WEBVTT 00:00:02.183 --> 00:00:03.802 Thank you very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:05.105 --> 00:00:09.506 I moved to America 12 years ago with my wife Terry and our two kids. 00:00:09.530 --> 00:00:12.316 Actually, truthfully, we moved to Los Angeles -- 00:00:12.340 --> 00:00:15.764 (Laughter) 00:00:15.788 --> 00:00:18.122 thinking we were moving to America, but anyway -- 00:00:18.146 --> 00:00:20.081 (Laughter) 00:00:20.827 --> 00:00:25.085 It's a short plane ride from Los Angeles to America. 00:00:25.109 --> 00:00:26.751 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:27.304 --> 00:00:29.035 I got here 12 years ago, 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:32.845 and when I got here, I was told various things, 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:35.916 like, "Americans don't get irony." 00:00:36.628 --> 00:00:38.768 (Laughter) 00:00:38.792 --> 00:00:41.014 Have you come across this idea? 00:00:41.038 --> 00:00:42.197 It's not true. 00:00:42.221 --> 00:00:44.983 I've traveled the whole length and breadth of this country. 00:00:45.007 --> 00:00:47.633 I have found no evidence that Americans don't get irony. 00:00:47.657 --> 00:00:50.234 It's one of those cultural myths, 00:00:50.258 --> 00:00:52.146 like, "The British are reserved." 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:54.369 (Laughter) 00:00:54.393 --> 00:00:56.099 I don't know why people think this. 00:00:56.455 --> 00:00:58.942 We've invaded every country we've encountered. 00:00:58.966 --> 00:01:01.250 (Laughter) 00:01:02.818 --> 00:01:05.102 But it's not true Americans don't get irony, 00:01:05.126 --> 00:01:07.598 but I just want you to know that that's what people 00:01:07.622 --> 00:01:09.432 are saying about you behind your back. 00:01:09.456 --> 00:01:12.392 You know, so when you leave living rooms in Europe, 00:01:12.416 --> 00:01:15.623 people say, thankfully, nobody was ironic in your presence. 00:01:15.647 --> 00:01:17.034 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:17.058 --> 00:01:19.595 But I knew that Americans get irony 00:01:19.619 --> 00:01:23.344 when I came across that legislation, "No Child Left Behind." 00:01:23.368 --> 00:01:25.150 (Laughter) 00:01:25.174 --> 00:01:28.775 Because whoever thought of that title gets irony. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:30.537 (Laughter) 00:01:30.561 --> 00:01:32.019 Don't they? 00:01:32.043 --> 00:01:37.842 (Applause) 00:01:37.866 --> 00:01:40.838 Because it's leaving millions of children behind. 00:01:41.413 --> 00:01:44.725 Now I can see that's not a very attractive name for legislation: 00:01:44.749 --> 00:01:46.471 "Millions of Children Left Behind." 00:01:46.495 --> 00:01:48.240 I can see that. 00:01:48.264 --> 00:01:49.461 What's the plan? 00:01:49.485 --> 00:01:52.249 We propose to leave millions of children behind, 00:01:52.273 --> 00:01:54.011 and here's how it's going to work. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:54.035 --> 00:01:55.421 And it's working beautifully. 00:01:55.445 --> 00:01:56.452 (Laughter) 00:01:56.476 --> 00:01:57.857 In some parts of the country, 00:01:57.881 --> 00:02:00.838 60 percent of kids drop out of high school. 00:02:01.677 --> 00:02:03.344 In the Native American communities, 00:02:03.368 --> 00:02:05.753 it's 80 percent of kids. 00:02:05.777 --> 00:02:08.344 If we halved that number, 00:02:08.368 --> 00:02:14.026 one estimate is it would create a net gain to the U.S. economy 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:18.087 over 10 years, of nearly a trillion dollars. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.833 From an economic point of view, 00:02:20.857 --> 00:02:23.765 this is good math, isn't it, that we should do this? 00:02:23.789 --> 00:02:26.114 It actually costs an enormous amount 00:02:26.138 --> 00:02:29.821 to mop up the damage from the dropout crisis. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:34.005 But the dropout crisis is just the tip of an iceberg. 00:02:34.029 --> 00:02:36.696 What it doesn't count are all the kids who are in school 00:02:36.720 --> 00:02:40.258 but being disengaged from it, who don't enjoy it, 00:02:40.282 --> 00:02:42.826 who don't get any real benefit from it. