Thursday, January 12, 2012

Education destroys Creativity

The TED Talks video on how education killed creativity was presented effectively. The speaker used humor to convey the message to the audience,while also appealing to ethos and pathos. Ethos appeals to emotion. Fear and inspiration were to feelings he tried to get the audience to think about. He stuck fear by speaking about the unpredictability of the future. He stated that kids beginning school this year will be retiring in 2065. His argument was that we do not even know what will be happening in 5 years so how are we supposed to educate them or prepare them for 60 years from now. He made the audience think about their childhood and appealed to the fact that adults tell you what you can do and what you cannot. I bet a lot of people in the audience wanted to be a musician, artist, or dancer and were told they could not because that would not help them later in life. His final argument was quite the opposite he used inspiration. He told the story of the women who choreographed cats and Phantom of the Opera. When she was in school she was told that she had a learning disorder and was about to be taken out of school until someone told her mother that she was a dancer. She was happy to be in a dance school because there were people like her that could not sit still and she excelled and became a multi-millionaire. So basically if kids were placed in classes that let them explore their creativity the world would be a more productive place. Another way he appeals to his audience is by appealing to his character. He uses his own life experiences to present examples. For example he talks bad about university professors but he states that he was one so that is how he knows what they do wrong. Also when appealing to the audiences emotions he talks about his own child and how he wants him to be educated in the public school system. 

1 comment:

  1. Nice blog, Gabrielle! I noticed that you define ethos as "appeals to emotion"; this is pathos. Ethos is the appeal to the character/credibility of the speaker, which you address at the end of your post. Your examples, however, are all relevant.

    I will soon be posting a full blog roll, so that you can begin following your classmates as well.

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    -Jennifer

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