I enjoy studying history, especially the times around the American Revolution. I've read some of Dave McCullough's work; "1776" is a masterpiece. The HBO series "John Adams" is based on McCullough's work.
In one part, Adams was at a dinner gathering in France with Ben Franklin. He was asked about his work and said, "I must study politics and war so that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy; and my sons must study navigation, commerce and agriculture so that their children will have the right to study painting, poetry and music". I'm sure some liberties were taken with Adam's original quote for dramatic effect.
However, it seemed Mr. Adams understood the importance of what Sir Ken Robinson emphasizes about education today! The quote also gives us a backdrop of how society influences the educational system. What can we learn from this? The late 1700's was a time of "revolutionary" changes to the world, and the quote reflects Adam's foresight into how he thought the educational system may evolve. We too are living in revolutionary times, and we now need leaders to rise above the bureaucracy and politics. Our school system desperately needs to better prepare our students for this emerging society.
It is time for revolutionary change to our American school system.
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