Review by Howard Raynor, Chief Executive, Bridgewater Hall
(Capstone,2001,ISBN 1 84112 125 8,£15.99 [£18.40 inc p&p*])
For a book called ?Out of Our Minds?, Dr Ken Robinson?s illuminated assault on the current state of academic education is actually a very sane read. This well-written book focuses on the widening gulf between academic institution teachings and the feelings, emotions and imagination that drive us as humans. The current obsession with the curriculum is not only failing businesses but also more importantly it is failing our children; our future is in peril because of the pursuit of measurements like IQ tests.
He regards the current artificial division between the arts and sciences as obsolete when it comes to considering the real world challenges of the 21st century. We should be working on how people are intelligent rather than how intelligent they are. The idea we can measure one form of intelligence and that this is somehow an objective is fundamentally flawed.
Do we simply let the future slide in to dehumanised, cold, bloodless, functional thinking or do we take the view that as humans we truly live in a world of symbols, desires and stories? Robinson is right on the money here; it is high time we championed the arts because they provide primary ways in which we express and give form to feelings. He may be a PhD and a chemist, but his book makes it plain that we need new learning structures to deal with a new type of future and that the arts have a vital role to play. Arts professionals get their arguments augmented and a good read to boot.
* SAM?s Books is a specialist supplier of books for arts professionals. For further information and invoicing, t/f: 01883 345011 e: books@sam-arts.demon.co.uk w: http://www.samarts. demon.co.uk