In his talk, Ken Robinson talks about the necessity for diversity in education, and how the current model of education was originally designed to benefit the industrial revolution. One of the main points he makes, is that ‘education is not a mechanistic process and organisations are not mechanisms’. Making the point that it is more like an organism that flourishes under certain conditions and struggles under others. The analogy he uses is of education as a plant and the need for the right environment for the plant to thrive.

I completely agree with his viewpoint, and through my own personal experience know it to be true -at least for myself.  I grew up in India, and the rigid system of education he talks about is even more amplified there. I struggled to do well in school and was convinced that my abilities and  intelligence were subpar at the least. After graduating from high school I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to college in England and the transformation I felt in myself amazed me.   The environment was a lot more flexible and allowed me the opportunity to explore various different avenues which eventually led me to ITP.

While I have seen this work for myself I feel implementing this as a system can be extremely difficult. Its hard enough in the developed world, but in the developing world it is almost impossible. A lot of people look at education as a key that will unlock doors to a better quality of life. Learning hard skills that can help earn a decent living can be more valuable to some than real happiness from the work they do. This is not to say that they might achieve much greater success if they searched for what made them truly happy. I just feel that for a lot of people the struggles of daily life can leave little room for thinking about reaching your full potential in life. Which is understood.

So what do you think? How do you break that vicious circle of survival by educating the people and giving them the tools to succeed in life and still make a living?