162. SIR KEN ROBINSON: Full body education
Sir Ken Robinson is a leading authority on education and creativity. A former professor of education, he now advises governments and businesses around the world and is one of the most sought-after speakers on education. The quotes used in the comic are taken from Robinson’s now-famous 2006 TED talk How schools kill creativity. It is the most viewed TED talk ever, and also one of the funniest in my opinion (gotta love that dry British humour). If you haven’t seen it, then stop what you’re doing and go watch it.
Robinson explains that the school system was invented in the 19th century to meet the needs of rapid industrialisation and is extremely outdated, focusing way too much on left-brain academic learning. “If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatised.” He gives the example of Gillian Lynne, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, who as a student was terrible at school and most likely would have been diagnosed with ADHD today. Luckily, a specialist noticed that Lynne wouldn’t sit still and was naturally dancing to the music playing in the office and suggested to Lynne’s mother that she send the child to dance school. (Robinson explains it a lot better than I just typed it).
In his best-selling book The Element, Robinson gives many more examples of how famous artists found their life’s calling (or ‘element’ as Robinson calls it). For instance, he interviews Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, who tells Robinson that he was always drawing crude cartoons as a student and knew he wanted to do it for the rest of his life, even if it meant working a crappy job forever. “My vision was that I’d be working in a tire warehouse. I have no idea why I thought it was a tire warehouse. I thought I’d be rolling tires around and then on my break, I’d be drawing cartoons.” Everyone tried to convince Groening to give up the cartooning dream (even his father, who was a cartoonist), but he persisted and only remembers one teacher fondly that encouraged him (he later named the character of Ms. Hoover after her). It’s a fascinating book and Robinson interviews big names like Paul McCartney, Ridley Scott, Aaron Sorkin, Meg Ryan and Richard Branson about how they embraced their creativity. This year, Robinson released the follow-up book Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life.
RELATED COMICS: Alan Watts What if money was no object? Taylor Mali What teachers make. Erica Goldson Graduation speech. Amy Poehler Great people do things before they’re ready.
– Follow Sir Ken on Twitter.
– Big news, I announced the Zen Pencils book this week! All the details and pre-order info here.
Discussion (137) ¬
What a brilliant quote and comic. Hat’s off to you, good sir!
A lower middle class which has received secondary or even university education without being given any corresponding outlet for its trained abilities was the backbone of the twentieth century Fascist Party in Italy and the National Socialist Party in Germany. The demoniac driving force which carried Mussolini and Hitler to power was generated out of this proletariat’s exasperation at finding its painful efforts at self-improvement were not sufficient.
–Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History
While that may be the case *almost* everywhere on earth, the school I went to in Colombia included dancing in every school year up until Middle school when it became an elective and no one really wanted to take it, not because we didn’t like dance, but because but by then, we were already in party mode and every party/celebration involved dancing, so it was just always part of our lives.
In fifth grade, for our “graduation” we had to do a dance routine, and we would dance almost every day of that school year to prepare for this routine.
The way children are educated comes from the culture of that community. My culture is filled with dance, so our education system was as well.
I’m not saying I disagree with you, just putting in the two cents of my own experience.
Hi Ani!
I’m from Colombia too, and as you said, I had artistic education from the beginning, even though I didn’t like dance class. But I also think that sir Ken R is right in the sense that, no only the arts are neglected or stigmatized, as long as we grew there was always a stronger education in sciences & numbers, even Spanish class was seen as a filling lecture.
I’m a designer now and I remember one of the best teachers I’ve ever had told me that I was wasting my talents, a designer couldn’t do anything, it was just drawing. In the follow-up TED talk of sir Ken R, which I strongly recommend, he speaks about a guy who wanted to be a fireman and a teacher told him it was a waste, until a couple of months before the talk he saved his teacher’s life.
Unfortunately, education IS made to respond to the industrial needs, if you think about the education that we receive here in Colombia, we are taught from the beginning to avoid mistakes, to avoid flaws and to be correct and productive, we have a very strong culture of hard work and sacrifice because our education system isn’t made to fulfill our dreams, to make us better people, but to transform us into the best employees and “produce” before creating.
PS: Nice to know another Colombian in here! Un abrazo! 🙂
Yes, the idea that *every* education system has the same hierarchy of subjects is not actually true. Just referring to this strip – the majority of ballet dancers are trained in professional schools where they receive academic teaching as well as dance training. It’s not surprising that specialised professions require specialised education – this is not something ‘regular’ schools can effectively cover.
