How to escape education's death valley
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0:02 - 0:04Thank you very much.
-
0:05 - 0:10I moved to America 12 years ago
with my wife Terry and our two kids. -
0:10 - 0:12Actually, truthfully, we moved
to Los Angeles -- -
0:12 - 0:16(Laughter)
-
0:16 - 0:18thinking we were moving
to America, but anyway -- -
0:18 - 0:20(Laughter)
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0:21 - 0:25It's a short plane ride
from Los Angeles to America. -
0:25 - 0:27(Laughter)
-
0:27 - 0:29I got here 12 years ago,
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0:29 - 0:33and when I got here,
I was told various things, -
0:33 - 0:36like, "Americans don't get irony."
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0:37 - 0:39(Laughter)
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0:39 - 0:41Have you come across this idea?
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0:41 - 0:42It's not true.
-
0:42 - 0:45I've traveled the whole length
and breadth of this country. -
0:45 - 0:48I have found no evidence
that Americans don't get irony. -
0:48 - 0:50It's one of those cultural myths,
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0:50 - 0:52like, "The British are reserved."
-
0:52 - 0:54(Laughter)
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0:54 - 0:56I don't know why people think this.
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0:56 - 0:59We've invaded every country
we've encountered. -
0:59 - 1:01(Laughter)
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1:03 - 1:05But it's not true Americans
don't get irony, -
1:05 - 1:08but I just want you to know
that that's what people -
1:08 - 1:09are saying about you behind your back.
-
1:09 - 1:12You know, so when you leave
living rooms in Europe, -
1:12 - 1:16people say, thankfully,
nobody was ironic in your presence. -
1:16 - 1:17(Laughter)
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1:17 - 1:20But I knew that Americans get irony
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1:20 - 1:23when I came across that legislation,
"No Child Left Behind." -
1:23 - 1:25(Laughter)
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1:25 - 1:29Because whoever thought
of that title gets irony. -
1:29 - 1:31(Laughter)
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1:31 - 1:32Don't they?
-
1:32 - 1:38(Applause)
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1:38 - 1:41Because it's leaving
millions of children behind. -
1:41 - 1:45Now I can see that's not a very attractive
name for legislation: -
1:45 - 1:46"Millions of Children Left Behind."
-
1:46 - 1:48I can see that.
-
1:48 - 1:49What's the plan?
-
1:49 - 1:52We propose to leave
millions of children behind, -
1:52 - 1:54and here's how it's going to work.
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1:54 - 1:55And it's working beautifully.
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1:55 - 1:56(Laughter)
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1:56 - 1:58In some parts of the country,
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1:58 - 2:0160 percent of kids drop out
of high school. -
2:02 - 2:03In the Native American communities,
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2:03 - 2:06it's 80 percent of kids.
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2:06 - 2:08If we halved that number,
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2:08 - 2:14one estimate is it would create
a net gain to the U.S. economy -
2:14 - 2:18over 10 years,
of nearly a trillion dollars. -
2:19 - 2:21From an economic point of view,
-
2:21 - 2:24this is good math, isn't it,
that we should do this? -
2:24 - 2:26It actually costs an enormous amount
-
2:26 - 2:30to mop up the damage
from the dropout crisis. -
2:30 - 2:34But the dropout crisis
is just the tip of an iceberg. -
2:34 - 2:37What it doesn't count
are all the kids who are in school -
2:37 - 2:40but being disengaged
from it, who don't enjoy it, -
2:40 - 2:43who don't get any real benefit from it.
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2:44 - 2:47And the reason is not
that we're not spending enough money. -
2:47 - 2:50America spends more money on education
than most other countries. -
2:50 - 2:53Class sizes are smaller
than in many countries. -
2:54 - 2:56And there are hundreds
of initiatives every year -
2:56 - 2:58to try and improve education.
