WEBVTT 00:00:01.942 --> 00:00:05.105 Thank you very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:05.105 --> 00:00:07.326 I moved to America 12 years ago 00:00:07.326 --> 00:00:09.352 with my wife Terry and our two kids. 00:00:09.352 --> 00:00:15.788 Actually, truthfully, we moved to Los Angeles -- (Laughter) -- 00:00:15.788 --> 00:00:17.545 thinking we were moving to America, 00:00:17.545 --> 00:00:23.965 but anyway, it's a short plane ride from Los Angeles 00:00:23.965 --> 00:00:26.846 to America. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:26.846 --> 00:00:29.059 I got here 12 years ago, 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:32.869 and when I got here, I was told various things, 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:38.319 like, "Americans don't get irony." 00:00:38.319 --> 00:00:41.139 Have you come across this idea? 00:00:41.139 --> 00:00:44.220 It's not true. I've traveled the whole length and breadth of this country. 00:00:44.220 --> 00:00:47.479 I have found no evidence that Americans don't get irony. 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:50.074 It's one of those cultural myths, 00:00:50.074 --> 00:00:54.118 like, "The British are reserved." 00:00:54.118 --> 00:00:56.455 I don't know why people think this. 00:00:56.455 --> 00:00:58.966 We've invaded every country we've encountered. 00:00:58.966 --> 00:01:02.602 (Laughter) 00:01:02.602 --> 00:01:05.126 But it's not true Americans don't get irony, 00:01:05.126 --> 00:01:07.622 but I just want you to know that that's what people 00:01:07.622 --> 00:01:09.097 are saying about you behind your back. 00:01:09.097 --> 00:01:12.416 You know, so when you leave living rooms in Europe, 00:01:12.416 --> 00:01:16.889 people say, thankfully, nobody was ironic in your presence. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:16.889 --> 00:01:19.619 But I knew that Americans get irony 00:01:19.619 --> 00:01:25.174 when I came across that legislation No Child Left Behind. 00:01:25.174 --> 00:01:30.191 Because whoever thought of that title gets irony, 00:01:30.191 --> 00:01:32.043 don't they, because -- 00:01:32.043 --> 00:01:37.866 (Laughter) (Applause) — 00:01:37.866 --> 00:01:41.413 because it's leaving millions of children behind. 00:01:41.413 --> 00:01:44.584 Now I can see that's not a very attractive name for legislation: 00:01:44.584 --> 00:01:48.208 Millions of Children Left Behind. I can see that. 00:01:48.208 --> 00:01:49.413 What's the plan? Well, we propose 00:01:49.413 --> 00:01:51.010 to leave millions of children behind, 00:01:51.010 --> 00:01:53.489 and here's how it's going to work. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:53.489 --> 00:01:56.476 And it's working beautifully. 00:01:56.476 --> 00:01:57.670 In some parts of the country, 00:01:57.670 --> 00:02:01.677 60 percent of kids drop out of high school. 00:02:01.677 --> 00:02:03.175 In the Native American communities, 00:02:03.175 --> 00:02:05.403 it's 80 percent of kids. 00:02:05.403 --> 00:02:09.616 If we halved that number, one estimate is 00:02:09.616 --> 00:02:14.050 it would create a net gain to the U.S. economy 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:18.902 over 10 years of nearly a trillion dollars. 00:02:18.902 --> 00:02:20.548 From an economic point of view, 00:02:20.548 --> 00:02:23.789 this is good math, isn't it, that we should do this? 00:02:23.789 --> 00:02:26.138 It actually costs an enormous amount 00:02:26.138 --> 00:02:30.300 to mop up the damage from the dropout crisis. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:34.029 But the dropout crisis is just the tip of an iceberg. 00:02:34.029 --> 00:02:36.279 What it doesn't count are all the kids who are in school 00:02:36.279 --> 00:02:40.346 but being disengaged from it, who don't enjoy it, 00:02:40.346 --> 00:02:43.436 who don't get any real benefit from it. