I think he is absolutely right. I believe education has a certain intrinsic and personal value, which should not be understood merely in terms of compensation and utility. If you go to school because it's going to lead to a decent-paying job, then I think you're probably wasting your time. I see getting a good job as incidental to pursuing some kind of personal interest, not as the reason for it.
On another note, it seems to me that following on Robinson's recommendations would mean increasing the number of aesthetically based classes, but also increasing the amount of science and philosophy classes we offer students. I say this because I can't think of anything more creative, and which requires more personal inspiration and creativity than thinking critically and coming up with original answers to problems previously thought of as unsolvable.
It's easy to come up with science fiction stories, literature, or religious stories in which some obscure god talks to his people through a burning bush. It requires a much higher level of originality, I think, to come up with ideas such as Einstein's relativity or Darwin's theory of evolution through natural section. These ideas are not simply more creative, however; they are also better equipped to explain our experience of the world, so they are better on every possible respect: objectively better, and subjectively more inspired.
Anyway, the presentation is definitely worth everyone's time, and if you are at all interested in education, you should keep his insights in the back of your mind for the rest of your lives.
.
On another note, it seems to me that following on Robinson's recommendations would mean increasing the number of aesthetically based classes, but also increasing the amount of science and philosophy classes we offer students. I say this because I can't think of anything more creative, and which requires more personal inspiration and creativity than thinking critically and coming up with original answers to problems previously thought of as unsolvable.
It's easy to come up with science fiction stories, literature, or religious stories in which some obscure god talks to his people through a burning bush. It requires a much higher level of originality, I think, to come up with ideas such as Einstein's relativity or Darwin's theory of evolution through natural section. These ideas are not simply more creative, however; they are also better equipped to explain our experience of the world, so they are better on every possible respect: objectively better, and subjectively more inspired.
Anyway, the presentation is definitely worth everyone's time, and if you are at all interested in education, you should keep his insights in the back of your mind for the rest of your lives.
.
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