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:43.622 --> 00:02:46.590 And the reason is not that we're not spending enough money. 00:02:46.614 --> 00:02:50.079 America spends more money on education than most other countries. 00:02:50.103 --> 00:02:53.345 Class sizes are smaller than in many countries. 00:02:53.681 --> 00:02:55.943 And there are hundreds of initiatives every year 00:02:55.967 --> 00:02:57.603 to try and improve education. 00:02:58.244 --> 00:03:01.595 The trouble is, it's all going in the wrong direction. 00:03:02.765 --> 00:03:07.340 There are three principles on which human life flourishes, 00:03:07.364 --> 00:03:11.351 and they are contradicted by the culture of education 00:03:11.375 --> 00:03:13.628 under which most teachers have to labor 00:03:13.652 --> 00:03:16.204 and most students have to endure. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:17.207 --> 00:03:23.479 The first is this, that human beings are naturally different and diverse. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.387 --> 00:03:27.502 Can I ask you, how many of you have got children of your own? 00:03:28.892 --> 00:03:30.835 Okay. Or grandchildren. 00:03:31.905 --> 00:03:34.807 How about two children or more? Right. 00:03:35.645 --> 00:03:37.741 And the rest of you have seen such children. 00:03:37.765 --> 00:03:40.501 (Laughter) 00:03:40.525 --> 00:03:42.015 Small people wandering about. 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:43.761 (Laughter) 00:03:43.785 --> 00:03:45.612 I will make you a bet, 00:03:45.636 --> 00:03:47.684 and I am confident that I will win the bet. 00:03:47.708 --> 00:03:49.527 If you've got two children or more, 00:03:49.551 --> 00:03:53.356 I bet you they are completely different from each other. 00:03:53.380 --> 00:03:55.801 Aren't they? 00:03:55.825 --> 00:03:57.727 (Applause) 00:03:57.751 --> 00:04:00.330 You would never confuse them, would you? 00:04:00.354 --> 00:04:02.394 Like, "Which one are you? Remind me." 00:04:02.418 --> 00:04:04.196 (Laughter) 00:04:05.252 --> 00:04:07.665 "Your mother and I need some color-coding system 00:04:07.689 --> 00:04:09.069 so we don't get confused." NOTE Paragraph 00:04:10.052 --> 00:04:12.971 Education under "No Child Left Behind" 00:04:12.995 --> 00:04:16.574 is based on not diversity but conformity. 00:04:17.818 --> 00:04:20.352 What schools are encouraged to do is to find out 00:04:20.376 --> 00:04:24.324 what kids can do across a very narrow spectrum of achievement. 00:04:24.736 --> 00:04:27.404 One of the effects of "No Child Left Behind" 00:04:27.428 --> 00:04:31.177 has been to narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines. 00:04:31.201 --> 00:04:32.811 They're very important. 00:04:32.835 --> 00:04:35.074 I'm not here to argue against science and math. 00:04:35.098 --> 00:04:38.813 On the contrary, they're necessary but they're not sufficient. 00:04:39.178 --> 00:04:41.353 A real education has to give equal weight 00:04:41.377 --> 00:04:45.090 to the arts, the humanities, to physical education. 00:04:45.114 --> 00:04:47.538 An awful lot of kids, sorry, thank you -- 00:04:47.562 --> 00:04:52.664 (Applause) 00:04:52.688 --> 00:04:56.551 One estimate in America currently is that something like 10 percent of kids, 00:04:56.575 --> 00:04:58.066 getting on that way, 00:04:58.090 --> 00:05:02.156 are being diagnosed with various conditions 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:06.157 under the broad title of attention deficit disorder. 00:05:06.502 --> 00:05:07.702 ADHD. 00:05:08.234 --> 00:05:10.017 I'm not saying there's no such thing. 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:13.130 I just don't believe it's an epidemic like this. 00:05:13.154 --> 00:05:15.946 If you sit kids down, hour after hour, 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:17.925 doing low-grade clerical work, 00:05:19.306 --> 00:05:22.411 don't be surprised if they start to fidget, you know? 00:05:22.435 --> 00:05:23.863 (Laughter) 00:05:23.887 --> 00:05:30.065 (Applause) 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:34.224 Children are not, for the most part, suffering from a psychological condition. 