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2:58 - 3:02The trouble is, it's all going
in the wrong direction. -
3:03 - 3:07There are three principles
on which human life flourishes, -
3:07 - 3:11and they are contradicted
by the culture of education -
3:11 - 3:14under which most teachers have to labor
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3:14 - 3:16and most students have to endure.
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3:17 - 3:23The first is this, that human beings
are naturally different and diverse. -
3:24 - 3:28Can I ask you, how many of you
have got children of your own? -
3:29 - 3:31Okay. Or grandchildren.
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3:32 - 3:35How about two children or more? Right.
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3:36 - 3:38And the rest of you
have seen such children. -
3:38 - 3:41(Laughter)
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3:41 - 3:42Small people wandering about.
-
3:42 - 3:44(Laughter)
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3:44 - 3:46I will make you a bet,
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3:46 - 3:48and I am confident
that I will win the bet. -
3:48 - 3:50If you've got two children or more,
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3:50 - 3:53I bet you they are completely
different from each other. -
3:53 - 3:56Aren't they?
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3:56 - 3:58(Applause)
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3:58 - 4:00You would never confuse them, would you?
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4:00 - 4:02Like, "Which one are you? Remind me."
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4:02 - 4:04(Laughter)
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4:05 - 4:08"Your mother and I need
some color-coding system -
4:08 - 4:09so we don't get confused."
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4:10 - 4:13Education under "No Child Left Behind"
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4:13 - 4:17is based on not diversity but conformity.
-
4:18 - 4:20What schools are encouraged
to do is to find out -
4:20 - 4:24what kids can do across
a very narrow spectrum of achievement. -
4:25 - 4:27One of the effects
of "No Child Left Behind" -
4:27 - 4:31has been to narrow the focus
onto the so-called STEM disciplines. -
4:31 - 4:33They're very important.
-
4:33 - 4:35I'm not here to argue
against science and math. -
4:35 - 4:39On the contrary, they're necessary
but they're not sufficient. -
4:39 - 4:41A real education has to give equal weight
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4:41 - 4:45to the arts, the humanities,
to physical education. -
4:45 - 4:48An awful lot of kids, sorry, thank you --
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4:48 - 4:53(Applause)
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4:53 - 4:57One estimate in America currently
is that something like 10 percent of kids, -
4:57 - 4:58getting on that way,
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4:58 - 5:02are being diagnosed
with various conditions -
5:02 - 5:06under the broad title
of attention deficit disorder. -
5:07 - 5:08ADHD.
-
5:08 - 5:10I'm not saying there's no such thing.
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5:11 - 5:13I just don't believe
it's an epidemic like this. -
5:13 - 5:16If you sit kids down, hour after hour,
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5:16 - 5:18doing low-grade clerical work,
-
5:19 - 5:22don't be surprised if they start
to fidget, you know? -
5:22 - 5:24(Laughter)
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5:24 - 5:30(Applause)
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5:30 - 5:34Children are not, for the most part,
suffering from a psychological condition. -
5:34 - 5:36They're suffering from childhood.
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5:36 - 5:40(Laughter)
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5:40 - 5:43And I know this because
I spent my early life as a child. -
5:43 - 5:45I went through the whole thing.
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5:47 - 5:52Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum
that celebrates their various talents, -
5:52 - 5:53not just a small range of them.
-
5:53 - 5:56And by the way, the arts
aren't just important -
5:56 - 5:57because they improve math scores.
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5:57 - 6:00They're important because they speak
to parts of children's being -
6:00 - 6:02which are otherwise untouched.
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6:02 - 6:04The second, thank you --
-
6:04 - 6:08(Applause)
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6:09 - 6:13The second principle
that drives human life flourishing -
6:13 - 6:14is curiosity.
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6:15 - 6:18If you can light the spark
of curiosity in a child, -
6:18 - 6:21they will learn without any further
assistance, very often. -
6:22 - 6:24Children are natural learners.
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6:24 - 6:28It's a real achievement
to put that particular ability out, -
6:28 - 6:29or to stifle it.
