What this world REALLY wants.

Title : What this world Really Wants

10b2, MinSun Park (박민선)

Final Draft : Sep. 10, Due Date : Sep. 23

Every word he spoke was like a precious jewelry to me; after watching the video of Ken Robinson, I clapped my hands, just like a reflex. Then I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is the greatest speech maker in the whole world! I am so convinced!’ But then I thought about what he said for a little while and soon found out that although I completely agree with him on some level, I had some points that contradict with his idea.

As he said, students are criticized and punished if they don’t follow the rules. Therefore they only concentrate on fitting in the restricted path, not even thinking of crossing the line even the slightest. When they do, they are complemented and prized of what they did. This repetition of cycle teaches everybody to only follow the fixed route, slowly changing not only their body, but also their mind and brain, ‘ruthlessly’ destroying their creativity, a great gift they were born with.

Scientists say, as people get older, their brain usually atrophies slowly. However, I don’t think that is the actual case. As people get older, they are literally ‘trained’ to go through a certain path, not being able to stretch their imagination as much as they want.

It’s like the alleory of flea, a story that is prevalent in Korea. Imagine that there is a flea which can normally jump up to three to four meters high, but humans cage them in 20 centimeters high box. The flea keeps on try to get out of the box by jumping as high as it could, but then realize that it will only bump on the ceiling of the box no matter how high it jumps. Later, the flea stops trying and only jumps up to the top of the box, and even if human let the flea get out of the box, it can only jump up to 20 centimeters high, no more than that. Majority of our education system is treating students like this flea. Education confines the ability of students at the start.

Some people might think, ‘What is so important about creativity? So what if students grow out of creativity?’ Nonetheless, the world has changed. It now wants a lot of creatively talented people. For instance, Google is well known for its unusual work environment, for the purpose of pulling out much creativity as possible. The following video clip introduces us how the work environment in Google helps workers to regain creativity.

             Also, Samsung is now in a great crisis because it lacks talents who can produce softwares. Ahn Chul Soo, the most respected CEO of Korea, quoted, ‘If Korean companies cannot get enough creative talents like they do now, these companies will collapse pretty soon. The main reason why Samsung was always behind Apple was because it lacked creativity.’ Struck by this, Lee Gun Hee, the President of Samsung company, ordered the department of human resources to fill up over 20% of company’s workforce with creative talents who are able to produce innovative softwares. Likewise, the world is now craving for creativity, which even strengthens the argument that we should revolutionize education.

In this way, Ken Robinson is right about the education ruining creativity of the students, but I do not agree when he said that it is wrong to teach mathematics everyday and teach dancing or music once a week. This educational system is certainly inevitable for both the students and the global society. In other words, the world needs this system, for the following reasons.

First, it definitely will not be easy to change the whole system of the world in which we can make enough money through practicing dancing or singing everyday. As we can see by world singers and their sad episodes of their growth stories, it takes tremendous effort to earn enough money to feed themselves or their families. Of course, to be on the top of a certain field in any kind of genres, it will be difficult, but in case of art or music, there is no guarantee that you will earn enough money to feed yourself. You would either starve or be a millionaire. Nowadays, there has been emergence of a lot of regular occupations such as character designers at manufacturing companies. However, these kinds of jobs have very narrow entrance opportunities, therefore difficult to be in one. Of course, if one is passionate enough on certain field that money doesn’t matter at all, one can choose to be an artist or a dancer. However, most of the human beings, if they care about themselves and their future, they choose to take a safe path, in which they have to wear white shirts.

Second, the global world needs white collar people in order to get itself working. With people dancing and singing all the time, of course more audience will get great quality of entertainment. But then if too much of the population in the company and government moves to other fields, it is pretty obvious that this world will collapse, and will no longer develop.

            When we make important decisions, always look for what this world wants and requires. This may seem like a small-minded step for some reformers, but it IS a realistic step to take.

My Favorite Quotes from Ken Robinson (directly quoted):

I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it.

What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

CUTe Polar Bear. hey, what are you doing there?!

The bear is so exhausted,
so it dips its head in the water,
rolling its eyes, looking for anythings to eat.