It’s also worth pointing out that you cannot expect schools to prepare children for ALL professions in adulthood. Schools must first and foremost teach children basic things they need to know to get through life, no matter their chosen professions. So math and science are crucial in a way that music and dance are not. Even dancers must understand basic math and science! There are other important things that schools also often fail to teach, like financial literacy.
I do think that more time should be given to good arts education in school, but the lack of the arts in education largely comes from the lack of appreciation of the arts in general society. If society valued the arts more, we would see this reflected in the education system. The problem has really more to do with society’s attitudes about things like success, material wealth and achievement, and less to do with the educational curriculum per se.
“So math and science are crucial in a way that music and dance are not.”
There is the hierarchy of subjects. Not in school, but in our mind and vision of what is crucial.
Why is math or science more crucial than music or dance ?
Even mathematicians need some basic in creative thinkings.
A sense or rhythm and more ease with their own body could probably do some good to scientist as well.
I don’t think Sir Ken Robison suggests that we teach music or dance or other arts in school so that we can have more ballet dancers… I’d think he actually suggest that teaching arts would give important skills to our children tha and Art in general are not a set of skills you apply to do some sort of work.
Previous comment sent by mistake 🙁
“So math and science are crucial in a way that music and dance are not.”
There is the hierarchy of subjects. Not in school, but in our mind and vision of what is crucial.
Why is math or science more crucial than music or dance ?
Even mathematicians need some basic in creative thinkings.
A sense or rhythm and more ease with their own body could probably do some good to scientist as well.
I don’t think Sir Ken Robison suggests that we teach music or dance or other arts in school so that we can have more ballet dancers… I’d think he actually suggests that teaching arts would give other skills, important skills, such as creative thinking, self-confidence or even a sense or aesthetic that are as necessary today as mathematics were 100 years ago…
I had both math and science education in school, as well as dance, art and music.
What I can say is that I have used what I learned in math and science to make crucial decisions like: are vaccinations safe for the kids? Is this cancer treatment that the doctor suggested really a good idea? Are the ingredients in this product safe or not? Should I take that herbal supplement my friend recommended? Which contraceptive is best?
I will be the first to say that I have benefited immensely from the arts education I was lucky enough to receive. All my life, I have derived great pleasure from the arts and these things have enriched my life greatly. However, I have yet to rely on my knowledge of poetry, painting, musical structures and dance moves to make decisions that impact my health, safety and welfare, and that of my loved ones’.
That’s why I said math and science are crucial in a way the arts are not. I did not say that the arts are not important at all. They are, but not in a life-and-death way.
I agree with you that the arts education teach other important skills like creative thinking and self-confidence. But STEM education teach these things too, through exploration, discovery, experimentation and observation.
Just to be clear, I certainly believe that both the arts and STEM need to be taught in schools and need to be valued by society. However, the main points I’m trying to get at are:
a) The education system reflects society’s values, so criticising schools for not valuing arts education enough is really missing the point. Society itself does not value the arts enough, and it often is harder to get a job with a liberal arts degree than with a business degree. So why blame the schools for a value system created by society and the job market?
b) Public schools have to work with limited resources. In a perfect world, the schools could teach everything a child needs to develop a bright mind and a rich soul. In reality, schools have to ration their resources and focus on those subjects that a child will really need to survive adulthood. You can get by with a minimal knowledge of Shakespeare, but you can’t get by with a minimal knowledge of the human reproductive system. So should we really blame the education system for valuing STEM more than the arts, or should we instead look at why the education systems in so many countries are underfunded and therefore unable to offer a high quality education in non-critical but still important subjects (ie, the arts)?
c) Children have limited time to learn all that they need to learn. The body of existing human knowledge is larger today than in any other time in history. I know of science professors who worry that STEM education in schools have been watered down so much that kids entering university are ill-prepared for the work they have to do. It seems even STEM education in schools is inadequate as it is. So if we want kids to receive a good quality education in BOTH the arts and sciences, how are we going to manage it?
In my country, we were required to choose at 16 whether to pursue arts or sciences. Choosing early allowed you to specialise and therefore go in-depth into the subject of your interest.
However, almost everyone chose science because if you took science at high school, you could still later switch to law or visual arts or philosophy in university if you wanted to. But if you took art and music, it was extremely hard to switch to chemistry, math and physics in university.
I am critical of this particular quote by Ken Robinson because I hear it so often from so many people – we need to teach more art at school and value it as much as science! It sounds great on the surface, but once you dig deeper you realise the problem is not simply a matter of “rethinking the fundamentals” in education alone. We are limited by the constraints and economics of the real life society that exists outside of the schoolroom.
