Ken Robinson phrases

Ken Robinson phrases

Ken Robinson's phrases are a reflection of the great work he performed during most of his life. For some, he was one of the most important pedagogues of our time and his work invites us to reflection. In this article, we will present a collection of written or said phrases by the author who are associated with human potential.

In the current panorama, we can think that human beings are not able to destroy. However, human nature contains positive qualities that we can use to change the world. Thus, these phrases that we will see below help us remember what people are capable of.

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  • Who was Ken Robinson?
  • 9 Ken Robinson phrases about human potential
  • More famous phrases by Ken Robinson
    • References

Who was Ken Robinson?

Ken Robinson was a writer, speaker and international advisor who was born on March 4, 1950 in Liverpool, England. Thanks to his work, Robinson was considered a specialist in issues such as education, resources, creativity and educational quality. He was born inside a working class family and had six brothers.

At four years of age, Robinson contracted polyomyelitis, but luckily he managed to overcome the disease. At 31, he completed his doctorate at the University of London and conducted a thesis on theater and arts in education. One of his most important projects was the Arts in School Project that sought to improve art teaching in England. He was also an advisor to the Academy of Performing Arts of Hong Kong.

Following this line, Robinson was a key figure for the inclusion of art in the England school curriculum. Due to his significant works, in 2003, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him Sir And he was a professor emeritus at Warwick University. Similarly, he received multiple awards and honorary degrees from different international universities.

During his last years of life, he lived in Los Angeles with his wife and children. He suffered from cancer for a short period and died on August 21, 2020 at 70. However, he is still appointed as one of the most notorious educators of contemporary age.

9 Ken Robinson phrases about human potential

Now that we know more about the life and work of Ken Robinson, it is easy to see why his legacy is so significant. Although, if we give ourselves the task of exploring their works one by one, it might take a long time. For that reason, we have this collection of Ken Robinson phrases that summarize his thinking about human potential, arts and other topics.

Imagination is the source of all human achievements.

Throughout his life, Robinson worked in order to recognize the importance of creativity and imagination. For him, the imagination was the source where all the great ideas that could change the world arose. Therefore, it was essential that in schools there were spaces where students could exploit their creativity.

Our ideas can enslave us or free us.

In this case, the author invites us to reflect on the power of the human mind. The thoughts or points of view that we have about reality can help us face or produce discomfort. In other words, our ideas have the potential to grow or be a weight that does not let us advance. Hence the relevance of giving us spaces for introspection and working on ourselves.

Schools resemble factories.

Ken Robinson's phrases also contain critical messages towards the main failures he observed in education. One of these was the fact that the education system was based on a labor production system. According to him, students prepared to perform specific work and their true potential used to ignore themselves.

Creativity is learned the same as you learn to read.

Often people believe that those who are creative "are born" with a gift for that and become great artists. But, without sufficient education and stimulation, even the strongest gift can end. We can all learn to be creative since it is a human capacity that is possible to develop.

If everything you had were academic capacity, you couldn't get up this morning.

This is one of Ken Robinson's phrases that tells us about human essence and how it cannot be limited to the academy. People are much more than the score of an exam or the amount of knowledge they can memorize. In this sense, Personal development depends on motivation, the ability to imagine and dream and significant learning. If we only exist with what we learn in school, our existence would not make sense.

All technologies are neutral. What counts is who uses them and what they use them for. Any material, any tool in the hands of an artist, can result in a work of art.

Society frequently tends to blame new technologies for behavioral problems in young people. However, Ken Robinson reminds us that these tools are neither bad nor good in themselves. In the end, everything is reduced to the way in which these instruments are used. Maybe if we worried more about taking advantage of technologies to create a more significant teaching instead of demonizing them, everything would be better.

You will never do anything original if you are not prepared to make mistakes.

Another of Ken Robinson's phrases that tell us about the need to be original and the fear of failure. The originality of associating with the creative capacity and this in turn has to do with "thinking outside the box". In this way, thinking creatively can lead us to make mistakes, but everything is part of the creation process. If we do not accept this reality, then it will be very difficult for us to be original.

Perhaps the most important attitude to sow good luck is to have a strong sense of perseverance.

