Once a year about 1000 of some of the greatest minds in the world come together in one place to discuss issues that are greatly impacting our world. Some day I would love to attend these "world meetings of thought" on a fairly regular basis - in fact I would love to take my boys on "field trips" there every year (when they're a few years older of course). Thankfully, the internet allows access to all this information for those of us unable to attend. :) Since I am very interested in the importance of real education this particular talk (and ones like it) ring very true to me. I realize that not many people will actually have the time to watch this entire presentation - despite how good it is (it is about 18 minutes long) - but for anyone who happens to have the time I encourage you to lend an ear to what Sir Ken Robinson has to say. The point he makes about the importance of creativity in education is one of the big reasons I choose to educate my children at home. I place a large emphasis on the ability to think and create for ourselves because I believe that this is what is going to be the biggest necessity for the future - that and the knowledge of history, literature, music, and art to pull ideas from to be creative with. My boys have never had their minds stunted by rote memorization or peer/teacher negativity (for lack of a better word). They have the entire world of thoughts and knowledge available to them, and they are already showing amazing analytical abilities - it is truly amazing to see what the human mind is capable of doing when it is free AND informed. I have no doubt that my boys will be able to contribute greatly to society as adults - despite their challenges.

What would this world be like if every child had the opportunity to learn like this? It is a really intriguing thought - if every adult knew how to think, and had the knowledge to pull from to do it wisely - what would the world look like? I can't help but think that the huge problems our world societies face would seem much smaller. Nothing would seem impossible because any problem would be immediately deemed "solve-able" just because it existed in the first place. If we could get all these "thought-educated" children together as adults they could change the world...

On a side note, any "thought-educating" mothers out there might want to look into Connexions - a world wide knowledge base. It is amazing - you can find educational materials for any subject from engineering mathmathics, to music semantics. Also, the Creative Commons is a place full of "share-able" knowledge that is free to be mixed and used in any way. Pretty amazing world we live in!! :)

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