“That’s why I said math and science are crucial in a way the arts are not. I did not say that the arts are not important at all. They are, but not in a life-and-death way.”
I couldn’t disagree more. As Kurt Vonnegut said, “Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.” I live by what I have learned from music, art, and literature. The decisions I make in parenting, being a citizen, doing my job are informed by math and science, sure, but not nearly as much as they have been shaped by the arts.
And if the society that exists outside of the schoolroom is the kind we get when we teach by the current hierarchy of subjects, it’s time to reverse the hierarchy and see what we get when we put the arts first. It can hardly be worse.
Awesome! Coming from someone who is a terrible dancer (just ask my wife) due to never practicing it, you’ve hit the nail on the head. People at the top who have money want more of it and they haven’t found a way to monetize dancing like they have with math and science. Until we can figure that problem out, we’ll just have to do it in our free time at weddings!
On a side note, there’s some interesting works by Daniel Quinn that talk about the school system as a means to keep qualified people out of the working world so they aren’t taking up the same jobs as their parents. Neat food for thought even though I’m not positive about the substance behind it.
Even science isn’t teach so well, if there is so little scientific mindset among people, else there would be less people believing in charlatans, hoaxes, already debunked conspiracy theories, creationism and so on. Plus fallacies…
Every child has different talents. Some love science, some arts, some languages, but are bored with other subjects. There are important common basis to learn, of course – you need some math, for example – but if everyone has to be great at flying and swimming, you will have dolphins with a broken back and drowned hawks. At most you can teach the dolphins to make nice jumps in the air and ospreys to dive into the water to catch fishes. But let the dolphins to swim more and the hawks to make wonders in the air.
But dance may improve body coordination, sensitivity, sociality with group dances, and it is also a way to express yourself, when you are allowed to be creative and not just to follow specific movements. Dance is underrated in too many schools.
Don’t take me wrong: I loved this comic!
But I think someone need to give credit that same idea was verbatim in “Billy Elliot” 😉
Hey yeah I guess you’re right, although I’ve never seen Billy Elliot
Agree. @GAV, you should watch it then 🙂
Not really. The father in Billy Elliot was very strongly against Billy taking dance. The dad here is very encouraging.
From Sir Ken: https://twitter.com/SirKenRobinson/status/520310996133765121
Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk is one of my favorites of all time. Thanks for taking a creative spin on it.
Science and Maths are important and far too few people, even in well-educated countries, understand them- hence the current trends for climate change denial and anti-vaccine movements; these come out of poor science education and understanding.
A well rounded and complete education is important and the fact that so many school playing fields in the UK are being sold off to balance budgets is terrible. However everyone needs a good grounding in science and math and there is very limited opportunity to learn these out of school- so they should be given priority in school.
I like how the words critique the current state of schools while Gavin creates pictures to provide an optimistic alternative. Gavin is at, or nearly at, the top of his game with his expressive poses, appealing use of color, and subtle storytelling choices (ex. including the teachers in the audience at the end). Superb!
This is the perfect gift for a friend. How can I order it in print / canvas?
I loved this! That TED talk is one of my favourites and I really liked the follow-up one he gave a few years later as well. I’m training to be a teacher now so I’m trying to remember that creativity needs time devoted to it as well! Excellent comic!
BEAUTIFUL! I am a teacher and when I use art to teach English and Spanish, I have angry parents at my classroom door saying that I am wasting their children’s time. Until I show them what the kids can achieve through art…:-)
I’ve got a perfect solution!
See how the teacher noticed the boy’s ability? And then suggests a special school? THAT! That is what we need more of: educators trained to watch for innate interests and abilities COUPLED with an increased number of specialty/vocational training schools.
Got a kid who thinks literature is boring but LOVES shop class? Get him into a vocational school where he can be trained as an electrician (or whatever). He’ll be perfectly trained for a career upon graduating with ZERO COLLEGE DEBT.
This saves on class size, reduces disruption from bored children, and reinvigorates the dying art of trades and apprentices.
i love this history. This is my favority TED talks and Ken Robinson is my mentor. Nice. Very nice.
So true. Just reminded me of my ‘U’ Turn of my life. But that time it was my Sis who guided. And since then I did to many who had come my way. I am sure they are all happy today and settled with more passion towards what they like to do. That’s actual living. Praise the Lord for such Maestro’s of changing the mundane. I too am a TED fan. GOD BLESS Dear KEN ROBINSON.
