Beyond the Three R’s: Rethinking What Success Looks Like

Over 79 million people have watched Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk “Do schools kill creativity?” – and for good reason! It is the most watched TED talk in history.

If you haven’t yet, I’d recommend it – it’s laugh out loud funny, but answering that question is incredibly important for parents deciding the best way to educate their children (especially given that 94% of hiring managers now cite creativity as a priority skill in future roles).

He tells the story of a girl, who was considered ‘hopeless’ at school.  Her school wrote to her parents saying they thought she had a learning disorder at 8 years old. She couldn’t concentrate, she was fidgeting. 

Her mother took her to see a specialist, and explained to him all the problems she'd been having at school (disturbing people, her homework was always late etc.), whilst the girl sat on her hands for 20 minutes. 

When her mother finished, the doctor politely explained to the young girl that he needed to talk privately to her mother, and that they would be back in a few minutes. As they left the room the doctor turned on the radio. 

The doctor instructed the mother to watch her daughter from outside the room. The moment they had left she was on her feet, moving to the music. He said “Mrs Lynne, Gillian isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.” 

Gillian Lynne became a world renowned choreographer, responsible for Cats and Phantom of the Opera – she’s given pleasure to millions of people and she is a multi-millionaire. 

But the reality is, our schools rarely acknowledge the multitude and variety of ways that children might find success in life. 

The focus is on ‘mastering the basics’ of the three ‘R’s. All too often the message children (and parents) receive, is that early reading and writing is an indicator of later success – and inferentially or explicitly, that early failure indicates continued failure through life. 

Want your child to attend a school where teachers don't pretend one size fits all, and meet learners where they are at to explore ways to bring their talents to bear in a joyful way, every day?