the hundred

Excerpt from the book The Element by Sir Ken Robinson

A poem from Loris Malaguzzi underscores this:


The child
is made of one hundred. 
The child has 
a hundred languages 
a hundred hands 
a hundred thoughts 
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred 
ways of listening
of marveling of loving
a hundred joys 
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover 
a hundred worlds 
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
The tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child: 
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.


And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

~~

I guess all those ways that humans can learn are not being taught in schools. They are stealing away all possible ways of learning for the child. School way or No way!

Sad!

Srik

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in the zone

Excerpt from the book The Element by Sir Ken Robinson

To be in the zone is to be in the deep heart of the Element. Doing what we love can involve all sorts of activities that are essential to the Element but are not the essense of it - things like studying, organizing, arranging, limbering up, etc. And even when we're doing the thing we love, there can be frustrations, disappointments, and times when it simply doesn't work or come together. But when it does, it transforms our experience of the Element. We become focused in intent. We live in the moment. We become lost in the experience and perform at our peak. Our breathing changes, our minds merge with our bodies, and we feel ourselves drawn effortlessly into the heart of the Element.

~~

Well, this is what Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it as Flow. Here Sir Ken Robinson calls it as Zone. Being in the flow is  always a joyful experience. One forgets everything else other than what he or she is committed on doing. Be it a Painter, a Climber or a Surgeon; when they are in flow, they are at their best. 

Srik

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source of energy

Excerpt from the book The Element by Sir Ken Robinson

Activities we love fill us with energy even when we are physically exhausted. Activities we don't like can drain us in minutes, even if we approach them at our physical peak of fitness. When people place themselves in situations that lead to their being in the zone, they tap into primal source of energy. They are literally more alive because of it. 

~~
Now you know why you feel tired of everyday work!

Act now!

Srik

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social identity theory

Excerpt from the book The Element by Sir Ken Robinson

people often derive a large sense of who they are through affiliation with specific groups and tend to associate themselves closely with groups likely to boost their self-esteem. Sports teams makes fans feel as though they are part of a vast, powerful organization. This is especially true when the teams are winning. Look around at the end of any sports season, and you'll notice team jerseys of that season's champion sprouting all over the street, even in places far distant from the team's home city. Fans boast their affiliation with victorious teams much more loudly because at some level they believe that being associated in tangential way with such a team makes them look better. 

~~

This is so true. We're just watching the French Open and the Euro for this season.

I guess the act of 'Looking Good' prevails.

Srik

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being wrong

Excerpt from the book "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson

When they are very young, kids aren't particularly worried about being wrong. If they aren't sure what to do in a particular situation, they'll just have a go at it and see how things turn out. This is not to suggest that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. Sometimes being wrong is just being wrong. What is true is that if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.

--
And how many of us do not worry about being wrong? People tend to move themselves in the comfort of looking good or hiding behind their own faces most of the times. How do we expect something original to happen if such is the case. And we never realize that we were not like this during our childhood. We used have so much confidence and courage that every act would end up a brave act. Now we chicken out fearing for being wrong.

Srik

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finding element

Excerpt from the book "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson

Being in our element depends on finding our own distinctive talents and passions. Why haven't most people found this? One of the most important reasons is that most people have a very limited conception of their own natural capacities. 


The first limitation is in our understanding of the range of our capacities. We are all born with extraordinary powers of imagination, intelligence, feeling, intuition, spirituality, and of physical and sensory awareness. For the most part, we use only a fraction of these powers, and some not at all. Many people have not found their Element because they don't understand their own powers. 


The second limitation is in our understanding of how all these capacities relate to each other holistically. For the most part, we think that our minds, our bodies, and our feelings and relationships with others operate independent of each other, like separate systems. Many people have not found their Element because they don't understand their true organic nature. 


The third limitation is in our understanding of how much potential we have for growth and change. For the most part, people seem to think that life is linear, that our capacities declines as we grow older. and that opportunities we have missed are gone for ever. Many people have not found their Element because they don't understand their constant potential for renewal. 

--

Oh well! I absolutely loved the above descriptions of our limitations. It is absolutely clear that the major factor for everyone is education. At the same time the limited view of our own capacities can be compounded by many other factors as well.

Srik

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knowing what you are

Excerpt from the book "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson

I believe passionately that we are all born with tremendous natural capacities, and that we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world. Ironically, one of the main reasons this happens is education. The result is that too many people never connect with their true talents and therefore don't know what they're really capable of achieving. 

--

I remember during my 3rd standard or the 4th, we were asked a question 'What is it that you want to become in life?' and all of us in our class had variety of answers. I remember my answer clearly even now. I wanted to become a 'Scientist'. Now, comparing those variety of answers and seeing all my friends (who were my classmates), I can see hardly anyone followed his/her childhood dream or passion. There is a total disconnect between what one wanted to become and what one currently has become! And most of them are not liking their current status either. Forget 'me' becoming a scientist, am struggling hard to learn real science only now. That too because, I some how got into the habit of reading. Else, I would not even know whatever little I think I know.

"I was born intelligent, but education ruined me" - that we hear every now and then is not a joke for sure!

Srik

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