00:05:34.248 --> 00:05:36.237 They're suffering from childhood. 00:05:36.261 --> 00:05:40.355 (Laughter) 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:43.287 And I know this because I spent my early life as a child. 00:05:43.311 --> 00:05:45.406 I went through the whole thing. 00:05:46.705 --> 00:05:51.699 Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, 00:05:51.723 --> 00:05:53.336 not just a small range of them. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.559 And by the way, the arts aren't just important 00:05:55.583 --> 00:05:57.193 because they improve math scores. 00:05:57.217 --> 00:06:00.334 They're important because they speak to parts of children's being 00:06:00.358 --> 00:06:01.787 which are otherwise untouched. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:02.312 --> 00:06:04.120 The second, thank you -- 00:06:04.144 --> 00:06:08.205 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:08.562 --> 00:06:12.701 The second principle that drives human life flourishing 00:06:12.725 --> 00:06:14.209 is curiosity. 00:06:14.512 --> 00:06:17.876 If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, 00:06:17.900 --> 00:06:21.068 they will learn without any further assistance, very often. 00:06:21.563 --> 00:06:23.524 Children are natural learners. 00:06:23.548 --> 00:06:27.840 It's a real achievement to put that particular ability out, 00:06:27.864 --> 00:06:29.241 or to stifle it. 00:06:30.155 --> 00:06:33.868 Curiosity is the engine of achievement. 00:06:34.392 --> 00:06:35.745 Now the reason I say this 00:06:35.769 --> 00:06:39.944 is because one of the effects of the current culture here, 00:06:39.968 --> 00:06:41.170 if I can say so, 00:06:41.194 --> 00:06:44.077 has been to De-professionalize teachers. 00:06:44.876 --> 00:06:50.188 There is no system in the world or any school in the country 00:06:50.212 --> 00:06:52.476 that is better than its teachers. 00:06:53.028 --> 00:06:57.334 Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. 00:06:57.723 --> 00:07:00.350 But teaching is a creative profession. 00:07:00.814 --> 00:07:03.701 Teaching, properly conceived, is not a delivery system. 00:07:04.174 --> 00:07:07.222 You know, you're not there just to pass on received information. 00:07:07.246 --> 00:07:09.474 Great teachers do that, 00:07:09.498 --> 00:07:12.543 but what great teachers also do is mentor, 00:07:12.567 --> 00:07:15.595 stimulate, provoke, engage. 00:07:15.936 --> 00:07:18.230 You see, in the end, education is about learning. 00:07:18.881 --> 00:07:21.971 If there's no learning going on, there's no education going on. 00:07:21.995 --> 00:07:23.968 And people can spend an awful lot of time 00:07:23.992 --> 00:07:26.565 discussing education without ever discussing learning. 00:07:26.589 --> 00:07:29.162 The whole point of education is to get people to learn. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:29.186 --> 00:07:32.952 An old friend of mine -- actually very old, he's dead. 00:07:32.976 --> 00:07:35.648 (Laughter) 00:07:35.672 --> 00:07:38.149 That's as old as it gets, I'm afraid. 00:07:38.173 --> 00:07:40.129 (Laughter) 00:07:41.960 --> 00:07:46.713 But a wonderful guy he was, wonderful philosopher. 00:07:46.737 --> 00:07:49.012 He used to talk about the difference 00:07:49.036 --> 00:07:52.927 between the task and achievement senses of verbs. 00:07:53.818 --> 00:07:56.141 You can be engaged in the activity of something, 00:07:56.165 --> 00:07:58.580 but not really be achieving it, like dieting. 00:07:59.086 --> 00:08:00.087 (Laughter) 00:08:00.111 --> 00:08:01.841 It's a very good example. 00:08:01.865 --> 00:08:03.212 There he is. He's dieting. 00:08:03.236 --> 00:08:05.105 Is he losing any weight? Not really. 00:08:05.129 --> 00:08:06.721 (Laughter) 00:08:06.745 --> 00:08:08.212 Teaching is a word like that. 00:08:08.236 --> 00:08:11.424 You can say, "There's Deborah, she's in room 34, she's teaching." 00:08:11.902 --> 00:08:13.751 But if nobody's learning anything, 00:08:13.775 --> 00:08:17.590 she may be engaged in the task of teaching but not actually fulfilling it. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:18.419 --> 00:08:21.384 The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. 