The accident that changed Sir Ken Robinson's view on attitude - and why the power of the mind may matter more than circumstance.
Sir Ken's father survived a falling beam of teak wood that broke his neck from 30 feet. A cigarette paper's width from instant death. He lived as a quadriplegic for 18 years (twice the average life expectancy) sustained, Sir Ken believed, by sheer willpower and an unshakeable default for happiness.
His house never stopped laughing.
This story shaped everything Sir Ken came to believe about human potential, attitude, and what it means to truly find your element.
What is education really for? Sir Ken Robinson's answer involves two world - and most schools only teach one of them.
There's the world that existed before you arrived and will continue after you leave - events, systems, people, circumstances. Education has always tried to prepare students for that.
But Sir Ken argued there's a second world equally deserving of attention: the one that only exists because you do. Your consciousness, your perceptions, your inner life. A world that came into being when you did, and ends when you do.
Education that ignores that isn't just incomplete. It misses half the person.
What do you think education should prepare us for? 👇
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