Archive for Communication
Changing Education Paradigm by Ken Robinson
Posted by: | CommentsThe animated video below was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert on changing the education paradigm. This is particularly interesting for us because what Sir Robinson really looks at is how we create our vision of the world we live in.
‘How do we educate our children to take their place in the economy of the 21st century, given that we can’t anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week?’ he asks.
Our current standards of education were designed and conceived and structured for a different age, driven by the economic imperatives of the industrial revolution and dominated by a certain model of the mind and the enlightenment view of intelligence, i.e a deductive ability coupled with the knowledge of the classics, i.e. what we call academic ability. We are judged against this view of the mind, and many brilliant people thin they are not. Most people have not benefited from this.
The Power of Vulnerability
Posted by: | CommentsBrene Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.
Creativity in Education
Posted by: | CommentsIn this now well known presentation at the TED conference in 2006, Ken Robinson makes his point in favour of completely rethinking our educational system to nurture the “extraordinary capacity for innovation that children have naturally.”
Children are not afraid of being wrong he says, but we stigmatise mistake. Being wrong does not make someone creative, but if you want to be creative, you have to be prepared to be wrong.
We don’t teach creativity, but in fact educate children OUT of their creative capabilities.We do not know what the world will be like in 5 years, but we teach children who will live in it for the next 65!
This video will appeal to anyone interested in the potential of human creativity.
Does Your Mother Tongue Shape Your Thinking?
Posted by: | CommentsWords are just ways to express what’s in our mind. Right? Well, maybe not quite so.
In a NY Times article titled “Does Your Language Shape How You Think?”, Linguist Guy Deutscher contends that our mother tongue in fact, trains our brain to think a certain way, and even alters our perception of reality.
Take words gender for example. While English speakers can equivocally evoke meeting a ‘neighbour’ for lunch or dinner without mentioning their sex, French or German speakers do not have this flexibility. Whether they like it or not, they will have to reveal the sex of their dining companion.
It gets even more subtle when you consider that many European languages assign genders on words referring to inanimate objects. As a native French speaker who has spent the past 20 years in a Chinese & English speaking environment, I can relate to how language shapes our reality. After 20 years of using mostly English as my main language, I still can’t shake off the deep and unexplainable feeling that the water in my glass is feminine and my bed is masculine. And my Chinese or English speaking friends just cannot understand how my mobile phone and my unconscious mind (this is getting weird!) are masculine, but I viscerally know that they are.
What If Reason Was Not Such A Good Thing After All?
Posted by: | CommentsI came across an article by Newsweek’s Sharon Begley ‘The Limits Of Reason’ which, inspired by the work by Hugo Mercier of the University of Pennsylvania and cognitive scientist Dan Sperber of the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, presents an interesting bias on the purpose and effectiveness of rationality and reason.
Everyone knows that the best decision are taken after calm rational thinking. Well, is that really true? We are at heart deeply irrational beings despite our attempts at rationality. And there is evidence that … it’s probably a good thing!
Click HERE to read her article (you will be redirected to the Newsweek website which will open on another page) and feel free to be totally irrational!
Happy madness!
