The Most-Viewed TED Talk Ever Reveals How American Schools Kill Creativity

When Gillian Lynne — multimillionaire choreographer of "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera" — was in school, her teachers thought she had a learning disorder.

So her mom brought her to a doctor to find out what was wrong, and he made a startling diagnosis.

"Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick," he said. "She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."

She did. As education scholar Ken Robinson says in his TED Talk on creativity, Gillian went onto the Royal Ballet and into musical theater history.

"Lynne's been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history; she's given pleasure to millions; and she's a multimillionaire," Robinson says. "Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down."

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Angie D O'Grady

Cooxist

Executive Leadership