Sir Ken Robinson says Public Education Kills Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson is author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, and a leading expert on innovation and human resources. In this talk, he makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. (Recorded February, 2006 at TED 2006)

Watch the video.

Sign the "First Freedom First" Petition

Established in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, religious liberty -- the right of individuals to worship or not -- was and is a defining American value. Often referred to as the "first freedom," this constitutionally guaranteed right is the foundation for the separation of church and state. This separation protects us from undue religious influence in government and undue government intervention in religion and private decision-making. We recognize that the wall separating government and religion is being eroded, and so is our right to make personal decisions.

We invite you to join us! Be a part of First Freedom First. Protect our religious liberty and separation of church and state. Sign the petition and encourage others to join you. Together we can send a powerful, resounding message -- safeguard the first freedom!

First Freedom First is a partnership of two organizations -- The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

A Great Creative American Offers Graduates Great Advice

Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford University on June 12. He told the graduates:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary...

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

Read the full address at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Connect With Tom

I've set up a MySpace account to link to other progressive change agents and creative professionals who are interested in issues of leadership, civic engagement and community change. Won't you be my Friend at at http://www.myspace.com/tomtee?

You can subscribe to an RSS feed for this blog by setting your reader to
http://www.tresser.com/blog/atom.xml.