Matt Byrnes

Prof. Ferrara

English Rhetoric and Composition

November 17, 2022

TED Talk Rhetorical Analysis

Sir Ken Robinson, a former professor of arts education at the University of Warwick,

proposes a very harsh question: Do Schools Kill Creativity? Robinson has been in the arts

education field for a long time and has even worked with governments and education systems

because of his knowledge.

I selected this TED Talk because personally I have seen a lot of popularity around this

argument. I think the school system is very beneficial, but could they be doing something

different? I would ask myself. Ken Robinson dives into the topic of creativity and how the school

system is not set up for it. In the first few minutes Robinson makes a bold claim that receives

applause from the audience: “Creativity is as important now in education as literacy and we

should treat it with the same status.” This receives a round of applause from the audience.

Robinson addresses a very broad audience for his argument. It mainly consists of anyone that

is educating children, so mostly parents.

In his TED Talk, Robinson makes many rhetorical decisions to apply logic to his

argument. Robinson presents a lot of his ideas on education systems based on his own

experiences and through telling stories, which works very well for him. Although at some point,

the audience needs reassurance why these ideas logically make sense. Robinson gives a brief

history lesson to the audience to apply this logic. Robinson states that “around the world, there

were no public systems of education, really, before the 19th century. They all came into being to

meet the needs of industrialism.” Due to this, Robinson adds that there is a “hierarchy [that is]

rooted on two ideas.” Using this logical approach, Robinson describes his own two ideas. One

idea being that the “most useful subjects for work are at the top”, so many students did not
pursue any subjects that were considered to be low-paying professions regardless of their

interests. The second idea being that students had to be equipped with a certain academic

ability to succeed, and if they did not have this, the system would penalize them. This major

fundamental idea from Robinson is really why creativity is killed in school systems. Because of

the importance of this main idea, Robinson applied logic to his argument by talking about the

historical foundation of the public education system.

In addition, Robinson applies a lot more of a serious tone when laying out this idea. For

most of the TED Talk, Robinson maintains a light-hearted tone so the audience’s mood is

content when listening to him speak. When Robinson presents one of his major ideas, he shifts

his tone from light-hearted to serious to captivate the audience and express to them that this is

a significant concept.

Although Robinson does present a serious tone for his major ideas, he maintains a light-

hearted tone for a good portion of his TED Talk. In this tone, Ken Robinson uses a lot of

emotional appeal to the audience. Barely into his speech, Robinson has already made several

sarcastic comments and jokes which lightens the mood and adds comedic value to his

presentation. You hear the audience burst into laughter many times through his TED Talk.

Robinson also adds a lot of self-deprecating humor regarding his past as a professor. At the

expense of himself, Robinson has the audience laughing and enjoying his presentation which

makes him very favorable to the audience. It is a lot easier for Robinson to present his

fundamental ideas when the audience’s mood is content.

Robinson receives an emotional reaction from the audience when he describes one

particular story. Robinson tells the audience that there was this young girl that told her teacher

she was drawing a picture of God in class. The teacher replied “but nobody knows what God

looks like.” This young creative girl responded, “they will in a minute.” The audience burst into

laughter and so did Robinson. This short story adds to Robinson’s argument, but in a very

comedic and light hearted manner. This style isn’t the most effective for Robinson presenting his
main ideas, but it is necessary to trigger the audience’s emotions and maintain the content

mood.

Throughout his TED Talk, Robinson also established his credibility as a speaker on this

issue in many ways. As if his very credible background didn’t do enough, Robinson often uses

quotes from credible sources. Early into his argument, Robinson quotes Pablo Pissaco, possibly

the most profound artist of all time. He states that “all children are born artists.” It is a very

simple quote, but Robinson spins this quote into his own idea. Robinson adds that “the problem

is to remain an artist as you grow up. [He believes] this passionately that we don’t grow into

creativity, we grow out of it… or rather we get educated out of it.” How Robinson introduces his

big idea is a great rhetorical decision. When Robinson quotes a great name like Piscasso, this

will immediately captivate the audience because everyone knows of this great artist. This will

also establish Robinson’s credibility and trust with the audience because he is quoting such a

renowned and credible artist.

Most importantly, Robinson’s overall presentation skills establish his credibility to the

audience. Robinson is very well-spoken and he uses very complex words during a lot of points.

While the audience may not know how to define all these terms, it reveals how intelligent

Robinson is on this subject, thus his own education must be impeccable. Although, without

saying a polysyllabic word Robinson appears to be a credible speaker. Robinson’s relaxed body

language, and blend of formal and satirical styles really shows the audience that he has

experience speaking on this topic. Experience is a major component in establishing credibility,

and this will add value to his argument.

After I watched this TED Talk, I researched Robinson. I understand why he is so

motivated to make a change. His experiences within the education systems he encountered fuel

his motivation to revise the way the education system teaches children. Robinson’s purpose of

this TED Talk was to challenge the audience to rethink how everyone teaches their children,

and to accept different versions of intelligence. To reach the audience, Ken Robinson makes
many rhetorical decisions including emotional appeal, applying logic to his argument, and

establishing his own credibility.