music, and art. Each subject had several lessons to choose from depending on how the child learned; listening, visual, doing. The one on one learning was very effective and the variety of curriculum was an easy way to keep her attention. It was a wonderful time for us and we had a lot of fun learning! There were many other children who were lucky to have such an experience because they were different and would have been the target of bullying if they had been in public school. The key seemed to be involvement of the parents. The children did better if their parents were involved.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with what was said in this speech. As a mother of 7 I've seen the differences in learning abilities and styles that children can have. I've seen some of my children succeed in school and others really struggle. Because of this struggle I started home schooling so that I could "personalize" their studies in hopes of bringing back a love of learning in my home. I figured that they could either struggle in an environment where they were unhappy, or struggle in a home where they were loved. I did this for 7 years. It was hard, but eventually the onese who were still in school went back into the public school system and are now in high school. I look at this speech and it's content and wonder what in the world can be done to affect change so that our children will want to learn as opposed to being forced to learn. Teaching to the test is not very inspiring for most. I like the idea that changing the system will "help students’ self-esteem and sense of belonging. They will feel safer in school and be more willing to take risks and be creative." We all thrive and do so much better when the atmosphere is genuinely safe and welcoming. Our children deserve this, especially in a place where they spend the majority of their time away from home.
ReplyDeleteI like how in the beginning he finds similarity between himself and his audience. I really liked how he found common ground and really eased up the audience with some jokes but then slowly brought us all back to seriousness and also to a more attentive state. I found it interesting that the USA spends the most money on education and still gets the results it does.
ReplyDelete