00:08:21.408 --> 00:08:22.655 That's it. 00:08:22.679 --> 00:08:24.555 And part of the problem is, I think, 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:28.011 that the dominant culture of education has come to focus 00:08:28.035 --> 00:08:31.124 on not teaching and learning, but testing. 00:08:31.884 --> 00:08:33.461 Now, testing is important. 00:08:33.485 --> 00:08:35.200 Standardized tests have a place. 00:08:35.798 --> 00:08:38.691 But they should not be the dominant culture of education. 00:08:38.715 --> 00:08:40.811 They should be diagnostic. They should help. 00:08:40.835 --> 00:08:47.835 (Applause) 00:08:48.247 --> 00:08:52.769 If I go for a medical examination, I want some standardized tests. 00:08:53.162 --> 00:08:54.363 I do. 00:08:54.387 --> 00:08:56.474 I want to know what my cholesterol level is 00:08:56.498 --> 00:08:58.855 compared to everybody else's on a standard scale. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.121 I don't want to be told on some scale my doctor invented in the car. 00:09:02.145 --> 00:09:03.533 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:04.246 --> 00:09:06.469 "Your cholesterol is what I call Level Orange." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:06.493 --> 00:09:07.676 "Really?" 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:09.477 (Laughter) 00:09:09.501 --> 00:09:11.144 "Is that good?" "We don't know." 00:09:11.168 --> 00:09:12.722 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:12.746 --> 00:09:15.312 But all that should support learning. 00:09:15.336 --> 00:09:18.844 It shouldn't obstruct it, which of course it often does. 00:09:19.275 --> 00:09:23.362 So in place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance. 00:09:23.975 --> 00:09:29.475 Our children and teachers are encouraged to follow routine algorithms 00:09:29.499 --> 00:09:34.036 rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity. 00:09:34.060 --> 00:09:37.692 And the third principle is this: that human life is inherently creative. 00:09:38.065 --> 00:09:40.429 It's why we all have different résumés. 00:09:40.453 --> 00:09:42.070 We create our lives, 00:09:42.094 --> 00:09:44.673 and we can recreate them as we go through them. 00:09:44.697 --> 00:09:47.278 It's the common currency of being a human being. 00:09:47.302 --> 00:09:51.445 It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic. 00:09:51.469 --> 00:09:55.306 I mean, other animals may well have imaginations and creativity, 00:09:55.330 --> 00:09:58.038 but it's not so much in evidence, is it, as ours? 00:09:58.062 --> 00:09:59.566 I mean, you may have a dog. 00:10:00.780 --> 00:10:03.174 And your dog may get depressed. 00:10:03.644 --> 00:10:06.216 You know, but it doesn't listen to Radiohead, does it? 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:09.995 (Laughter) 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.924 And sit staring out the window with a bottle of Jack Daniels. 00:10:12.948 --> 00:10:17.121 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:17.145 --> 00:10:18.947 "Would you like to come for a walk?" 00:10:18.971 --> 00:10:20.172 "No, I'm fine." NOTE Paragraph 00:10:20.196 --> 00:10:21.930 (Laughter) 00:10:21.954 --> 00:10:25.771 "You go. I'll wait. But take pictures." 00:10:25.795 --> 00:10:27.636 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:27.660 --> 00:10:30.409 We all create our own lives through this restless process 00:10:30.433 --> 00:10:32.529 of imagining alternatives and possibilities, 00:10:32.553 --> 00:10:34.995 and one of the roles of education 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:38.693 is to awaken and develop these powers of creativity. 00:10:38.717 --> 00:10:41.755 Instead, what we have is a culture of standardization. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:42.417 --> 00:10:44.639 Now, it doesn't have to be that way. 00:10:44.663 --> 00:10:46.248 It really doesn't. 00:10:46.637 --> 00:10:51.317 Finland regularly comes out on top in math, science and reading. 00:10:51.341 --> 00:10:53.611 Now, we only know that's what they do well at, 00:10:53.635 --> 00:10:55.767 because that's all that's being tested. 