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6:30 - 6:34Curiosity is the engine of achievement.
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6:34 - 6:36Now the reason I say this
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6:36 - 6:40is because one of the effects
of the current culture here, -
6:40 - 6:41if I can say so,
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6:41 - 6:44has been to de-professionalize teachers.
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6:45 - 6:50There is no system in the world
or any school in the country -
6:50 - 6:52that is better than its teachers.
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6:53 - 6:57Teachers are the lifeblood
of the success of schools. -
6:58 - 7:00But teaching is a creative profession.
-
7:01 - 7:04Teaching, properly conceived,
is not a delivery system. -
7:04 - 7:07You know, you're not there just
to pass on received information. -
7:07 - 7:09Great teachers do that,
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7:09 - 7:13but what great teachers also do is mentor,
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7:13 - 7:16stimulate, provoke, engage.
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7:16 - 7:18You see, in the end,
education is about learning. -
7:19 - 7:22If there's no learning going on,
there's no education going on. -
7:22 - 7:24And people can spend an awful lot of time
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7:24 - 7:27discussing education
without ever discussing learning. -
7:27 - 7:29The whole point of education
is to get people to learn. -
7:29 - 7:33An old friend of mine --
actually very old, he's dead. -
7:33 - 7:36(Laughter)
-
7:36 - 7:38That's as old as it gets, I'm afraid.
-
7:38 - 7:40(Laughter)
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7:42 - 7:47But a wonderful guy he was,
wonderful philosopher. -
7:47 - 7:49He used to talk about the difference
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7:49 - 7:53between the task
and achievement senses of verbs. -
7:54 - 7:56You can be engaged
in the activity of something, -
7:56 - 7:59but not really be
achieving it, like dieting. -
7:59 - 8:00(Laughter)
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8:00 - 8:02It's a very good example.
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8:02 - 8:03There he is. He's dieting.
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8:03 - 8:05Is he losing any weight? Not really.
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8:05 - 8:07(Laughter)
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8:07 - 8:08Teaching is a word like that.
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8:08 - 8:11You can say, "There's Deborah,
she's in room 34, she's teaching." -
8:12 - 8:14But if nobody's learning anything,
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8:14 - 8:18she may be engaged in the task of teaching
but not actually fulfilling it. -
8:18 - 8:21The role of a teacher
is to facilitate learning. -
8:21 - 8:23That's it.
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8:23 - 8:25And part of the problem is, I think,
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8:25 - 8:28that the dominant culture
of education has come to focus -
8:28 - 8:31on not teaching and learning, but testing.
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8:32 - 8:33Now, testing is important.
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8:33 - 8:35Standardized tests have a place.
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8:36 - 8:39But they should not be
the dominant culture of education. -
8:39 - 8:41They should be diagnostic.
They should help. -
8:41 - 8:48(Applause)
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8:48 - 8:53If I go for a medical examination,
I want some standardized tests. -
8:53 - 8:54I do.
-
8:54 - 8:56I want to know
what my cholesterol level is -
8:56 - 8:59compared to everybody else's
on a standard scale. -
8:59 - 9:02I don't want to be told on some scale
my doctor invented in the car. -
9:02 - 9:04(Laughter)
-
9:04 - 9:06"Your cholesterol
is what I call Level Orange." -
9:06 - 9:08"Really?"
-
9:08 - 9:09(Laughter)
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9:10 - 9:11"Is that good?" "We don't know."
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9:11 - 9:13(Laughter)
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9:13 - 9:15But all that should support learning.
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9:15 - 9:19It shouldn't obstruct it,
which of course it often does. -
9:19 - 9:23So in place of curiosity,
what we have is a culture of compliance. -
9:24 - 9:29Our children and teachers are encouraged
to follow routine algorithms -
9:29 - 9:34rather than to excite that power
of imagination and curiosity. -
9:34 - 9:38And the third principle is this:
that human life is inherently creative. -
9:38 - 9:40It's why we all have different résumés.