Then, it finds a fish, playfully going back and forth
in front of the bear.
So the bear starts to move slowly into the water.
Do you see his left leg pushing the rock?

Not recent work, but just like it!

   My strong determination on practicing my plan used to last three days. Should I be defined by what I thought of, or what I actually did? Although it is common sense that people are defined by what they do, majority of people are often blinded by their sweet words. However, looking back to previous world top leaders, we should rather define people by how they act.

   Anyone can talk after a short practice, pretending they are prestigious leaders who care a lot for the good of his citizens. On the other hand, the world has never got in touch with a leader who practiced all his words into reality. In other words, while words can be all lies, actions never lie. This is exactly why Presidents, no matter what country they govern, often get cruel slash by his citizens few months after inauguration. Before the inauguration, since Obama was able to do nothing on any main issue, he gushed out all kinds of words that could possibly satisfy the citizens. Now, he failed to satisfy Americans with his actions, and finally Americans are evaluating their leader in a correct way: they are defining a person with what he does.

   Words and thoughts do not bear unforgetful results, while actions do. Material consequences are created when an individual acts in a certain way. For instance, Benjamin Franklin did many activities that other people are all willing to do, but merely give up, for they are so tiresome. He came to be known as clean, white leader, who is more diligent than anyone else. As a result, many citizens started to admire and wanted to go after his path. His hardworks had payed off, and just like him, people create results that comes after their actions.

   Not many great public speakers who spit out touching words are greatly admired by majority. Instead, real action-takers like Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks capture the mind of people. This is one of the reasons why people are more likely to be defined by what they do. Gandhi was not a mere talker; he weaved his own clothes with his own spinning wheel. He also wore simple white cloth, not covering his body properly. He did not fight against England with weapons. This actions not only touched citizens’ mind but also England leaders’. Rosa Parks was similar; She quietly demonstrated against white by sitting on white-only seats on the buses.

   To sum up, people are defined by what they do since anyone can talk sweet words, actions can bear consequences and lastly, people are more touched by people’s actions.

Seeking Difference

            Read a lot of high quality books; that’s the key to your fruitful success in writing. Most writing experts say there are outputs, which means good writing, only when there are lots of inputs, which means reading. Some of my friends have similar writing styles as their favorite authors, which is the result of spending most of their time reading those writing styles. Most of the books I’ve read until now are literatures, rather than logical writings such as newspaper articles or knowledge-based books. I don’t know if this is the reason or not, but what I know for sure about my writing style is that I’m much better off writing emotional works than formal essays.

            I think of writing as a tool to express my emotion and deliver it clearly to other people who couldn’t have otherwise understood my side. By writing, I think I can make others feel the same as I do, making more people on my side. This principle of mine is why I love writing. It’s just great when I get the feeling that people understand me and feel the same way as I do.

Since I love to write, I have participated in writing contests or context exhibitions on themes like ‘protecting our environment’ or ‘living righteously’, and have been selected as great works. When I write on these contests, I tend to follow my heart as I write, not planning beforehand with specific logics. This style helps me to write much more persuading writings or essays that appeal to emotions more strongly. It may be unacceptable for a lot of writers, but I just got so used to this style that it feels weird when I plan in term papers, TOEFL or SAT writings.

Many times, I’m complemented on highly emotional writings. However this factor serves as disadvantage in some cases. What I often get critized upon is that my formal essays are too emotion-based that my reasons may seem less persuadable. As everybody is aware of, habits are really difficult to fix. That is why I’m trying my best to mend this problem but it’s not working too well.

Another critical problem I have is that my English grammar is a disaster in a nutshell. Of course, throughout my three extensive years in middle school, I have learned grammar from basics to complex principles. However, I just cannot apply them perfectly on my writings. It is like as if my writing and the knowledge of grammar are separated in my brain.

Although I’m not good at writing logical essays or following grammar rules, I can come up with creative ideas on writing. What I hate most in writing are repeating the same words over and over again, writing in common styles as everybody do, or using cliches. I love to revolutionize styles and use innovative words. In this way, my essay will be much more fresh and pleasant to read. Also, it will appeal more to the readers and make them like my essay even more.

Therefore, in this class, in order to fix my main problem, I hope to have more opportunities writing logical and formal essays!

Total 526 words.