“Think for a moment what children are capable of…”

Sir Ken Robinson

On Wednesday, September 11, the Blue School community was invited to hear Sir Ken Robinson speak at our 156 William Street building as part of our Blue Notes Speaker Series. A long-time supporter of Blue School and its co-founders, Sir Ken has been a member of the Advisory Board since Blue School’s inception. He has spent his career as an author and advocate for educational reform, the power of creativity and whole-child education. Sir Ken spoke passionately about the revolution that is needed in education - a revolution that breaks apart the extreme standardization, compliance and linearity that plagues so much of our current system. Indeed, he said,

“the only thing that works is when you personalize education within a curriculum that is broad, balanced, and speaks to the depths of children’s talents. And you do it in circumstances that nurture the love of learning rather than undermine it.”

We know that children need certain conditions to thrive, and our current system of education puts those conditions squarely at risk.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sir Ken’s thoughts turned toward climate justice and what we currently understand about how our actions have compromised so many of the conditions and natural resources that all humans need to thrive. As Sir Ken noted,

“We live our lives through the stories we believe in. And there are all sorts of stories we believe in. For a long time we lived with the story that the Earth was super abundant and could take any amount of of our drainage of resources; that we lived apart from it, and that we could do what we what we liked with it. But we’re learning to the contrary that it kicks back…”

Climate activists such as Greta Thunberg are shining a new light, not just on the climate crisis itself, but on the ways in which young people can bring their voices and their creativity to issues that they care about. Blue School, as an educational community, is charged with creating the conditions that allow students to recognize their power, and for giving them the opportunities to express it.

On Friday, September 20th, the world-wide, youth-led #climatestrike movement is launching a week of global climate action to draw the attention of local, national, and international leaders to the urgency of policies that protect both humans and the environment. Greta Thunberg will speak in Battery Park to what will presumably be an overwhelming crowd of the next generation of climate activists. Only a year ago, she stood as a solitary figure on the steps of Sweden’s parliament.

As Greta does, Sir Ken inspired us to remember that we can create the world that we want to see. “Other creatures are born in this world and leave it pretty much as they find it. We don’t. We change the world we come into.”

In whatever ways you and your child desire to change the world, whatever things engage you and inspire you and wake you up in the morning, bring them to this community, and then, as Sir Ken said, we will be “on our way to having the kind of revolution in education that we need, and that our children, honestly, should be demanding of us.”

Ashley Hughes

Director of Program Development and Operations