The quote is absolute truth, and you have illustrated it beautifully. Thank you so much!
I am a teacher, and I totally agreed with this one. Most people (person who actually self-claimed that they are curriculum expert!) generalize the education system without realizing that children comes from different background and interest. The children need to be inspired rather than to be told what they need to do in life.. well done with this one!
Please don’t use the left-brain/right-brain model. It’s a myth based on generalizations after a set of limited experiments. Lateralization does not determine what kind of person you are, and the differences in the functions of the hemispheres are along tiddling specifics – details of a visual object versus overall shape, grammar and literal meaning versus metaphor and verbal implication. Processes like logic are not restricted to one side of the brain; they function through the interplay of many different centers scattered between both halves.
Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814190513.htm
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-theory-cognitive-modes/201401/left-brain-right-brain-wrong
I understand that the belief was only disproved recently, and that you were using it to communicate a message. However, this model is misleading and leads to stereotypes about handedness and trait association that, because they don’t reflect the true workings of the brain, are useless. I must ask that you please not encourage it.
Wow thank you for this . I am currently studying a business science degree double majoring in economics and management but my part time job is as a professional belly dancer.
This comic spoke to me as I also struggled with school and university work having a lovely combo of Aspergers, sensory processing disorder and ADHD. I have found dance to be an amazing outlet for my anxiety and also a vital tool which had enabled me to excel at my studies. I believe that if dance or any type of alternative physical activity was promoted in schools, not just running or team sports, that kids would find it benefiting other facets of their lives. I learned time management from dancing because I had to practice out of class to do well and applied that to my work. I learned how to manage being overwhelmed by new choreography, having to remember fine details from the skeletal movement to the expression on my face and doing something totally out of my comfort zone wearing a skirt and a beaded bra o.0. I applied all this to my work and as a result, I am the happiest I have ever been and I am finally excited about the future.
Thanks again
In German schools, we don’t even have drama or dance, only art and music. At least at every school I know of.
I think it’s in general because grades are so important in every schoolsystem (which I think is rather stupid) and you can’t grade dancing or drama (or art for that matter) very well.
Tell me if yout think i’m wrong here: Right now, our industrie offers a lot of jobs to scientists, engineers, factory workers, sales persons, … Jobs where people mainly work with the left part of their brain. It doesen’t matter if they are professionals in their area of expertise. If not, then they’ll just earn less but still enough. However in art, only the best ones will be able to make a living from their carreer. The reason is, that the majority of people don’t spend much money on art but on the consumption of service and products. Moreover if people spend money on art, they don’t want to listen to a musician that sounds decent or read cartoons that aren’t that entertaining or watch a dancer whos performance is only average. That doesn’t imply that children shouldn’t be able to follow their interests in terms of education before they enter a university. But they should be able to make a turn at any point if their arts career doesn’t take the expected direction.
Felix, I think you have a good point but it seems to me that your argument is still based on the idea that people need to work for money, which (in my view) is exactly the idea that Ken Robinson is opposed to. I think he believes that education should be more about personal fulfillment, rather than being groomed for a life of servitude (to put it bluntly). The assumption that this includes is that if we allow children to work on something they are willing to put their heart and soul into, then the excellence will follow naturally. This is based on the idea that even though you might not be talented, or come from a wealthy background, if you are determined and hard-working, you will reap the (financial) rewards. But those are only secondary: the first and most important reward is to be doing something that you love. It ties in strongly with this argument: https://zenpencils.com/comic/98-alan-watts-what-if-money-was-no-object/
This is easily one of my favourite ted talks ! So glad to see that you’ve used it here.
My daughter has struggled all her life with math, science and writing. She works very hard, however, and is a better mathematician than I ever was in high school. She also studies acting and when she goes outside, her sketchbook is always with her. We have never tried to point her in any direction other than the one she wanted to go. We talk about the future and what it takes to get through the grind and she has a very realistic attitude about what path she may finally take. She will travel that road with the arts in her heart and mind.
I swear, I cry every time I read Zen Pencils. Excellent, thought-provoking quote and beautiful story in the images, as always.
If there’s one thing that isn’t necessarily required of these comics, but still something that disappoints me, is the lack of mention of writing. Now, to be fair, writing could easily be chunked into the languages category of classes, but to me, there’s always been a difference between being able to utilize language, and knowing how to write. Writing (creatively, at least) has always been beyond an art to me, one that many, MANY people indulge in, but never openly support (then again, I live in the bible belt, so I haven’t seen much in the way of artists). I just feel that writing is just as often disregarded as any of the other forms of art, and I’d like to see more support.