-
9:40 - 9:42We create our lives,
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9:42 - 9:45and we can recreate them
as we go through them. -
9:45 - 9:47It's the common currency
of being a human being. -
9:47 - 9:51It's why human culture
is so interesting and diverse and dynamic. -
9:51 - 9:55I mean, other animals may well have
imaginations and creativity, -
9:55 - 9:58but it's not so much
in evidence, is it, as ours? -
9:58 - 10:00I mean, you may have a dog.
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10:01 - 10:03And your dog may get depressed.
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10:04 - 10:06You know, but it doesn't listen
to Radiohead, does it? -
10:06 - 10:10(Laughter)
-
10:10 - 10:13And sit staring out the window
with a bottle of Jack Daniels. -
10:13 - 10:17(Laughter)
-
10:17 - 10:19"Would you like to come for a walk?"
-
10:19 - 10:20"No, I'm fine."
-
10:20 - 10:22(Laughter)
-
10:22 - 10:26"You go. I'll wait. But take pictures."
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10:26 - 10:28(Laughter)
-
10:28 - 10:30We all create our own lives
through this restless process -
10:30 - 10:33of imagining alternatives
and possibilities, -
10:33 - 10:35and one of the roles of education
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10:35 - 10:39is to awaken and develop
these powers of creativity. -
10:39 - 10:42Instead, what we have
is a culture of standardization. -
10:42 - 10:45Now, it doesn't have to be that way.
-
10:45 - 10:46It really doesn't.
-
10:47 - 10:51Finland regularly comes out on top
in math, science and reading. -
10:51 - 10:54Now, we only know
that's what they do well at, -
10:54 - 10:56because that's all that's being tested.
-
10:56 - 10:58That's one of the problems of the test.
-
10:58 - 11:00They don't look for other things
that matter just as much. -
11:01 - 11:04The thing about work in Finland is this:
-
11:04 - 11:06they don't obsess about those disciplines.
-
11:06 - 11:09They have a very broad
approach to education, -
11:09 - 11:12which includes humanities,
physical education, the arts. -
11:13 - 11:18Second, there is no standardized
testing in Finland. -
11:19 - 11:20I mean, there's a bit,
-
11:20 - 11:22but it's not what gets
people up in the morning, -
11:22 - 11:24what keeps them at their desks.
-
11:24 - 11:27The third thing --
and I was at a meeting recently -
11:27 - 11:29with some people from Finland,
actual Finnish people, -
11:29 - 11:34and somebody from the American system
was saying to the people in Finland, -
11:34 - 11:37"What do you do
about the drop-out rate in Finland?" -
11:38 - 11:40And they all looked a bit
bemused, and said, -
11:40 - 11:42"Well, we don't have one.
-
11:43 - 11:44Why would you drop out?
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11:45 - 11:47If people are in trouble,
we get to them quite quickly -
11:47 - 11:49and we help and support them."
-
11:49 - 11:50Now people always say,
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11:50 - 11:53"Well, you know, you can't compare
Finland to America." -
11:53 - 11:57No. I think there's a population
of around five million in Finland. -
11:57 - 12:00But you can compare it
to a state in America. -
12:01 - 12:04Many states in America
have fewer people in them than that. -
12:05 - 12:07I mean, I've been
to some states in America -
12:07 - 12:08and I was the only person there.
-
12:08 - 12:10(Laughter)
-
12:10 - 12:13Really. Really.
-
12:13 - 12:15I was asked to lock up when I left.
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12:15 - 12:18(Laughter)
-
12:19 - 12:23But what all the high-performing
systems in the world do -
12:23 - 12:27is currently what is not evident, sadly,
-
12:27 - 12:29across the systems in America --
-
12:29 - 12:30I mean, as a whole.
-
12:31 - 12:32One is this:
-
12:32 - 12:35they individualize teaching and learning.
