Task 4d Literature Two -Creative people - I hate school, but love to learn

Literature two - Creative People

For my second Literature I wanted to look for the so called 'creative genius' who had added some value with their creativity in society.  I also wanted to see what they were like to during their primary school years. I wanted to how did they cope with the structure and routine of school. What influencing did they have? Did they follow the rules? Did they enjoy or see the purpose of learning?

My first thought were with Einstein and Shakespeare, not because they were good at Maths or Literature, or the fact they showed some rebellion while at school. When you search on the internet you find different accounts and opinions of there lives that you start to doubt what is true or not true about them, although there were some similar account of there lives. The reason why I felt they are important is because they are apart of the curriculum today, so there lives stand out more. However the more I started thinking about creative people with value, the more I started to question why I was looking for them and the relationship between them and my inquiry.

One of my arguments for my inquiry is having a sense purpose in learning and education, as well having some freedom to explore in order to develop creativity thinking, which isn't just limited to the arts. Although art in it self is one of the subjects that you do not teach to a test so you continue to develop the creative thought process. I also want to encourage creativity and engagement, developing my teaching as well as make a difference. My own well-being is also important and my own upbringing and life journey.

I started to think about why people may hate school, which led me to 'Sulli Breaks'  who talks about finding his thing as the Teach-Thought site website explains this is similiar in someways to Ken Robinson about find your element or passion. This then brings me back to Einstein and Shakespeare who were educated, talented and had found their passion but were not governed or limited by an exam.

(Start to look at creative people who succeed through school and those who repelled or who developed there learning and education outside of school, finding out why and any patterns etc..)

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/why-i-hate-school-but-love-education/


Why I Hate School But Love Education

That “school,” as it is, could be improved isn’t a new argument.

How to make those improvements to revise our “systems” of learning in light of modern technology access and cultural patterns is why organizations like TeachThought, Edutopia, and so many others exist.

With so many talented teachers working so hard to implement so many “research-based” and exorbitantly-funded initiatives, how is it that the the problems, like quicksand, only seems to deepen every time we move?

While there is no single answer here, there could be an issue with the expectations of students as they enter both K-12 and higher education classrooms. After decades of being told to “get an education,” that’s exactly what hundreds of thousands set out to do each semester, much to their detriment, apparently.

Though the speaker, Sulli Breaks, dresses down “school” while promoting “education,” like his use of “neither” this may be a case of local vernacular obscuring his message; his argument here seems to be that finding your “thing” starts with you, not certificates and institutions. (teachthought - website)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI#

The full transcript appears below.

Why I Hate School But Love Education

“So you want to get a degree. Why? Let me tell you what society will tell you: It increases your chances of getting a job, provides you with an opportunity to be successful, your life will be a lot less stressful. Education is the key.

Now let me tell you what your parents will tell you: Make me proud. It increases your chances of getting a job, provides you with an opportunity to be successful, your life will be a lot less stressful. Education is the key.

Now let’s look at that statics. Steve Jobs – net worth, 7 billion. RIP. Richard Branson – net worth, 4.2 billion. Oprah Windfrey – net worth, 2.7 billion. Mark Zuckenberg, Henry Ford, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates. Here comes the coop, the grace. Looking at these individuals, what is your conclusion? Neither of them, in being successful, ever graduated from a higher learning institutions.

Now some of you will protest, like you know only money is the medium by which one measures worldly success. And some of you will even have the nerve to say, “I don’t do it for the money.” So what are you studying for? To work for a charity? Need more clarity? Let’s look at the statics.

Jesus. Muhammed. Socrates. Malcolm X. Mother Teresa. Spielberg. Shakespear. Beethoven. Jesse Owns. Muhammed Ali. Sean Carter. Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Michael Joseph Jackson.

Were either of these people unsuccessful? Or…uneducated?

All I’m saying is that, if there was a family tree, hard work and education would be related but school would be a distant cousin. As if education is the key and school is the lock. Because it rarely ever develops your mind to the point where it can preserve red as green and continue to go when someone else says stop.

Because as long as you follow the rules and pass the exams, your cool. But are you aware that examiners have a checklist, and if you answers is something outside of the box the automatic response is a cross. And then they claim that school expands your horizons and your visions. Well tell that to Malcolm X who dropped out of school and is world renowned for what he learned in a prison.

Proverb 17:16. It does a fool no good to spend money on an education. Why? Because he has no common sense.

George Bush. Need I say more?

Education is about inspiring one’s mind–not just filling their head.

And take this from me because I’m an “educated man” myself. Who only came to this realization after countless nights in the library with a can of red bull, keeping me awake ’til dawn and another can in the morn’. Falling asleep in between piles of books which probably equated to the same amount I had spent on my rent.

Memorize equations, facts and dates. Right down to the letter. Half of which I would never remember, and half of which I would forget straight after the exam and before the start of the next semester. Asking anyone if they had notes for the last lecture.

I often found myself running to class just so I could find a spot of which I could rest my head and fall asleep without making a scene. Ironic, because that’s the only time I ever spent in university chasing my dreams. And then after nights with a dead mind I then find myself in a queue of half awake student zombies, waiting to hand in an assignment. Maybe that’s why they called it a dead-line.

And then after three years of mental suppression and frustration my “proud mother” didn’t even turn up to my graduation.

Now I’m not saying that school is evil and there’s nothing to gain, all I’m saying is understand your motives and reassess your aims because if you want a job working for someone else, then help your self. But then that would be a contradiction because you wouldn’t really be helping yourself, you’d be helping somebody else. There’s a saying which says, “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.”

Redefine how you view education, understand it’s true meaning. Education is not just about regurgitating facts from a book on someone else’s opinion on a subject to pass an exam. Look at it. Picasso was educated in creating art. Shakespeare was educated in the art of all that was written. Colonel Harland Sanders was education in the art of creating Kentucky fried chicken.

I once saw David Beckham take a free kick. I watched as the side of his Adidas sponsored boot hit the leather of the ball at an angle which caused it to travel towards the skies as if it was destined for the heavens. And then as it reached the peek of it’s momentum, as though it changed it’s mind, it switched direction.

I watched as the goal keeper froze, as though he recited to himself the law of physics and as though his brain was negotiating with his eyes that it was indeed witnessing the spectacle of the leather swan that was coming towards him, and then reacted. But only a fraction of a millisecond too late.

And the country, that I live in, erupted into cheers. I looked at the play and thought. Damn.

Looking at David Beckham, I thought, damn, there’s more than one way to be an educated man.”

Image attribution flickr user mikegrenville; Why I Hate School But Love Education