The Power of Potential

I can't remember experiencing a more confronting and thought-provoking moment than when I clicked on Jim's link http://jimturrell.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/blog-post.html?spref=fb ... with some skepticism, mind, as the image of a hard-work-averse "Down with National Standards Brigade" marched through my mind.

The aha moment came swiftly and set me on a fast rewind through all those years of dead-end conditioning that I'd never recognized, let alone questioned.  It shined my ignorance in lights.  I knew about accelerated learning, and that made sense.  But as Sir Ken Robinson's eloquent piece suggests, it's much bigger and deeper than "we're all different and make our connections under individual sets of conditions."  In fact, we all may be in danger of being dumbed down by that elixir-of-success set of learnings we're meant to be committing to in order to be "smart" and survive in this world.  Which world was that exactly?  If you were to conduct your business with a 200 year old template - even 20 years old - before the Information Superhighway and now the Cloud blasted into our lives and our homes, you'd be mad and you'd make no money.  So why are the colourful and ripe brains of our future entrepreneurs being forcibly hijacked come age five. Take a look at what Sir Ken has to say.  But for now, it's heartening to see that perhaps by instinctive coincidence, I'm not sure - maybe it's just me that needs some educating - Limehills is ticking many of the boxes that he advocates.  And there's nothing more exciting than a bunch of kids around a boardroom table using the power of the group dynamic to set off a storm of creativity so much higher and wider than the nice neat parameters that made our forebears feel secure and worthy.