Scan barcode
A review by alundeberg
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson
4.0
If you have ever been to a major teaching conference, you have probably heard of Ken Robinson. He is usually a keynote speaker, or someone else who is the keynote speaker will play his TED Talk. Robinson's goal in life is to transform education by helping people find their passion-- or "element". The "element" is what drives you, gives you personal satisfaction, and meaning to your life. This book is partly self-help and an educational call to action by showing how you, yourself, can find and cultivate your element and how the educational system can do better to provide more opportunities for students to find their passions. He uses many anecdotes from famous people and from amateurs to show how they have found and developed their element.
His argument about education is how our move to more and more standardized testing, teaching to the test, cutting or limiting arts programs, and creating a hierarchy of subjects is disenfranchising many, many students, and school is the typically the last place where one is going to find their element. For many, school is incredibly boring and a waste of time. Robinson wrote this book over ten years ago, and from my stand point as a high school teacher, the problem has only gotten worse with the advent of on-line, test-driven curriculum. If you have seen the English curriculum, full of excerpts and random lessons that do not build on another, you know that it is not inspiring a love of English in students. In addition, districts and school boards are enforcing the use of chrome books and technology over research that shows that students' exposure to technology should be limited and using electronic devices does not improve learning outcomes. Students need engaging, passionate, and inspiring teachers; it's hard to be any of those when there is a chrome book screen creating a barrier between teachers and students. The "banking model" of education, as coined by Paulo Freire, is still very much in use.
I completely agree with Robinson that the educational system needs to be transformed. Many educational policies are designed to meet some random data point rather than meeting students' needs. School SHOULD be a place where students discover their passions, and for some it is. The problem with Robinson's argument about schools is that the paths to finding one's element are as diverse as there are people. Based on his many examples, finding the element occurs by happenstance; it is love at first sight. It's very random and it seems to require exposure to a great many things. One person had a teacher who showed him how to weld, and his element is welding; another walked into a pool hall and discovered a passion for billiards. There is no tried and true method to finding one's element-- it's very much the luck of the draw. School is one place where one can find it, some of us are born knowing what it is (I feel like I was born to be a teacher, a reader, and a writer), but some people need to have a wide variety of experiences or a willing mentor to help them find it. If they do not have the right people in their lives or the ability to have a lot of experiences, they may never find it.
The part that resonated with me the human being, and not me the teacher, is his focus on being an amateur. Many of us equate amateurs as not good enough to do the "real" thing, but he shows how amateurs can often be as good as or better than those who do whatever it is they do professionally. The difference between amateurs and professionals is that they choose to not be professionals. This made me feel a lot better. Many people tell me I should be a writer, but here I am writing this review. I imagine that to many "being a writer" equals publishing, but that sounds like a lot of work and no fun. Others tell me I should write about my travels or teaching experiences, but again, that takes some of the fun out of it. I want to write when I have something to say, not write "The Ten Best Things To Do In Marrakesh". If I am an amateur, I can write about whatever I want, beholden to nobody.
This book is definitely worth a read or listen (he narrates it and he has a delightful British accent), because whether or not we find our element, he helps us to understand how we might foster it in others. And that is at least as important as us finding our own.
His argument about education is how our move to more and more standardized testing, teaching to the test, cutting or limiting arts programs, and creating a hierarchy of subjects is disenfranchising many, many students, and school is the typically the last place where one is going to find their element. For many, school is incredibly boring and a waste of time. Robinson wrote this book over ten years ago, and from my stand point as a high school teacher, the problem has only gotten worse with the advent of on-line, test-driven curriculum. If you have seen the English curriculum, full of excerpts and random lessons that do not build on another, you know that it is not inspiring a love of English in students. In addition, districts and school boards are enforcing the use of chrome books and technology over research that shows that students' exposure to technology should be limited and using electronic devices does not improve learning outcomes. Students need engaging, passionate, and inspiring teachers; it's hard to be any of those when there is a chrome book screen creating a barrier between teachers and students. The "banking model" of education, as coined by Paulo Freire, is still very much in use.
I completely agree with Robinson that the educational system needs to be transformed. Many educational policies are designed to meet some random data point rather than meeting students' needs. School SHOULD be a place where students discover their passions, and for some it is. The problem with Robinson's argument about schools is that the paths to finding one's element are as diverse as there are people. Based on his many examples, finding the element occurs by happenstance; it is love at first sight. It's very random and it seems to require exposure to a great many things. One person had a teacher who showed him how to weld, and his element is welding; another walked into a pool hall and discovered a passion for billiards. There is no tried and true method to finding one's element-- it's very much the luck of the draw. School is one place where one can find it, some of us are born knowing what it is (I feel like I was born to be a teacher, a reader, and a writer), but some people need to have a wide variety of experiences or a willing mentor to help them find it. If they do not have the right people in their lives or the ability to have a lot of experiences, they may never find it.
The part that resonated with me the human being, and not me the teacher, is his focus on being an amateur. Many of us equate amateurs as not good enough to do the "real" thing, but he shows how amateurs can often be as good as or better than those who do whatever it is they do professionally. The difference between amateurs and professionals is that they choose to not be professionals. This made me feel a lot better. Many people tell me I should be a writer, but here I am writing this review. I imagine that to many "being a writer" equals publishing, but that sounds like a lot of work and no fun. Others tell me I should write about my travels or teaching experiences, but again, that takes some of the fun out of it. I want to write when I have something to say, not write "The Ten Best Things To Do In Marrakesh". If I am an amateur, I can write about whatever I want, beholden to nobody.
This book is definitely worth a read or listen (he narrates it and he has a delightful British accent), because whether or not we find our element, he helps us to understand how we might foster it in others. And that is at least as important as us finding our own.