Standing Ovation: Reading Response 4

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Reading Response 4

Sir Ken Robinson makes very interesting points in his workshop “How schools Kill Creativity”. He emphasizes how education in schools today have a primary focus for math, reading and writing and that classes that promote creativity like the arts, theater and dance are not as valued; because of this Robinson implies society is loosing its creativity. Robinson states “education is the same everywhere…we don’t teach dance like math”. After this declaration it really made me think about it why isn’t dance held to the same importance as math? Not that I myself am a great dancer but dancing is all about self expression, it is a great outlet for creativity why is this expression not important to society? Maybe I am not a math person but from personal experience, I have not felt great satisfaction from it, apart from coming to understand it when there is a test the following day. With math there is a right way and a wrong way, only one correct answer. With dancing there is no wrong way, an individual is free to explore, to play. Another interesting point Sir Robinson expressed was how young children perceive things. He explained how young kids are not afraid of being wrong and they take more chances because of this. As they grow schools are making mistakes unacceptable and kids loose their creativity for fear of being wrong. The same rule applies for in the work force, people are drilled so much of how they can do no wrong and in return do not even attempt to think outside the box for fear of rejection. I completely agree with this observation. A couple of years ago I tutored fifth graders at a local elementary school. They were always asking questions and attempting to figure out answers without any hesitation and it was almost refreshing to be surrounded by that type of behavior because at my level of schooling people were not that eager to see if they were wrong. After viewing Sir Robinsons workshop it really made me think there should be a reform on schooling systems. Schools are not looking for creativity or diversity but why not? When schools only focus on academics and not creativity it is literally developing only one part of our brain; schools, work and the government all push society to be their very best but when they do not value all components of each individual they are not reaching their full potential. Society will never be able to come up with anything new if we don’t have creativity. When schools focus primarily on math and literature though it may be great for kids who excel at those subjects what happens to the individuals who have other talents? In today’s society those kids will get advice from the schools saying that the things they enjoy like art or music, they will never be successful at. This is a very disturbing thought to me, I myself do not excel in average curriculum and nor am I deeply passionate about it so where will I fit into society? Where is the joy in life if an individual cannot do what they love?

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Welcome

Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Standing Ovation”! The title of this blog refers to the audience of active readers we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! I encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. I hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it!