I had the privilege of attending TED this year. The greatest piece of wisdom, in my mind, came from Sir Ken Robinson who said to the TED audience in an eloquent no-visuals speech that, "Our education system exists to support the singular goal of entrance to university." A light bulb went on.
I recalled something I had read last year about a student in high school that was told that if he didn't bring his grades up, that this student wouldn't get into college and end up as a failure in life. His father had not gone to college and became a successful contractor and entrepreneur. The teacher was essentially calling the student's father a failure, which of course the father was not (and in reality the teacher didn't intend to do so I would imagine). I found that father's link here which I was amused to find is even further extended with entrepreneurial spirit.
My father didn't go to college, or even high school. Neither did my mother. I found it disturbing to realize that I am part of an industry that exhalts itself as important, which by definition must label the non-comformists as any less important. I have always tended to break things into black and white, when I know that I should think in terms of gray.
Robinson's simple analysis made me think of how academia is simply a kind of religion today -- which makes sense given education's original roots in the church. Will I be the good priest or the evil priest? No. Will I be the grey priest? Gandalf the Grey seemed to have it right.
Posted by maeda at February 25, 2006 11:39 PM