-
12:36 - 12:39They recognize that it's students
who are learning -
12:39 - 12:42and the system has to engage them,
-
12:42 - 12:45their curiosity, their individuality,
and their creativity. -
12:45 - 12:47That's how you get them to learn.
-
12:48 - 12:52The second is that they attribute
a very high status -
12:52 - 12:54to the teaching profession.
-
12:54 - 12:57They recognize
that you can't improve education -
12:57 - 13:00if you don't pick great people to teach
and keep giving them -
13:00 - 13:02constant support
and professional development. -
13:03 - 13:05Investing in professional
development is not a cost. -
13:05 - 13:07It's an investment,
-
13:07 - 13:10and every other country
that's succeeding well knows that, -
13:10 - 13:12whether it's Australia, Canada,
-
13:12 - 13:16South Korea, Singapore,
Hong Kong or Shanghai. -
13:17 - 13:18They know that to be the case.
-
13:18 - 13:20And the third is,
-
13:20 - 13:23they devolve responsibility
to the school level -
13:23 - 13:25for getting the job done.
-
13:25 - 13:27You see, there's a big difference here
-
13:27 - 13:31between going into a mode of command
and control in education -- -
13:31 - 13:33That's what happens in some systems.
-
13:33 - 13:36Central or state governments decide,
-
13:36 - 13:38they know best and they're going
to tell you what to do. -
13:39 - 13:42The trouble is that education
doesn't go on -
13:42 - 13:45in the committee rooms
of our legislative buildings. -
13:45 - 13:48It happens in classrooms and schools,
-
13:48 - 13:51and the people who do it
are the teachers and the students, -
13:51 - 13:55and if you remove their discretion,
it stops working. -
13:55 - 13:58You have to put it back to the people.
-
13:58 - 14:03(Applause)
-
14:03 - 14:05There is wonderful work
happening in this country. -
14:06 - 14:07But I have to say it's happening
-
14:07 - 14:10in spite of the dominant
culture of education, -
14:10 - 14:11not because of it.
-
14:11 - 14:15It's like people are sailing
into a headwind all the time. -
14:15 - 14:18And the reason I think is this:
-
14:18 - 14:20that many of the current policies
-
14:20 - 14:24are based on mechanistic
conceptions of education. -
14:24 - 14:28It's like education
is an industrial process -
14:28 - 14:31that can be improved
just by having better data, -
14:31 - 14:34and somewhere in the back of the mind
of some policy makers -
14:34 - 14:38is this idea that if we fine-tune it
well enough, if we just get it right, -
14:38 - 14:40it will all hum along perfectly
into the future. -
14:41 - 14:42It won't, and it never did.
-
14:44 - 14:48The point is that education
is not a mechanical system. -
14:48 - 14:50It's a human system.
-
14:50 - 14:52It's about people,
-
14:52 - 14:55people who either do want
to learn or don't want to learn. -
14:55 - 14:59Every student who drops
out of school has a reason for it -
15:00 - 15:02which is rooted in their own biography.
-
15:02 - 15:03They may find it boring.
-
15:03 - 15:05They may find it irrelevant.
-
15:05 - 15:10They may find that it's at odds with
the life they're living outside of school. -
15:10 - 15:13There are trends,
but the stories are always unique. -
15:14 - 15:17I was at a meeting recently
in Los Angeles of -- -
15:17 - 15:19they're called alternative
education programs. -
15:19 - 15:23These are programs designed
to get kids back into education. -
15:23 - 15:24They have certain common features.
-
15:24 - 15:26They're very personalized.
-
15:27 - 15:30They have strong support for the teachers,
-
15:30 - 15:34close links with the community
and a broad and diverse curriculum, -
15:34 - 15:38and often programs which involve students
outside school as well as inside school. -
15:39 - 15:40And they work.
-
15:41 - 15:44What's interesting to me is,
these are called "alternative education." -
15:44 - 15:45(Laughter)
-
15:45 - 15:47You know?
-
15:48 - 15:50And all the evidence
from around the world is, -
15:50 - 15:53if we all did that, there'd be
no need for the alternative. -
15:53 - 15:56(Applause)
-
16:01 - 16:02(Applause ends)
-
16:02 - 16:05So I think we have to embrace
a different metaphor. -
16:05 - 16:07We have to recognize
that it's a human system, -
16:07 - 16:11and there are conditions
under which people thrive, -
16:11 - 16:14and conditions under which they don't.
-
16:14 - 16:17We are after all organic creatures,
-
16:17 - 16:21and the culture of the school
is absolutely essential. -
16:21 - 16:23Culture is an organic term, isn't it?
-
16:24 - 16:27Not far from where I live
is a place called Death Valley. -
16:28 - 16:33Death Valley is the hottest,
driest place in America, -
16:33 - 16:35and nothing grows there.
-
16:36 - 16:38Nothing grows there
because it doesn't rain. -
16:39 - 16:40Hence, Death Valley.
-
16:41 - 16:48In the winter of 2004,
it rained in Death Valley. -
16:48 - 16:51Seven inches of rain fell
over a very short period. -
16:52 - 16:57And in the spring of 2005,
there was a phenomenon. -
16:57 - 17:03The whole floor of Death Valley
was carpeted in flowers for a while. -
17:04 - 17:05What it proved is this:
-
17:05 - 17:08that Death Valley isn't dead.
-
17:09 - 17:11It's dormant.
-
17:12 - 17:15Right beneath the surface
are these seeds of possibility -
17:15 - 17:19waiting for the right conditions
to come about, -
17:19 - 17:22and with organic systems,
if the conditions are right, -
17:22 - 17:24life is inevitable.
-
17:24 - 17:26It happens all the time.
-
17:26 - 17:28You take an area, a school, a district,
-
17:28 - 17:32you change the conditions, give people
a different sense of possibility, -
17:32 - 17:35a different set of expectations,
a broader range of opportunities, -
17:35 - 17:38you cherish and value the relationships
between teachers and learners, -
17:38 - 17:40you offer people
the discretion to be creative -
17:40 - 17:42and to innovate in what they do,
-
17:42 - 17:46and schools that were once
bereft spring to life. -
17:46 - 17:47Great leaders know that.
-
17:48 - 17:50The real role of leadership
in education -- -
17:50 - 17:52and I think it's true
at the national level, -
17:52 - 17:54the state level, at the school level --
-
17:54 - 17:57is not and should not be
command and control. -
17:58 - 18:03The real role of leadership
is climate control, -
18:03 - 18:05creating a climate of possibility.
-
18:05 - 18:07And if you do that, people will rise to it
-
18:07 - 18:11and achieve things
that you completely did not anticipate -
18:11 - 18:12and couldn't have expected.
-
18:13 - 18:15There's a wonderful quote
from Benjamin Franklin. -
18:15 - 18:17"There are three sorts
of people in the world: -
18:17 - 18:20Those who are immovable,
-
18:20 - 18:21people who don't get it,
-
18:21 - 18:23or don't want to do anything about it;
-
18:23 - 18:25there are people who are movable,
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18:25 - 18:27people who see the need for change
-
18:27 - 18:29and are prepared to listen to it;
-
18:29 - 18:31and there are people who move,
-
18:31 - 18:32people who make things happen."
-
18:33 - 18:37And if we can encourage more people,
that will be a movement. -
18:37 - 18:40And if the movement is strong enough,
-
18:40 - 18:42that's, in the best sense
of the word, a revolution. -
18:43 - 18:44And that's what we need.
-
18:44 - 18:46Thank you very much.
-
18:46 - 18:50(Applause)
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18:50 - 18:51Thank you very much.
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18:51 - 18:53(Applause)
- Title:
- How to escape education's death valley
- Speaker:
- Ken Robinson
- Description:
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Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk, he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 19:11
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for How to escape education's death valley |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 5/9/2015.