Why you used to be a genius

By Neil Patrick

I have posted before about the struggles that governments are having dealing with the global economic jobs crisis.

This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

Here Ken explains how our education system has become disconnected from the needs of the modern global economy and hence how at an individual level, we are poorly equipped as individuals to deal with it when disaster strikes us. Whilst the topic of school education may not at first seem to be directly related to the jobs crisis, as mature professionals, we are a product of our education system. Intelligence and education are totally separate things and this film explains why regardless of our educational achievements, we all have a great deal more innate intelligence and ability than we may have been led to believe.

I am a firm advocate of the need for job hunters to think outside the box and much of what I post here is provided to help people do that. One positive message you can take from this film is that you have a very great deal more capacity to turn your situation around if you forget about what you were taught in school and university and instead engage your creative ability and harness all the learning that you have acquired through your life.

Oh and you’ll discover too why you used to be a genius!




The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. For more information about the RSA and its work, visit http://www.thersa.org.