I was really impressed with the Maths teacher in this comic, he made everything very clear. Kudos also to the cartoonist for getting the Maths right!
This really resonated with me. thanks for making me cry Gavin 🙂
I don’t know how you do it. Reading the quote text alone doesn’t do anything to me but your illustrations (especially towards the end) always give me goosebumps
Like the comic a lot, though I don’t like the perpetuation of the left brain/right brain myth. That’s been debunked for a while now. People don’t use one side of the brain preferentially and they definitely don’t correspond to something like creative vs analytical. Here’s a helpful link if you’re interested: http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/29/there-is-no-left-brainright-brain-divide/
That one is really great. It is really sad that rulers of the modern age won’t understand or care the importance of real needs of human nature. We are taught to watch some other people while they are dancing, singing or acting but not to do these things with them.
Gavin
Loved this one! (Added to favourites collection)
I could hear the music as he danced because you captured what he heard so wonderfully in his facial expressions!
Beautiful
I think that the whole idea – at least at a younger age – is focused wrong. We should be teaching kids observational skills, such as Kim’s Game, and hearing skills. We should get them started on bi-linguality early, as well as learning to handle various handicaps – blindfolds, earmuffs – and teach them methods of communication that are used with those handicaps – sign language, braille, morse code. We need to start teaching them *EARLY* martial arts/self-defense, and the philosophy that goes with it, as well as gymnastics (to teach how to move properly) and dance (for teamwork that doesn’t involve bashing other people’s heads in). Teach them how to watch out for con games and other methods of fraud and propaganda. Classes should be as cross-disciplinary as possible – history of science and how world events affected science – and vice-versa (James Burke’s Connections series are good for this!) Papers graded by the language arts teacher, and written in two languages. Science discussing quantitative sooner, instead of the almost purely qualitative classes done in the lower grades. (A huge amount of science can be done with pure arithmetic, and algebra is mostly just Box + 2 = 5, what is box?) Math classes, while needing to develop operations, should have a lot of exploration of recreational math, as well. Break up subjects into smaller segments, and use short video lectures – and have a variety of those lectures available, so if one doesn’t work for a student on a particular concept, another slightly different explanation might (and perhaps track which ones work best for which students, and data mine that to predict which ones to present next). Intentionally focus on developing mnemonics – Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me, Conjunction Junction, the video segments of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 for music appreciation. A lot of work, and a major shift in how education is done – but the goal would be to create competent humans with the skills to get more skills, and to actually perceive the universe around them.
150,000.
That’s how many people die every day. I understand that humanity is not a machine, we need music, art, dancing, and things to live for. I get it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it makes sense to focus as much of our energy that we can to fixing the multitude of problems we suffer as a species. Starvation, disease, old age. Death.
This means giving a higher priority to science education than to art education. It’s not fair for the naturally, artistically-inclined, but reality isn’t fair. I dream of a future where people can be who they want to fully, can devote all their attention to the passions that move them. The world isn’t like that right now, so the potential of children needs to be directed more towards things that can move it towards that point, rather than towards the things that make life beautiful. We must survive before we can thrive.
here is the thing: most people dont WANT to dance on school. the ones that do take dancing lessons or whatever. in fact, if you want to dance, you can do that any time you want, and learn it any time you want, regardless if you are 10 or 50. maths and stuff? thats easyer to learn when you are young. also, how many people earn money with dancing? now compare it to people earning money with those things like logic, language and analythical tought. did dance help improving healthcare? did dance help make this site that you are viewing this on? if someone wants to dance, please dance as much as he/she wants. and yes, people can earn their living by dancing. but people also love to play video games, and can earn money by doing that, should we put a gaming class in schools too? dancing, like gaming, like playing a instrument, like art, is first and foremost a hobby, a passion someone has. and when someone has that passion, they should be encouraged to develop it, obviously. but dont make it mandatory. only a select few people can earn their living by following their hobby like that, and revising the school system will not change that. you will just end up with a ton of people who are all trying to get those select few jobs in their passion, and with less skills to support themselves then is the case now. the way the educational system is now, with a focus on logic and intelligence, shows what is needed in the world, and dance isnt one of them.
Gah. I cried when the dad threw his son up in the air in happiness
YEEEEES! I have been saying this for so long, our education system needs to change completely.
It also shouldn’t be based on a ‘winners / losers’ scenario which is finalised by tests that create a hierachy system between us and competitiveness where their shouldn’t necessarily be.
I can’t wait til this happens, hopefully by the time my kids are there.