00:10:55.791 --> 00:10:57.649 That's one of the problems of the test. 00:10:57.673 --> 00:11:00.411 They don't look for other things that matter just as much. 00:11:00.752 --> 00:11:04.078 The thing about work in Finland is this: 00:11:04.102 --> 00:11:06.450 they don't obsess about those disciplines. 00:11:06.474 --> 00:11:08.570 They have a very broad approach to education, 00:11:08.594 --> 00:11:11.964 which includes humanities, physical education, the arts. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:13.064 --> 00:11:17.817 Second, there is no standardized testing in Finland. 00:11:18.511 --> 00:11:20.128 I mean, there's a bit, 00:11:20.152 --> 00:11:22.438 but it's not what gets people up in the morning, 00:11:22.462 --> 00:11:24.009 what keeps them at their desks. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:24.342 --> 00:11:26.698 The third thing -- and I was at a meeting recently 00:11:26.722 --> 00:11:29.263 with some people from Finland, actual Finnish people, 00:11:29.287 --> 00:11:34.159 and somebody from the American system was saying to the people in Finland, 00:11:34.183 --> 00:11:37.132 "What do you do about the drop-out rate in Finland?" NOTE Paragraph 00:11:37.782 --> 00:11:40.188 And they all looked a bit bemused, and said, 00:11:40.212 --> 00:11:41.514 "Well, we don't have one. 00:11:42.522 --> 00:11:43.885 Why would you drop out? 00:11:44.591 --> 00:11:47.141 If people are in trouble, we get to them quite quickly 00:11:47.165 --> 00:11:48.633 and we help and support them." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:48.657 --> 00:11:50.224 Now people always say, 00:11:50.248 --> 00:11:53.006 "Well, you know, you can't compare Finland to America." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:53.463 --> 00:11:56.847 No. I think there's a population of around five million in Finland. 00:11:57.230 --> 00:12:00.185 But you can compare it to a state in America. 00:12:00.815 --> 00:12:04.225 Many states in America have fewer people in them than that. 00:12:04.719 --> 00:12:06.767 I mean, I've been to some states in America 00:12:06.791 --> 00:12:08.348 and I was the only person there. 00:12:08.372 --> 00:12:10.175 (Laughter) 00:12:10.199 --> 00:12:12.800 Really. Really. 00:12:12.824 --> 00:12:14.778 I was asked to lock up when I left. 00:12:14.802 --> 00:12:18.048 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:18.897 --> 00:12:22.806 But what all the high-performing systems in the world do 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:26.694 is currently what is not evident, sadly, 00:12:26.718 --> 00:12:28.959 across the systems in America -- 00:12:28.983 --> 00:12:30.250 I mean, as a whole. 00:12:30.703 --> 00:12:32.012 One is this: 00:12:32.036 --> 00:12:35.053 they individualize teaching and learning. 00:12:35.797 --> 00:12:39.430 They recognize that it's students who are learning 00:12:39.454 --> 00:12:41.586 and the system has to engage them, 00:12:41.610 --> 00:12:44.996 their curiosity, their individuality, and their creativity. 00:12:45.305 --> 00:12:46.931 That's how you get them to learn. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:47.570 --> 00:12:51.760 The second is that they attribute a very high status 00:12:51.784 --> 00:12:53.627 to the teaching profession. 00:12:54.353 --> 00:12:56.985 They recognize that you can't improve education 00:12:57.009 --> 00:12:59.978 if you don't pick great people to teach and keep giving them 00:13:00.002 --> 00:13:02.199 constant support and professional development. 00:13:02.501 --> 00:13:05.195 Investing in professional development is not a cost. 00:13:05.219 --> 00:13:06.808 It's an investment, 00:13:06.832 --> 00:13:09.577 and every other country that's succeeding well knows that, 00:13:09.601 --> 00:13:12.031 whether it's Australia, Canada, 00:13:12.055 --> 00:13:16.482 South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong or Shanghai. 00:13:16.506 --> 00:13:18.171 They know that to be the case. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:18.195 --> 00:13:19.561 And the third is, NOTE Paragraph 00:13:19.585 --> 00:13:23.315 they devolve responsibility to the school level 00:13:23.339 --> 00:13:24.592 for getting the job done. 00:13:25.243 --> 00:13:27.348 You see, there's a big difference here 00:13:27.372 --> 00:13:31.361 between going into a mode of command and control in education -- 00:13:31.385 --> 00:13:33.113 That's what happens in some systems. 