Was there anything you found that you disagreed with as you read?
I do think that he brings up some valid points, but I thought I'd bring up a few points of contention:
- As it was not an academic work I know that I was turned off early on when he made a comment about how the Greeks invented writing. It was in the first few chapters and between reading that and reading his interpretation of how the brain works, I got a little nervous that his insights were more just what he thought was true rather than having any kind of real data to back it up. I know he cited some statistics throughout, but it certainly did not seem airtight.
- I feel that what as Pink writes it is easy to agree with him, partially because what he writes about plays off of the fears that many have during the recession (oh no, I lost my job and now it has been outsourced!) However, I feel as though jobs tend to follow economic demand and right now there is more demand for MBAs than MFAs, no matter what he says. Maybe he's looking to the future and we should train the class of 2020 differently than the current class(es), but in my own personal experience, which is naturally going to be biased, all of my friends that have decided to go into computer programming or have MBAs all have stable careers and all my friends that have MFAs are either going to school again to get a second graduate degree or are living at home with their parents because their part-time gallery jobs can't pay the rent. If we are going to prepare people for "right-directed brain jobs" I feel as though we should be sure those jobs are out there.
- I do think that he brings up some valid points, but I thought I'd bring up a few points of contention.
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I think when he writes about the MBA vs MFA issue, he is looking into the future, but also making the point that people (students) need to be trained/educated in a different way than just sitting in desks, taking notes, doing homework, and taking written tests. They need to learn to value people's perspectives/opinions, to be open and comfortable with different ways of thinking/doing, and to be good problem solvers. All of these things I think most teachers strive to do, but Pink's point is that it is no longer an option. These skills are a necessary part of education. Students need to learn that there's not just one right way of doing things/looking at situations, and speaking from a math teacher's point of veiw, that idea definitely needs to make its way into many K-12 classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI think Pink as also saying that the people with the MBA's would be more valuable to their companies if they have the qualities of the "right brain." I don't think he is saying that everyone needs to be trained to be right brain, but that students need to be well rounded and knowledgeable about a variety of aspects.
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