Great job for putting it out there Gav.
bring tears to my eyes, gav!
This… teared me up, quite literally. Beautiful message and, as usual, a beautiful way to present it.
Wonderful as always, but please refrain from referring to the left/right brain myth. It kinda spoils the enjoyment for me. Here is a link you can read more about it. http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/more-left-brain-right-brain-nonsense/
While this sounds like a great idea, mommies, like my sister, would wonder why my child is learning how to dance when they’re having problems learning how to read or do fractions. There’s only so much time in a day that teachers are given in order to teach children. In that time, about 1/3 of the day is spent trying to get children to focus on the lessons so we don’t get fired. I would love to give my students 5 minutes every hour to learn something creative, but the administration would absolutely freak! Plus, keep in mind, that many children don’t want to dance in front of other children for fear they’ll be made fun of by their peers. Some would feel more comfortable dancing in their own rooms with the door shut, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But by adding dance to the curriculum, you’re now forcing teachers to force the children to dance while in the presence of others which may prove to be a negative move for some children.
Totally agree! “Schooling” came from WWI Germany where they were brainwashing kids into robots. Then the whole “industrial” world picked up the system, but how wrong it it!
I think Sir Ken R. would agree that the most important thing to teach children and adolescents is how to learn. Creativity itself. Without that, you can teach children as many facts about the reproductive system or how to do fractions as you like, but they will never be able to think outside of the box enough to solve some of “the multitude of problems we suffer as a species. Starvation, disease, old age. Death” to quote Anonymous (see above). By arguing for math/science over drama/dance you are still putting education into the tidy little boxes the industrialist model of education created for us that, I would argue, Sir Ken wants us to stop thinking in terms of.
Sooo… No one is allowed to say anything wrong about the comic on this website ? I haven’t seen any negative comments and frankly, in the world we live in, that is impossible…
You mean you missed the whole Miyazaki vs crit…I mean TROLLS arc? Now considering that the author has creative control to remove coments, you can already picture where this is going.
I am so intrigued by your adaptation of Sir Ken Robinson Ted talk, I watched the TED video before now and it was on my phone for couple of weeks, this is an amazing education for all especially using your cartoon.
Honestly, I like the art like always, but this quote is a load of crap. Art is nice and important just like dance is, we’ve had it since the cave paintings and it’s always going to be a part of human culture. But in all actuality, can someone really argue that the person making said paintings was more important than the one doing the hunting, perfecting the spears, or teaching the children which animals to hunt and such? Can we argue that painters/dancers/musicians are more important than the person developing a number and language system? I for one refuse to believe that self expression is comparable in importance to than a Polio Vaccine or modern space exploration; it’s not even a close contest
I get the intent behind this quote, but phrases like “I think math is very important, but so is dance” is disingenuous and it’s hard for me to take seriously.
Go back a few thousand years, when many women died in childbirth, infants from disease, the rest of us from poor sanitation, freezing to death, starving, etc. Now think about modern society.
What’s the difference? Was it dance? Cavemen probably danced around a fire quite a bit.
Look: dance, sing, enjoy life. That’s great, and fun, and I like it too. But let’s not pretend those skills are on the same level as others.
The quote does not claim dance performs the same function as math and solves problems math is needed for. It is not literally equating dance with math in the way the quote is being interpreted negatively.
Rather, it is asserting that the arts should not be devalued in the face of “practical” subjects. Art and practicality go hand-in-hand. Dance is a -reason- to survive. Math is a -way- to survive. Society has become very good at churning out people who may be skilled at something practical but have no real purpose in life or even an idea of why they’re doing anything. It’s a reason why so many turn to desperate measures like substance abuse or latch on to religion fanatically.
The arts are in fact very important. They are essentially the “science of why”.
Thanks for sharing this Post, exactly what I was looking for. Keep Updating such topics.
Ah, this is fantastic! Such a powerful point and beautifully made. Particularly relevant to schools in the UK and Ireland, unfortunately.
Gav, I think this comic is great and resonates with me a little although not in the way you would think. I am actually one not for dance or expression in that sense but I’m passionate about math and science. The main difference between me and the topic of your comic is that I was never pushed towards those disciplines, I only gravitated towards them since a very young age.
However this comic drives a vastly important point which you make very clear and I completely agree with. School systems do a horrible job in doing anything else outside math and science and I have many friends who just entered the education system who would agree with you. Maybe if they did more in the fine and performing arts we would have a more rich culture like other countries do I wouldn’t be so awkward on the dance floor!
