Seth on Education

Every once in a while I simply embed a single video as a blog post. It’s not because I’m lazy, but rather because I truly feel the video should get as much exposure as possible. This latest one is a TEDx speech delivered by one my favourite business/marketing authors and speakers, Seth Godin. The topic is Education, the title is “Stop Stealing Dreams”. In the video Seth challenges the traditional education system and asks a simple question: “What is education for?”. I find it builds nicely on the ideas set forth by Sir Ken Robinson in his 2006 “Schools Kill Creativity” speech, which I’m sure most of you have seen. Seth’s speech struck a particular chord with me since last week I became a father and will soon be making education related decisions for my own son.  In my opinion, there is no easy solution as the educational system (especially higher ed) is intertwined deeply in business and politics. That being said, I feel a massive revamp is already under way. Slowly but surely through efforts like the Khan Academy and MIT’s Open CourseWare project, things are changing. Even looking at the teaching styles and curriculum at local Montessori and/or private schools in my area , the latest research is starting to trickle down to the classroom. The real question is, when will this hit the public school system, which the vast majority of the population is exposed to?