Dear Readers,
My daughter Rebecca recently sent me the following link regarding how educational paradigms are being challenged across the globe. This is due to countless factors, but for those who have chosen to depart from institutionalized education, to create their own educational experience, I think you’ll find this talk by Sir Ken Robinson inspiring, challenging, and motivational. Robinson is the author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, which is on my book list for summer reading. His talk on new educational paradigms seems timely for me personally, as I have determined to devote this summer to a neglected pursuit of the arts in our home. I intend to intentionally pursue music, drawing, art history, and literature in a new and fresh way. Robinson’s presentation has further convinced me of the importance of the arts and I think you’ll see why. One thing he notes is that children are being anesthetized in unprecedented numbers through the overuse of Ritalin; this presumably to enable them “to learn.” But Robinson notes that the opposite of anesthetization is aesthetic experience. This occurs through the arts (and even through science and math) when the human faculties are totally engaged, “senses are operating at their peak . . . when you’re resonating with the excitement of the thing you’re experiencing . . . when you’re fully alive.” This is what art, drama, music, and literature can do for us, and should do for us. So by way of encouragement, consider how you might devote this summer to a pursuit of the kinds of engagement that Robinson advocates here. Remember that the parts of the brain developed through engagement with the arts, can eventually help to build the capacity for those lagging academic connections. And even if that were not true, the emotional and spiritual connection provided by times of renewal, reflection, and refreshment through art, will be a beautiful end in and of itself. Here is the link. Let me know what you think!