Keep up the AMAZING work! I actually found myself constantly revisiting this comic (as I do for most of your comics). I love the work you do. I’ve been following Zen Pencils for a while now and honestly your comics have not only helped inspire and motivate me but a few of them have helped me through some bad times including a bad break up. But I somehow always found solace in every one of your comics. Thank you very much. This is my first comment but I hope to give many more in the future.
You made me cry, its a beautiful comic, im truly grateful for your work.
Don’t judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree – Einstein
I think Einstein’s grammar was better than this………”ITS ability”……
I’m currently a junior in college, studying to become an elementary school teacher. The common core being implemented scares me that I won’t be able to change much like I want to, like not being able to find alternative methods to test taking, applying the lessons taught to real life, etc. Of course, I also criticize myself for not being smarter, you know the whole creating an image, and this image is a teacher being a teacher because he/she is smart. Ken Robinson is awesome, I’d love to follow what he thinks is best.
This comic is awesome to go along with what Ken Robinson has put out there. If only America cared more about emphasizing education. Parents say it, politicians say it, but nobody actually does anything to do so. Tax cuts, and lack of studies on children older than preschool, which already has gotten into that, won’t fix the school system.
I love your drawings, but if everybody followed Robinson’s dream, there would be millions of unemployed ballet dancers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AGfkiwwF6s
your topic is great
I just wanted to clarify for the sake of science that mathematics is predominantly a right hemisphere function. There are of course outliers!
This does not in anyway impact the message!
Love the comics. Inspiring and motivating.
Thank you!
Schools kill creativity because modern world does not need so much creativity. It needs useful goods and services, not lots and lots of unemployed cartoonists and dancers. And the one and only truly useful creativity is that of an engineer creating technology and improving world around him, not some artist providing idle entertainment to the masses.
As for mathematics being on top of “the same hierarchy of subjects” – well let me provide another quote for you: “Mathematics should be learnt, because it brings order to your mind.” – Mikhail Lomonosov. It (by itself) has nothing to do with industrialization and “mining your minds”. To deny human an access to mathematics is to diminish that human.
Any subjects or jobs require creativity. Creativity is the use of imagination/original ideas to produce something useful. Creativity is also closely linked to divergent thinking which is the ability to see many alternative answers to a problem/question in contrary to convergent thinking, which is the mindset that schools teaches – there’s only one answer and it’s at the back of the textbook.
….and the irony is…
..that the latin, ballrooom and swing dance classes and clubs (here in Berlin anyway) are overflowing with former school kids who are now passionate about wanting to make up for lost dance floor time (me included)
I think this is a really important text but the way you have visualised dance betrays the same kind of devaluation dance that Robinson decries.
Dance is so much more than ballet or the other traditional forms listed on the blackboard.
And so dance is not valuable, not because ballet is highly valued by soe people, but because dancing and making dances involves a range of intellectual, emotional and physical thinking. Thinking that runs through all human endeavours (by virtue if the fact that we all have bodies).
Perhaps a near equivalent argument is that children should be taught critical thinking, not because they will go on to be philosophers, but because it will hope how they do all other things.
I guess the irony is that because dance doesn’t get much exposure beyond highly codified, traditionally and commercial forms it’s quite hard to picture what else dance can be.
I’ve come back to this comic several times. The three frames where the father realizes his son likes dancing, looks down, and then picks him up with a smile makes me tear up every time. Every time. And then just as I begin to stop, the father tearing up in the theater gets me going again.
Well done!
well, this just doesn’t ring a bell in Havana. we love salsa!
I used to be a drama teacher, and one of my favorite things was to discover these totally down and out crushed by the system kids who were brilliant at creating stories or preforming improv or acting. I would tell them, “You can be a brilliant salesman someday. You could be a creative director. You could write tv commercials. You are funny and talented and great and I’m going to give you the first “A” of your life.” Also, my son struggle to sit for 5 hours a day in school and I get complaints from his teacher, but his tap dance teacher says he’s a star and a natural, so I’ve seen this from both sides of the coin now. We need to give students more opportunity to try a variety of things, not pump more math and science into them (unless that is their thing).
Thanks you for the poster 🙂
well, this just doesn’t ring a bell in Havana. we love salsa!
Any subjects or jobs require creativity. Creativity is the use of imagination/original ideas to produce something useful. Creativity is also closely linked to divergent thinking which is the ability to see many alternative answers to a problem/question in contrary to convergent thinking, which is the mindset that schools teaches – there’s only one answer and it’s at the back of the textbook.
