Chapter 2: I really liked the way Pink discussed the impact of Abundance, Asia, and Automation as the cause of the diminished importance of L-Directed Thinking.
Abundance - prosperity led to an increased value on beauty, spirituality, and emotion
Asia - introduction of the concept of outsourcing jobs that are typical L-directed jobs from the U.S. to India and China
Automation - machines replaced human muscle in the Industrial Age; machines can now 'replace' human brains in the Information Age (Knowledge workers: lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, and executives)
Chapter 3:
Industrial Age (physical strength and personal fortitude)––Information Age (proficiency in L-Directed Thinking)––Conceptual Age (creator and the empathizer, whose distinct ability is mastery of R-Directed Thinking)
"In short, we've progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society of knowledge workers. And now we're progressing yet again–to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers." (Pink, 50)This leads to what I believe is the thesis of his book, where he emphasizes that we need not look replace the L-Directed Thinker with the R-Directed Thinker, but to take the two 1/2 brains and emphasize the need to be both:
"L-Directed Thinking remains indispensable. It's just no longer sufficient. In the Conceptual Age, what we need instead is a whole new mind." (51)High Concept, High Touch
High Concept: the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into a novel invention.
High Touch: ability to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian, in pursuit of purpose and meaning.
Examples of these abilities increasing in value & moving from the periphery to the center:
- medical schools training students in "narrative medicine"
- medical schools incorporating spirituality in coursework
- Japan's education system now fostering creativity, artistry, and play––education of the heart
- GM's leader saying it's in the art business
- in US number of graphic designers has increased tenfold in a decade
- since 1970, US has 30% more people earning a living as writers & 50% more as musicians
IQ, EQ & Education
As we can see, it is no surprise that only IQ, which largely measures L-Directed Thinking is the type of intellectual value that schools seem to support. Daniel Goleman found that IQ accounted for only 4-10% of career success. We need to look at other ways in which kids are smart. . .like Professor Robert Sternberg's Rainbow Project, which measures more R-Directed Thinking. It's not that we throw out one for the other, but that we look at the entire child when assessing for intelligence.
It is no wonder that we produce unmotivated, uncreative students who just don't care about school or see its relevance in their lives. . .it is only addressing 1/2 of their brain
Cultural Creatives-meaning and transcendence gaining in important; 'seeing the big picture'. . .
In Part II, Pink will discuss the aptitudes necessary to thrive in the Conceptual Age: Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.
I have a few articles that discuss Finland's education system, which ironically scores extremely high in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) tests, but they do no take standardized tests until the end of high school.
Question: What is your biggest "takeaway" from the first part of Pink's book?
What I can't get out of my head after reading part 1 of Pink is the obviousness of the R-driven shift in consumerism to demand beauty. My toilet brush needs to be economical, well-made AND aesthetically pleasing (and not necessarily in that order).
ReplyDeleteThe biggest takeaway I had from Part 1 of Pink is the part in which he talks about education and standardized testing. He says, "If the global supply chain ever confronted a shortage of No. 2 pencils, the American education system might collapse. From the time children are even able to grasp one of these wooden writing sticks, they use them to take an endless battery of tests that purport to measure their current ability and future potential." He goes on to point out that standardized testing only measures L-Brain thinking skills, and there's not a way to "standardize" the testing of R-Brain thinking skills (besides the development of the Rainbow Project). Pink goes on to state that standardized testing do nothing to measure how well a student will do in college, i.e. you could "ace" the SAT and be really "smart" but you could do badly in college. He challenges that those with a high aptitude in R-brain skills do better in college. Pink also states regarding standardized tests, "Confining oneself only to the answers presented in a symptom of excessive L-directed thinking." To think that children will be spending their lives making choices a,b,c,d, and sometimes e is ridiculous, and we're not preparing them adequately for "real life" with this method of teaching.
ReplyDeleteLike Sherilyn, my biggest takeaway was the idea of how education is going to have to switched from this "left brain" regurgitation to a creative and inspiring "right brain" approach. Soon we are not only going to be outsourcing to Asia, but as Pink touched upon, we are soon going to have computers do all the calculating for us. I think of the people like Bill Gates and Albert Einstein, that looked at our traditional education and either scoffed or failed miserably. But in the end these are two of the most influential minds in our history. It will be interesting to see who the "top dogs" in education will be in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest takeaway point is similar to Sherilyn and Melissa's points that they made in their comments. I think the quote you mentioned as the thesis of the book, "L-Directed Thinking remains indispensable. It's just no longer sufficient. In the Conceptual Age, what we need instead is a whole new mind" (51), is very important. We can no longer see the L-Brain as the "dominant" and the R-brain as "unnecessary", but rather know that we need both parts to succeed. Shifting from L-Brain thinking to more of both uses both parts of our skills.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest take-aways for me is the idea of the conceptual age, the fact that the whole basis of what is valued in society is changing. I think it is amazing how different society is going to be. I think one of the most important thing is realizing this as an educator. It is important that we take this into mind when we are teaching. We need to make sure we are fostering the right skills in our students.
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