So there is this guy named Sir Ken Robinson, he has several books out as well as his presentations on youtube (save some small talk and skip to 7:00 mark):
He does an absolutely wonderful job of articulating the history of industrial era education philosophy. I have been doing dilettante studies of this myself for many years, so it’s wonderful to find somebody who has really done it up so well.
His ultimate message is that we have to change the way we teach kids. We have to discard these factory-based systems. I agree with that.
Now on the other hand, I am not convinced that anything short of a complete do-over can achieve that, but that’s beside the point I want to make. My point is, the current workforce, as well as the current management and leadership of said workforce, are all products of this obsolete education system. So even if we were to change the entire education system today, there would be a delay of what, 10, 20, 30 years . . . ? before we would start to see people in leadership positions that would reflect this new highly left brain creative world.
So my approach is not to bother with changing the system. I am looking at what we can do in the here and now, with what we have to work with. I’m essentially trying to do “remedial work” on people who have been “classroom conditioned” to veer towards factory floor management models of seeking perfection, emphasis on uniformity, and fear of both failure and making mistakes, which are all symptomatic of this highly mechanical world view that currently pervades the entire educational industrial complex.
I do have this one unique piece of insight and perspective. I did not grow up in this standard industrial educational environment. I grew up in Symphony Hall. And major symphony orchestra culture “dodged the bullet” of the imposition of industrial education philosophy. It was an entirely artistic approach, both literally and figuratively. And I had the chance to work with the Masters of management in this environment.
So if you’re looking for the next step forward, well, I believe the best thing to do is to go back . . . to the fundamentals of emotional energy, which is what artistic training is all about. If you are a leader who really wants to function like a top symphony conductor, and you want your organization to work with the intensity and efficiency of a major orchestra, I can show you how that’s done. And you don’t have to wait 30 years either.
Call me at 781-330-8143.