I think this is a really important text but the way you have visualised dance betrays the same kind of devaluation dance that Robinson decries.
You made me cry, its a beautiful comic, im truly grateful for your work.
Everywhere On Earth. Ring Ring Ring hehehe 😀
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This is incredible; thank you so much. <3
Bullshit. We have dance university in all major cities in my country.
Another perspective :
I am a teacher. I struggle with kids not having well rounded knowledge. Look at the people who can not connect the dots with climate change. The general population thinks ‘lets just recycle’ the plastic. Chemistry in school teaches you that each polymer like pVC can be remoulded at most 7 times. Without the education, they may not even think about these things in the stressful lives we lead.
Learning science/math is absolutely essential for fundamentals when really young. The current curriculum was designed to teach some fundamentals in fields that are absolutely essential to create a functioning society.
That being said, art makes people happy. Absolutely essential too. But I disagree with cutting off the subjects that the students are not interested in at a very young stage. There is a good chance they will never learn these things. They may be very very good at dancing and make the millions. But each citizen should care for the planet and understand a few things for collective welfare.
Separate school from state, and all sorts of options become available. So long as the schools are in the hands of government, all decisions will be political in nature, and will meet the demands of the most organized special interests.
It’s funny that I’m a maths teacher and I’ve always found this inspiring. I teach mathematics because I find the way numbers and puzzles interconnect strangely beautiful, and I love sharing that with the world and making pupil feel confident in a skill that they are conditioned to disconnect as “uncool”. There’s no better thrill than discussing where their sports statistics come from, or how discounts work in a supermarket and pupils going “oh that’s interesting”.
And yet everything Ken says (beautifully brought to life in visual by the way) is bang on. The system of hierarchical education is flawed and outdated. I will have many students who will never be great mathematicians or enjoy the subject. And that’s perfectly ok, because they’ll be great dancers, or technicians, or leaders. Education should let them find out what drives and excites them rather than what they are told they need. So that’s why I teach, so I can motivate the next set of mathematicians, and hopefully give the next generation far greater skill and understanding the nature of numbers. Then world issues such as the greed of the economy crash could be avoided.
I just wish the system was less academic and supported these ideals, then I would be working with the system instead of around it to engage with my students. Cheers Gavin, for the insparation to write out these thoughts of mine.
No one has talked about the importance of teaching biology and the earth sciences which, to my mind, are as important an adjuvent as maths.
Hilarious & True!
One should Not feel “Aghcward” about loving to dance…
This is sooo true. I was a certified dance teacher by the time I was 16, after having danced for all of my life and student teaching since I was 12. At the end of 11th grade when I was called in to guidance at school to choose the next year’s classes, my guidance counselor asked me what my plans were for the future. I told him I wanted to open my own dance studio. He mockingly replied, “You want to be a DANCE teacher?!” and then he went on to insinuate what a waste that was for a gifted student. I never took my dream as seriously thereafter, and, in fact, I didn’t even finish one semester of the college where I was majoring in Theater and Speech because my heart was no longer in it. Today I have 11 children and have not taught a single one of them how to dance. Not one.
very good good luck
Ah yes, there’s nothing better than seeing your son’s junk through tights as he dances around
This is amazing
I love the talk from sir Ken Robinson.
The comic is wonderful and I take the final scene is an homage to another great ending…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mAreOe6e-Ae
With the mentioning of ADHD in your comments “He gives the example of Gillian Lynne, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, who as a student was terrible at school and most likely would have been diagnosed with ADHD today.”
ADHD is not something terrible to be diagnosed with. You may be thinking of the limited treatment options.
Many people diagnosed with ADHD have gone on to schools more fitting for them and their abilities, or skill sets. Many have seen success.
Please, don’t use the idea that ‘they would have been diagnosed with ADHD’ as some opposition to creative and active children – in fact, it’s a diagnosis that can be uplifting and supportive of getting them out of a terrible school environment.
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great share my friend thanks
many thanks to you man
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Continuu
What an amazing world we would live in, full of dancers and no one to build a house, make food or clothes, doctors and scientists…
Get real peole. I fully support one should follow his dreams. It is another thing to have a mass education system focused on non-productive education.
The dirty truth… don’t follow your passion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o
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Thank you Gavin for your “SIR KEN ROBINSON: Full body education” comic post
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ou Gavin for your omic post
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Thanks for this
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True 🙂
Wields up tears of joy in being understood, to the soul who feels the same way 🙂
thanks for this article
i read and re-read this several times. wonderful, amazing art! every panel is carefully thought out! i love it!
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