Don't have an academic brain? Don't worry, says Stephen Fry

We need creators and those with imagination in the future

Here is a great clip by Stephen Fry, who talks about how the brain is incredible, and academic success alone isn’t the sole measure of its capacity. Link to video here.

Below is the full talk with our notes. Mr Fry’s thoughts are in italics, with our notes that follow.

It makes you so angry at the division in the world where people like that are paid nothing and get almost no respect.

Author’s note: Yes this is important. Income disparities around the world have impacted education.

When I first went to school, a proper school as you might say, it rapidly became apparent to me that I was bad at everything that all the other children were good at. I couldn't catch a ball or run in a straight line without colliding with a tree or tripping over my own feet. I couldn't swim, I couldn't sing or play an instrument, I couldn't draw or paint, and I really felt inadequate.

Author’s note: Yes, many children feel this way - the key is the growth mindset. To say it’s ok, we will find out what you are good at and work on what you are not.

But there was an occasion which sort of sparked off a bit of confidence. This music teacher was writing on the board, she wrote the word "Orchestra" in big capital letters as she was going to give us a lesson about the elements of the orchestra. I shouted out "Cart horse," and she said, "What?" I said, "You know, it's an anagram." And she said, "How did you know that?" I said, "Well, I could just see it." She gave me a frowning look that I thought was disappointment, but in fact, she asked me to stay behind, and she talked to me about things.

Author’s note: Interesting, but we diverge here. Not everyone can see ‘anagrams’. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be a great writers or student of English and the classics. Of course we doubt Mr Fry would suggest that either.

Then around that time, I started Latin at school, and I loved it. Unlike other boys who saw it as a terrible chore to understand, I thought it was like a game, like a code game, where you could substitute one word for another. It just became interesting. They then asked if I would like to learn Ancient Greek, and I said, "Oh, yes!" It was even more of a code because it had different letters. So, I learned to write my name with Greek characters and learned the Greek alphabet, of course, and then started to learn the language and loved it. Like Susie Dent on Countdown, I just love etymology, the origin of words.

Author’s note: What is interesting about this is how children used to find these different games more interesting. As we point out on our article on Dopamine (link here), is how children today are over stimulated by the internet. In the ‘good old days’ kids enjoyed word games.

This was perfect in Greek because the Greek book I was given, since I was the only one doing Greek, would have a new noun or verb, like "gramma" (to write), and it would say you can easily remember the meaning of "gramma" because of words like grammar and "telegraph," which is a piece of writing from a distance, which is what "tele" is, remote, and "graphane" to write. I remember turning a page and it had a verb "thaumazo" and it said you can easily remember this by thinking of the English word "thaumaturge." I remember looking down and thinking, "I quite like words and things, but 'thaumaturge'?" And it turns out "thaumaturge" is an English word; it just means a worker of wonders, a worker of miracles. "Thauma" is the work.

Author’s note: This of course is the prime example of a classical education - Mr Fry’s generation knew the etymology of many words.

That set me on the path to believing there was something I could do. This was a boarding school, and at night, I would read stories with a torch under the bed. I was the dormitory reader, and I would sometimes make up stories, you know, make up ghost stories. Despite being appalling at games, dyspraxic really, I just really couldn't do anything—climb a rope, I mean, God, the sight of it.

Well, we're all dys-something, yes, exactly, that's the point, isn't it? So you find you don't know what you're good at, find out what you're dys at, and what's left after all the dyses is that, exactly. And this is what I say if I do sometimes go to schools and things. They'll say, "Well, you know, all these things," and I'll ask, "What do you like then?" And the kid says, "Football." And I'll ask, "Which team?" He tells me his team, and I say, "So you can name all the players on your team?" Of course, he could. I say, "But you couldn't name any other teams, could you, because you like your team?" And he goes through the whole Premier League naming every single team, their manager, and where they've been before. I say, "You see, your brain is incredible. I couldn't catch up with you there. You've got an amazing brain."

Author’s note: And so this is interesting. People’s capacity to use their brain is clear. The challenge is to use it for productive means. And so Mr Fry rightly is amazed by this capacity to remember hundreds of names and results. The question for us today is how to make productive effort enjoyable - that is the real puzzle for us and our kids.

You have to remind people that taxi drivers in London are a really good example. You know that the "Knowledge," which is what London black cab drivers have to learn, is their exam. They pass where they have to have a meeting, and the examiner says, "Take me from the South Kensington Tube entrance to Upper Street in Islington." They have to recite to the examiner: "Turn left there, right at the lights, comply with the lights, center lane, pass, and then name the buildings they're passing, because if they're important buildings like hotels and clubs, they should know them." It's an astounding piece of knowledge that these people have to master. A lot of them left school very early because they were told they didn't have an academic brain. The discovery that their brain could master all this information, famously more than a lawyer has to learn to pass a law degree, suddenly made them realize they weren't the dunces they were told they were.

Author’s note: And of course the ‘Knowledge’ is now redundant with the use of SatNav and the internet, and yet cab driver sit it. One explanation is that it is a type of 'Guild’ based approach to entry - only the right type of person becomes a Black Cab driver - one dedicated enough to do the Knowledge. It is an astonish feat. However, it comes back to this point about individual capacity - many people are capable of incredible feats with their mind. It is really about feeding them the right material.

Next week, I'm going to Paris for a night, taking the train, but I'm hosting the Global Teacher Awards at the UNESCO building in Paris, which is something I've done before. It is astounding. The teachers are from all over the world—Bangladesh, Peru, London—and all these teachers who are nominated, I mean, the ones on the long list are amazing enough, but then when you get to the short list, the work they do, the inspiration they are—they make you so angry at the division in the world where people like that are paid nothing and get almost no respect. Yes, there are these awards, but they won't make the front pages in the newspapers, let's be honest. These people are more charismatic, dedicated, and useful than almost anybody you're likely to meet in your life, and they pass that message to their children. They make their children feel capable, and it's so important.

Author’s note: We are in full agreement. Teachers, particularly those who work in difficult conditions, are the pillars of our society - their dedication is incredible, and we need to work out how to create a society where this is celebrated again.