00:13:33.137 --> 00:13:35.736 Central or state governments decide, 00:13:35.760 --> 00:13:38.418 they know best and they're going to tell you what to do. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:42.294 The trouble is that education doesn't go on 00:13:42.318 --> 00:13:45.226 in the committee rooms of our legislative buildings. 00:13:45.250 --> 00:13:48.260 It happens in classrooms and schools, 00:13:48.284 --> 00:13:51.333 and the people who do it are the teachers and the students, 00:13:51.357 --> 00:13:54.606 and if you remove their discretion, it stops working. 00:13:55.117 --> 00:13:57.791 You have to put it back to the people. 00:13:57.815 --> 00:14:02.967 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:02.991 --> 00:14:05.332 There is wonderful work happening in this country. 00:14:05.918 --> 00:14:07.475 But I have to say it's happening 00:14:07.499 --> 00:14:10.041 in spite of the dominant culture of education, 00:14:10.065 --> 00:14:11.442 not because of it. 00:14:11.466 --> 00:14:14.713 It's like people are sailing into a headwind all the time. 00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:17.708 And the reason I think is this: 00:14:17.732 --> 00:14:19.740 that many of the current policies 00:14:19.764 --> 00:14:23.885 are based on mechanistic conceptions of education. 00:14:23.909 --> 00:14:27.653 It's like education is an industrial process 00:14:27.677 --> 00:14:30.660 that can be improved just by having better data, 00:14:30.684 --> 00:14:33.600 and somewhere in the back of the mind of some policy makers 00:14:33.624 --> 00:14:37.734 is this idea that if we fine-tune it well enough, if we just get it right, 00:14:37.758 --> 00:14:40.019 it will all hum along perfectly into the future. 00:14:40.576 --> 00:14:42.291 It won't, and it never did. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:43.805 --> 00:14:47.732 The point is that education is not a mechanical system. 00:14:47.756 --> 00:14:49.555 It's a human system. 00:14:49.927 --> 00:14:51.856 It's about people, 00:14:51.880 --> 00:14:54.684 people who either do want to learn or don't want to learn. 00:14:54.708 --> 00:14:59.499 Every student who drops out of school has a reason for it 00:14:59.523 --> 00:15:01.820 which is rooted in their own biography. 00:15:01.844 --> 00:15:03.422 They may find it boring. 00:15:03.446 --> 00:15:05.142 They may find it irrelevant. 00:15:05.166 --> 00:15:09.980 They may find that it's at odds with the life they're living outside of school. 00:15:10.286 --> 00:15:13.454 There are trends, but the stories are always unique. 00:15:14.087 --> 00:15:16.741 I was at a meeting recently in Los Angeles of -- 00:15:16.765 --> 00:15:19.200 they're called alternative education programs. 00:15:19.224 --> 00:15:22.528 These are programs designed to get kids back into education. 00:15:22.552 --> 00:15:24.333 They have certain common features. 00:15:24.357 --> 00:15:25.889 They're very personalized. 00:15:26.548 --> 00:15:29.960 They have strong support for the teachers, 00:15:29.984 --> 00:15:33.527 close links with the community and a broad and diverse curriculum, 00:15:33.551 --> 00:15:38.447 and often programs which involve students outside school as well as inside school. 00:15:38.790 --> 00:15:40.004 And they work. 00:15:40.674 --> 00:15:44.347 What's interesting to me is, these are called "alternative education." 00:15:44.371 --> 00:15:45.419 (Laughter) 00:15:45.443 --> 00:15:46.647 You know? 00:15:47.714 --> 00:15:49.909 And all the evidence from around the world is, 00:15:49.933 --> 00:15:52.865 if we all did that, there'd be no need for the alternative. 00:15:53.406 --> 00:15:56.262 (Applause) 00:16:01.135 --> 00:16:02.136 (Applause ends) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:02.160 --> 00:16:04.640 So I think we have to embrace a different metaphor. 00:16:04.664 --> 00:16:07.173 We have to recognize that it's a human system, 00:16:07.197 --> 00:16:11.053 and there are conditions under which people thrive, 00:16:11.077 --> 00:16:13.674 and conditions under which they don't. 00:16:13.698 --> 00:16:16.945 We are after all organic creatures, 00:16:16.969 --> 00:16:21.245 and the culture of the school is absolutely essential. 