A few years ago, Sir Ken Robinson, knighted in 2003 for his achievement in creativity, education and arts, stated this in one of his talks on Do Schools Kill Creativity:
“Children born this year will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue what the world will be like in five years despite all the expertise (in education) discussed during the last four days (in an educational convention). Yet we are meant to be educating them for it.”
He goes on to say that “the unpredictability of the future is extraordinary”. It is a preamble to his next statement: “We have all agreed nonetheless on the extraordinary capacity that all children have”.
When I received an email from a parent stating, “We will see if this (Kumon) is right for our child”, I decided to further my research on the subject of what Kumon can do for children that they can’t learn in school. As if to guide me in my research I read in today’s Vancouver Sun a report by Janet Steffenhagen indicating that Sir Ken has been invited to speak at the BC Teacher’s Federation in Victoria today. This is how the Vancouver columnist describes Sir Ken’s topic:
“Sir Ken has attained near rock-star status for his engaging talks about the inadequacies of public schools and the death of creativity.
It’s an appealing message for those who fear today’s classrooms are not preparing students for the 21st century but are uncertain about the way forward.”
For more than 23 years, we have had more than 12,000 students come to our centre and one overwhelming sentiment expressed by parents is great anxiety on whether or not the school system prepares their children adequately for the future. Hence, Sir Robinson’s topic is so timely.
But before examining his presentation on the topic more closely perhaps we should attempt to address this question: “What do I want for my child?” There are many more questions. Why do we enroll our children at St. Georges, Crofton, or Little Flower aside from the general perception that these private schools “offer more” than other schools? Why do we send them to camp, to ballet or language classes, hockey, or soccer camps? Why do we expose them to rigorous extra-curricular activities that leave them extremely fatigued at the end of the day? On what do we base our school planning for the year? Is “being busy doing all kinds of activities” the right thing to do with our children?
Brian Tracey says that we act based on our “attitude”, which he describes as “the sum total of all beliefs, experiences, and expectations – regardless of the truth“.
If the challenges and prospect of the future are unknown, how can we as parents know what is best for our child? Ironically, the truthful answer is, we don’t know.
So no matter how archaic and inadequate our education system may be, according to Sir Robinson, doing nothing is not the answer. For that matter, doing a lot is not the answer either. What really matters is knowing that our children have limitless capacity for creativity and ingenuity to tackle their challenges. What we need to do is ensure that we empower them to develop to the level of their exceptional capacity to fully experience the fruits of their imagination and intellect.
How can we accomplish that?
That is where Kumon excels. A student at Kumon receives a highly personalized and individual learning where literary and numeracy skills are enhanced in an environment that encourages individuality and creativity. The Kumon program designs learning activities based upon a child’s unique strength allowing the child to progress according to his/her natural capacity, commitment, and enthusiasm – not in accordance to what is expected at his/her age or grade level.
The gist of Sir Robinson’s message is described by Ms. Steffenhagen as follows:
“It’s a message that opposes standardization and the testing agenda … which assumes that every child will proceed along an assembly line of learning and pass points at precisely the same time.” (Note that in our school system, a child in any grade up to grade eight moves up through those levels regardless of outcomes.)
Enjoy Sir Ken Robertson’s presentation here.
CONCLUSION
Quoting Dr. Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Most Effective People, “We have no crystal ball to foretell the future. We just need to do what we believe is right and let consequences fall where they may.”
Raising literacy and numeracy skills might be your main objective in enrolling your child at Kumon but the manner in which the program is administered enables the child to
- Proceed at his/her unique level of competency
- Advance to any level he/she is capable, regardless of age or grade level
- Develop great amount of focus and concentration
- Develop expectation of success
- Experience enhanced self esteem
- Learn what works or what doesn’t in his/her approach to learning
- Understand that mistakes are learning opportunities
A heightened experience of success and achievement may not be all that would assure our children the ability to cope with the uncertainty of the future but it is the right step in preparing them to be innovative and creative in their approach to the great challenges before them.
Here is an example of imagination and creativity at work:
