Late Sir Ken Robinson

In the video lecture "Changing Education Paradigms," Sir Ken Robinson presents his view on modern education. He points out that education is too standardized, that academic ability is "making brilliant people think they are not". Robinson goes on to say that ADHD is not a medical epidemic. Rather, it is merely a result of standardized education. Like Brave New World, students are being given drugs to control their capacity to focus. Ritalin and soma are comparable because they are "anesthetizing" students.

Standardization has also created the conformity and standardization of the students. Schools' curriculum are divided into certain subjects and facilities; their standardized testing is producing students that are subject to conformity to this model of education. This is extremely similar to how the World Controllers of Brave New World "decant [their] babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future ... Directors of Hatcheries" (Huxley, 13).

The lecture also shows that in a study, 98% of a large group of children were deemed geniuses in divergent thinking. But as they aged, more of the subjects of the testing lost their genius level intellect of divergent thinking. This is because they were conditioned to think a certain way; they were educated. His evidence of conditioning children to conform with standardized information parallels what the general population of Brave New World believes. They are conditioned, starting at childhood to accept death and the caste system. By the time they are adults, they all live by the guidelines the World Controllers have laid for them. They only know promiscuity, happiness, and soma.