exactDo schools kill creativity

Good

morning.

How

are

you? (Laughter) It's

been

great, hasn't it? I've been blown away by the whole

thing. In

fact,

I'm

leaving. (Laughter) There

have

been three themes running through the conference

which

are

relevant

to

what

I

want

to

talk

about. One

is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity in

all of the presentations that we've had and in all of

the people here. Just the variety of it and the range

of it. The second is that it's put us in a place where

we have no idea what's going to happen, in terms of

the future. No idea how this may play out.

0:56I have an interest in education. Actually, what

I

find

is

everybody

has

an

interest

in

education. Don't you? I find this very interesting. If

you're at a dinner party, and you say you work in

education

--Actually,

you're

not

often

at

dinner

parties, frankly. (Laughter) If you work in education,

you're not asked. (Laughter) And you're never asked

back, curiously. That's strange to me. But if you are,

and

you

say

to

somebody, you

know,

they

say,

do

you

do?

you

say

you

work

in

education, you

can

see

the

blood

run

from

their

face. They're

like,

my

God,

you

know,

me?

one

night

out

all

week.

if

you

ask

about

their

education, they pin you to the wall. Because it's one

of

those

things

that

goes

deep

with

people,

am

I

right? Like religion, and money and other things. So

I have a big interest in education, and I think we all

do. We

have

a

huge

vested

interest

in

it,partly

because it's education that's meant to take us into

this future that we can't

grasp. If

you think

of it,

children starting school this year will be retiring in

2065. Nobody has a clue, despite all the expertise

that's been on parade for the past four days, what

the world will look like in five years' time. And yet

we're

meant

to

be

educating

them

for

it. So

the

unpredictability, I think, is extraordinary.

2:23And

the

third

part

of

this is

that

we've

all

agreed,

nonetheless, on

the

really

extraordinary

capacities that children have -- their capacities for

innovation. I mean, Sirena last night was a marvel,

wasn't she? Just seeing what she could do. And she's

exceptional,

but

I

think

she's

not,

so

to

speak, exceptional in the whole of childhood. What

you

have

there

is

a

person

of

extraordinary

dedication who found a my contention is,

all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander

them,

pretty

ruthlessly. So

I

want

to

talk

about

education and I

want to

talk

about

creativity. My

contention is that creativity now is as important in

education as literacy, and we should treat it with

the

very

same

status. (Applause)

15

Thank

minutes

you.(Applause) That was it, by the way. Thank you

much. (Laughter) So,

left. (Laughter)Well, I was born... no. (Laughter)

3:30I heard a great story recently -- I love telling it

-- of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson. She

was six, and she was at the back, drawing, and the

teacher

said

this

girl

hardly

ever

paid

attention, and

in

this

drawing

lesson,

she

did. The

teacher

was

fascinated. She

went

over

to

her,

and

she

said,

are

you

drawing?

the

girl

said,

drawing

a

picture

of

God.

the

teacher

said,

girl said,

4:07When my son was four in England -- Actually,

he was four everywhere, to be honest. (Laughter) If

we're

being

strict

about

it,

wherever

he

went,

he

was

four that year. He was in the Nativity play. Do you

remember the story? (Laughter) No, it was big, it

was a big story. Mel Gibson did the sequel, you may

have seen it. (Laughter)

the part of Joseph, which we were thrilled

considered this to be one of the lead parts. We had

the place crammed full of agents in T-shirts:

Robinson IS Joseph!

(Laughter) He didn't

have

to

speak, but you know the bit where the three kings

come

in? They

come

in

bearing

gifts,

gold,

frankincense and myrrh. This really happened. We

were sitting there and I think they just went out of

sequence, because

we

talked

to

the

little

boy

afterward and we said,

said,

why?

Was

that

wrong?

just

switched. The

three

boys

came

in, four-year-olds

with tea towels on their heads, and they put these

boxes

down, and

the

first

boy

said,

bring

you

gold.

the

second

boy

said,

bring

you

myrrh.

the

third

boy

said,

sent

this.

5:21What these things have in common is that kids

will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a

I

right?

