I found the RSA animations interesting and mostly effective. I say "mostly" because they presented ideas very well, but too quickly for me to process them. It was hard for my brain to keep up. However, watching them a few times and occasionally pausing the video solved that problem. The writing and drawing was a good way to keep my interest and illustrate what the speaker was saying.
I found the idea of a 21st century enlightenment intriguing, and I thought the way Matthew Taylor expressed the idea was particularly informative and insightful. I think it's true that we have let science and technology rule our lives without truly considering whether each "advance" is actually an improvement to our lives and our world. I am reminded of the way smart phones, tablets, and other portable electronic devices have damaged personal interaction. I often see families or friends out to dinner while each person is engrossed in their own electronic device. It's sad to consider the lost opportunity to build relationships. Also, from a more scientific standpoint, that lack of social interaction is bad for their psychological health.
The Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century was a call to reason, and that is what we need now. Like the people involved in the classic enlightenment movement, we need to examine the serious problems in our societies and form a radically fresh perspective that is both pragmatic and creative. American people of all kinds are entrenched in their camps of labels, and simplistic and idealistic mantras. We have a serious contemporary problem of people not listening to each other and not thinking creatively with open minds. Instead we label others and ourselves and hold tight to our worn-out platitudes. It's time for us to shake off our prejudices and partisanship so we can listen and speak to each other with open minds. This is the only way we can tackle the massive challenges we face in our world today.
One of the challenges we face is in the area of education. Our educational system is inefficient, expensive, and ill-fitted to the time in which we live. Many of our schools operate according to archaic practices. They treat children like products on an assembly line, attempting to add bits of knowledge along the line and end up with assimilated commodities. This approach is totally inappropriate for the environment children enter when they leave school. Educators should be teaching children to think creatively rather than teaching them that there is one right answer to every question. Educators should also encourage children to think more about ethics and morality, because caring for our earth and our fellow human beings is vital to improve the world we live in. If Matthew Taylor's concept of a new enlightenment were applied to the American educational system, we would have schools that prepare students to become thoughtful, engaged, moral citizens.
