In my work I meet many people and many of them have trusted me enough to tell me about their life. One of the saddest things for me is to see people feeling like their unique talents have not been recognized. Or that they feel all their life they have not been “themselves”.
Looking back, I feel lucky that I have “survived” education and conditioning enough that I am now following my own path. But it has not been easy.
Our competitive environment here in Hong Kong is not known for encouraging creativity or from being different from what is accepted. Or what I hear a lot from parents is, “I don’t mind my children being creative, but if they are going to be an artist they have to be ‘successful’…”
Fair enough, that parents don’t want their children to not be able to take care of themselves… But how is our education assessing talent? Are we as a society encouraging creativity and left-right-brain integration? Are we helping people to be the best they can be?
Here is one of the most watched talks on Ted and to be one of the most entertaining and profound as well.
A must watch for parents, or anyone concerned about our education.
Ken Robinson has a book called The Element which goes into more details about the subject he presents here, with real life cases.
anita on wellness 