They're

not

frightened

of

being

wrong. I don't mean to say that being wrong is the

same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if

you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come

up with anything original -- if you're not prepared

to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults,

most kids have lost that capacity. They have become

frightened

of

being

wrong. And

we

run

our

companies

like

this. We

stigmatize

mistakes. And

we're

now

running

national

education

systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can

make. And

the

result

is

that

we

are

educating

people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once

said

this,

he

said

that

all

children

are

born

artists. The

problem

is

to

remain

an

artist

as

we

grow up. I believe this passionately, that

we don't

grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather,

we get educated out if it. So why is this?

6:21I

lived

in

Stratford-on-Avon

until

about

five

years ago. In fact, we moved from Stratford to Los

you

can

imagine

what

a

seamless

transition that was. (Laughter) Actually, we lived in

a

place

called

Snitterfield, just

outside

Stratford, which is where Shakespeare's father was

born. Are you struck by a new thought? I was. You

don't

think

of

Shakespeare

having

a

father,

do

you? Do

you?

Because

you

don't

think

of

Shakespeare

being

a

child,

do

you? Shakespeare

being seven? I never thought of it. I mean, he was

seven at some point. He was in somebody's English

class,

wasn't

he? (Laughter) How

annoying

would

that

be? (Laughter)

try

harder.

sent

to

bed

by

his

dad,

you

know,

to

Shakespeare,

to

bed,

now! And

put

the

pencil

down.

stop

speaking

like

tha t.

everybody.

7:34Anyway,

we

moved

from

Stratford

to

Los

Angeles, and I just want to say a word about the

transition. My son didn't want to come. I've got two

kids;

he's

21

now,

my

daughter's

16. He

didn't

want

to come to Los Angeles. He loved it, but he had a

girlfriend in England. This was the love of his life,

Sarah. He'd

known

her

for

a

month. (Laughter) Mind

you,

they'd

had

their

fourth

anniversary, because

it's

a

long

time

when

you're 16. He was really upset on the plane, he said,

rather

pleased

about

that,

frankly

-- (Laughter) Because she was the main reason we

were leaving the country. (Laughter)

8:27But something strikes you when you move to

America and

travel

around

the

world: Every

education

system

on

Earth

has

the

same

hierarchy

of

subjects. Every

one.

Doesn't

matter

where

you

confusing

go. You'd think it would be otherwise, but it isn't. At

the

top

are

mathematics

and

languages, then

the

humanities,

and

at

the

bottom

are

the

arts. Everywhere

on

Earth. And

in

pretty

much

every

system

too,

there's

a

hierarchy

within

the

arts. Art

and

music

are

normally

given

a

higher

status in schools than drama and dance. There isn't

an

education

system

on

the

planet that

teaches

dance everyday to children the way we teach them

mathematics. Why? Why not? I think this is rather

important. I think math is very important, but so is

dance. Children dance all the time if they're allowed

to,

we

all

do. We

all have bodies,

don't

we? Did

I

miss

a meeting? (Laughter) Truthfully, what happens is,

as

children

grow

up, we

start

to

educate

them

progressively from the waist up. And then we focus

on their heads. And slightly to one side.

9:22If you were to visit education, as an alien, and

say

have

to

conclude,

if

you

look

at

the

output, who

really

succeeds

by

this, who

does

everything

that

they should, who gets all the brownie points, who

are the winners -- I think you'd have to conclude

the

whole

purpose

of

public

education throughout

the

world is

to

produce

university

professors. Isn't

it?They're the people who come out the top. And I

used

to

be

one,

so

there. (Laughter) And

I

like

university

professors,

but

you

know, we

shouldn't

hold them up as the high-water mark of all human

achievement. They're

just

a

form

of

life, another

form

of

life. But

they're

rather

curious,

and

I

say

this

out of affection for them. There's something curious

about

professors in

my

experience -- not all

of them,

but typically, they live in their heads. They live up

there, and slightly to one side. They're disembodied,

you know, in a kind of literal way. They look upon

their

body

as

a

form

of

transport

for

their

heads. (Laughter) Don't they? It's a way of getting

their head to meetings. (Laughter) If you want real

evidence

of

out- of-body

experiences, get

yourself

along

to

a

residential

conference

of

senior

academics, and

pop

into

the discotheque

on the

final

night. (Laughter) And there, you will see it. Grown