During the past week of classes we have learned many things and new ideas. Those ideas that were taught to us by our teachers and they should be taken as the truth. Yes I know some teachers have made mistakes or you might not have understood what was going on but all in all everyone is doing the same thing and learning the same material. Now if you look to your right and left you may see classmates, if you are reading this in your boring class, or a colleague that you may have a secret crush on at work but you will never go talk to them. You think that you two are very different from each other to ever work out. The truth is that you aren't that different. Take your life as an example. Put yourself in your own shoes. You wake up and get ready for the day ahead of you. Your brain already has a pretty good understanding what will happen today and certain events that occur because you have been through this a million times already. The thing is that it isn't just you that goes through this monotonous process. Everyone around the world does this. But why? Well in school we were all taught the same material in the same way by the same set of standards. This has gone on for generations. The current teachers were taught the same way as well. By using this method of teaching throughout any children's life their creativity is destroyed. Not shaped but completely destroyed. These profound ideas are shown by the TED talk given by Professor Ken Robinson. Throughout his speech, given near the end of the TED week, he uses personal stories, jokes and powerful statements to get the audience and the viewers interested in what he is talking about. He explains how schools shape individuals into the same person no matter their interest or hobbies. So when you step back to see the real picture do you really see the world through your eyes or see what teachers and school have told you to look for?

This TED talk has 37 million views from 2006 and jumped 500 views while I was writing this paper. The reason why this is the top viewed TED talk is the topic and how Professor Robinson challenges the norm. He talks about how everyone has talents and the world squashes them. Actually very ruthlessly. Ken goes on to say that if you want to become an artist or a musician you will never get a job doing that because that is how the world is laid out. Schools have a hierarchy that has the mathematics and sciences at the top while the arts are down below. Even within the arts there is ranking there. Music and singing are at the top over drama. Now all over the world you would think that it is different but it isn't. Teachers and the school system put us into a mold that back then worked for the future generation. That future generation has pasted now. In the present I don't believe that it will work. 

In the comment section I have looked back for about 5 months and have only seen comments that agree with his TED talk or people saying that they wish they found the talk sooner. The people that watch this video tend to fully support him and want to make a difference in the school system. A major problem with changing something all over the world is that it takes time. Now this talk was given in February 2006 so it has almost been 10 years. Many people are still behind this idea or discovering this talk for the first time. How do we change the system though? People are willing to put in the 

work to change it but will it change fast enough? Not only does Professor Robinson challenge the way we look at schools with his talks he provides stories to back him up. 

Professor Robinson starts one of his story with a little girl. The girl would never pay attention in class, could never keep still and was annoying the other kids. One day the mom took her to a therapist to see what was wrong. The doctor told the little girl to stay there as he talks to the mom for bit outside. When he leaves he turns the radio on. Once outside the doctor and mom notice that the girl gets up and starts to dance. The doctor says to take her to a dance school because she can't learn like normal children. This worked and now that girl graduated from the Royal Ballet School, wrote and directed many famous Broadway plays and is known around the world. . Now if that same thing happened today the doctor would have said "It is probably ADHD" and given her some medicine. This is exactly what schools do to kids. They try to teach the same thing to different kids and it doesn't work. So then the kids get mad and frustrated because they don't understand. 

When I first saw this in Dayton, Ohio it was a drum line show that had this TED talk incorporated as the main theme. Back then I did not know that the show was based on it. Very recently I just wanted to hear the voice overs in the show and happened to stumble across this talk. When watching the show again and again via YouTube the performers and color schemes work together to produce something more visual than the TED talk itself. When Professor Robinson is talking he doesn't talk with his hands very often or even dance around the stage. With the drumline putting this idea with movement and colors it helps people visualize what Ken Robinson is really talking about. 

Throughout the TED talk to keep people awake or just keep them interesting Ken Robinson incorporates many jokes into the talk. For starters he opens with a joke. He walks onto the stage says "Good morning.  How are you? It's been great hasn't it? I've been blown away by the whole thing. In fact, I'm leaving." By showing that he is funny then talks about one of the biggest problems that the future has he opens himself up for the audience to listen. He then talks about how he moved from Stratford to L.A. and how seamlessly it was. When a speaker lets the audience in to their personal life you are able to really get a feel that you are connecting with them. This is a big part of why speeches can be very pervasive. When letting the audience see different sides of you other than just a person talking you can start to fully understand what they are talking about and conceptualize what the main point is. 

Professor Robinson has other TED talks posted on the TED website but they only have 5 to 6 million views. With his background as a teacher along with many TED talks he portrays himself as a reputable guy. Looking at his bio on the TED website shows many more accomplishments. He has been knighted and has wrote many books that have been translated into 21 different languages. Although he isn't as famous or as known as Bill Gates everyone that watches his talks never forget them. 

With all of his accolades, jokes paired into the TED talk and how he composed the speech Professor Robinson makes us question how schools should work. When people watch this talk, or at least for me, they agree with him. How could you not agree that the current school system is broken? You can't. By picking an argument that most people are for and then shaping it in a way that is easy to understand there will be nothing to stand in your way. The only problem though is that our creativity now is so mangled and twisted we are not the same person as we were a year ago.


