Changing Education Paradigms

In the animation Ken Robinson refers to the longitudinal study by Beth Jarman and George Land in their book 'Break Point and Beyond' that tested convergent thinking a component of creativity which leads to original ideas. The study concluded that out of 1500 kindergarten children tested on creativity, 98% of them scored at a genius level. Five years later, the same children were tested on the same test and this time only 32% of them scored at a genius level. Five years later only 10% scored at a genius level. The same study took a sample of 200,000 adults and found that only 2% of them scored at a genius level for divergent thinking on the same test.

The study suggests is that we are all born with the ability to be creative but we lose this over time. Ken Robinson believes this is due to the rise of standardised education, the constriction of divergent thinking. One answer.

On a positive note, if standardised education is responsible for placing limits on thinking it might explain why dyslexics who didn’t engage in school are now able to think outside the box.