Sometimes we get used to blaming the outside for our "bad luck" and we do not realize that we are also partly responsible. Although there are external circumstances that we cannot control, the fact of persevering can help us transform our reality. On the other hand, if we surrender and act passively to the circumstances, nothing will change.

It is necessary to enhance diversity.

All human beings have a unique story that gives us particular qualities that deserve to be enhanced. Instead of acting as factories that produce the same product, schools should focus on promoting the diversity of talents. Only then will we see a real change in current reality.

In conclusion, the legacy of this important author is still valid today and Ken Robinson's phrases allow us to know him. While he is no longer with us, his work is the inspiration of people around the world who shares their ideals.

Does our behavior influence the little ones?

More famous phrases by Ken Robinson

The point is that the majority of mass educational systems were created relatively recent.

I know that academic skills are very important, but school systems value certain types of analysis and critical reasoning, especially words and numbers. However important these skills are, human intelligence is much more than that.

All children begin their careers at school with a sparkling imagination, fertile minds and a willingness to assume risks with what they think.

The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; is to create a culture in which each one can have ideas and feel that they are valued.

If you are not willing to make mistakes, you will never get to anything original.


Our current educational system systematically exhausts children's creativity. Most students never explore all their abilities and interests.

Musicians love the melodies they make up, born writers love words, dancers love movement, mathematicians love numbers, entrepreneurs love to close businesses, great teachers love teaching.

The future of education is not in standardization, but to customize; Not in promoting group thinking and "depersonalization", but in cultivating the true depth and dynamism of human skills of all kinds. In the future, education has to be elementary.

Finding the medium that stimulates your imagination, with which you love to play and work, is an important step to free your creative energy.

Do not underestimate the vital importance of finding soon the work you want to dedicate.

To get the best of ourselves and, each one, of the others, we have to urgently embrace a richer conception of human abilities.

Creativity arises when you put your imagination to work. This has produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.

Current educational processes do not take into account individual learning styles or talent. In this way, they offend the principle of individuality.

Mental energy is not a fixed substance. Go up and down according to the passion and commitment we put in what we are doing at that time. The key differentiating element is found in our attitude and in our sensation of resonance with respect to an activity.

You have to understand that failure is part of life.


Children learn something more. From time to time the teachers have to explain that one of the bookmates will not be able. Children assimilate at a very early age that life has their rhythms and cycles, and that even people close to them are part of that cycle.

People who fundamentally love what they do do not think about it as if it were a job in the usual sense of the word. They do it because they want and because in doing so they are in their element.

The world had never changed as fast as now. Our greatest hope for the future is to develop a new paradigm of the ability to reach a new dimension of human existence.

Physical age is unquestionable as a way of measuring the number of years that have elapsed since our birth, but it is purely relative in regard to health and quality of life.

It bothers me that teachers are criticized. They are very important for our lives.

All companies claim that they need creative people and capable of thinking for themselves, but this statement does not only refer to the business world. It means that they are looking for people whose life has a goal and meaning inside and outside work.

People produce the best, when they do things he loves, when he is in his element.

It is not about standardizing education, it is about uploading the standard of education.

We are all born with extraordinary capacity for imagination, intelligence, emotions, intuition and with physical and sensory awareness.

Good education depends on good teaching.

One way to improve our true age is to take care of us physically, through exercise and food

The skills do not become patents unless we have the opportunity to use them. The consequence, of course, is that we may never discover our true element

Health provides freedom that very few value until they lose it

The activities that we like fill us with energy even when we are physically exhausted

Connect with people who share the same passions that you show that you are not alone, that there are others like you and that, although there may be many who do not understand your passion, there are others that do

There is the source of youth: it is about your mind, your talents, the creativity that you lead to your life and to those of whom you love

If you are fifty years old, exercise your mind and your body regularly, eat well and keep a general enthusiasm for life

References

  • Resnick, m., & Robinson, K. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity Through Projects, Pasion, Peers, and Play. MIT Press.
  • Robinson, k., & Aronica, L. (2015). Creative Schools: Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up. Penguin Uk.
  • Robinson, k., & Lee, J. R. (2011). Out of Our Minds. New York: Tantor Media, incorporated.