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.344 Culture is an organic term, isn't it? NOTE Paragraph 00:16:23.937 --> 00:16:26.972 Not far from where I live is a place called Death Valley. 00:16:27.627 --> 00:16:33.267 Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in America, 00:16:33.291 --> 00:16:35.110 and nothing grows there. 00:16:36.219 --> 00:16:38.306 Nothing grows there because it doesn't rain. 00:16:38.664 --> 00:16:40.280 Hence, Death Valley. 00:16:40.917 --> 00:16:47.670 In the winter of 2004, it rained in Death Valley. 00:16:48.064 --> 00:16:51.201 Seven inches of rain fell over a very short period. 00:16:52.010 --> 00:16:56.705 And in the spring of 2005, there was a phenomenon. 00:16:57.038 --> 00:17:02.660 The whole floor of Death Valley was carpeted in flowers for a while. 00:17:03.664 --> 00:17:05.426 What it proved is this: 00:17:05.450 --> 00:17:08.084 that Death Valley isn't dead. 00:17:09.424 --> 00:17:10.693 It's dormant. 00:17:11.569 --> 00:17:15.027 Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility 00:17:15.051 --> 00:17:18.589 waiting for the right conditions to come about, 00:17:18.613 --> 00:17:22.075 and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, 00:17:22.099 --> 00:17:23.974 life is inevitable. 00:17:24.290 --> 00:17:25.661 It happens all the time. 00:17:25.685 --> 00:17:28.246 You take an area, a school, a district, 00:17:28.270 --> 00:17:31.674 you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibility, 00:17:31.698 --> 00:17:34.816 a different set of expectations, a broader range of opportunities, 00:17:34.840 --> 00:17:38.126 you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, 00:17:38.150 --> 00:17:40.341 you offer people the discretion to be creative 00:17:40.365 --> 00:17:42.184 and to innovate in what they do, 00:17:42.208 --> 00:17:45.645 and schools that were once bereft spring to life. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:45.669 --> 00:17:47.154 Great leaders know that. 00:17:47.662 --> 00:17:49.763 The real role of leadership in education -- 00:17:49.787 --> 00:17:51.884 and I think it's true at the national level, 00:17:51.908 --> 00:17:53.878 the state level, at the school level -- 00:17:53.902 --> 00:17:57.376 is not and should not be command and control. 00:17:58.302 --> 00:18:02.525 The real role of leadership is climate control, 00:18:02.549 --> 00:18:04.828 creating a climate of possibility. 00:18:04.852 --> 00:18:07.282 And if you do that, people will rise to it 00:18:07.306 --> 00:18:10.515 and achieve things that you completely did not anticipate 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:12.482 and couldn't have expected. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:12.506 --> 00:18:14.859 There's a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin. 00:18:14.883 --> 00:18:17.462 "There are three sorts of people in the world: 00:18:17.486 --> 00:18:20.002 Those who are immovable, 00:18:20.026 --> 00:18:21.249 people who don't get it, 00:18:21.273 --> 00:18:23.144 or don't want to do anything about it; 00:18:23.168 --> 00:18:24.880 there are people who are movable, 00:18:24.904 --> 00:18:26.524 people who see the need for change 00:18:26.548 --> 00:18:28.848 and are prepared to listen to it; 00:18:28.872 --> 00:18:30.699 and there are people who move, 00:18:30.723 --> 00:18:32.479 people who make things happen." 00:18:32.796 --> 00:18:36.718 And if we can encourage more people, that will be a movement. 00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:39.502 And if the movement is strong enough, 00:18:39.526 --> 00:18:42.251 that's, in the best sense of the word, a revolution. 00:18:42.866 --> 00:18:44.423 And that's what we need. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:44.447 --> 00:18:45.656 Thank you very much. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.545 (Applause) 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:50.795 Thank you very much. 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:53.396 (Applause)