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:43.436 --> 00:02:44.975 And the reason is 00:02:44.975 --> 00:02:46.614 not that we're not spending enough money. 00:02:46.614 --> 00:02:48.531 America spends more money on education 00:02:48.531 --> 00:02:50.103 than most other countries. 00:02:50.103 --> 00:02:53.529 Class sizes are smaller than in many countries. 00:02:53.529 --> 00:02:55.967 And there are hundreds of initiatives every year 00:02:55.967 --> 00:02:58.244 to try and improve education. 00:02:58.244 --> 00:03:02.765 The trouble is, it's all going in the wrong direction. 00:03:02.765 --> 00:03:03.934 There are three principles 00:03:03.934 --> 00:03:07.364 on which human life flourishes, 00:03:07.364 --> 00:03:11.375 and they are contradicted by the culture of education 00:03:11.375 --> 00:03:13.652 under which most teachers have to labor 00:03:13.652 --> 00:03:16.976 and most students have to endure. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:16.976 --> 00:03:19.540 The first is this, that human beings 00:03:19.540 --> 00:03:24.228 are naturally different and diverse. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.228 --> 00:03:25.529 Can I ask you, how many of you 00:03:25.529 --> 00:03:28.754 have got children of your own? 00:03:28.754 --> 00:03:31.905 Okay. Or grandchildren. 00:03:31.905 --> 00:03:35.645 How about two children or more? Right. 00:03:35.645 --> 00:03:37.652 And the rest of you have seen such children. 00:03:37.652 --> 00:03:40.525 (Laughter) 00:03:40.525 --> 00:03:43.542 Small people wandering about. 00:03:43.542 --> 00:03:45.636 I will make you a bet, 00:03:45.636 --> 00:03:47.066 and I am confident that I will win the bet. 00:03:47.066 --> 00:03:49.551 If you've got two children or more, 00:03:49.551 --> 00:03:53.380 I bet you they are completely different from each other. 00:03:53.380 --> 00:03:57.751 Aren't they? Aren't they? (Applause) 00:03:57.751 --> 00:04:00.354 You would never confuse them, would you? 00:04:00.354 --> 00:04:04.931 Like, "Which one are you? Remind me. 00:04:04.931 --> 00:04:06.263 Your mother and I are going to introduce 00:04:06.263 --> 00:04:09.522 some color-coding system, so we don't get confused." NOTE Paragraph 00:04:09.522 --> 00:04:12.774 Education under No Child Left Behind 00:04:12.774 --> 00:04:17.818 is based on not diversity but conformity. 00:04:17.818 --> 00:04:20.376 What schools are encouraged to do is to find out 00:04:20.376 --> 00:04:24.736 what kids can do across a very narrow spectrum of achievement. 00:04:24.736 --> 00:04:27.130 One of the effects of No Child Left Behind 00:04:27.130 --> 00:04:29.086 has been to narrow the focus 00:04:29.086 --> 00:04:32.835 onto the so-called STEM disciplines. They're very important. 00:04:32.835 --> 00:04:34.954 I'm not here to argue against science and math. 00:04:34.954 --> 00:04:39.178 On the contrary, they're necessary but they're not sufficient. 00:04:39.178 --> 00:04:41.377 A real education has to give equal weight 00:04:41.377 --> 00:04:45.114 to the arts, the humanities, to physical education. 00:04:45.114 --> 00:04:52.298 An awful lot of kids, sorry, thank you — (Applause) — 00:04:52.298 --> 00:04:55.210 One estimate in America currently is that 00:04:55.210 --> 00:04:57.866 something like 10 percent of kids, getting on that way, 00:04:57.866 --> 00:05:02.180 are being diagnosed with various conditions 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:06.502 under the broad title of attention deficit disorder. 00:05:06.502 --> 00:05:10.179 ADHD. I'm not saying there's no such thing. 00:05:10.179 --> 00:05:13.154 I just don't believe it's an epidemic like this. 00:05:13.154 --> 00:05:15.970 If you sit kids down, hour after hour, 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:19.146 doing low-grade clerical work, 00:05:19.146 --> 00:05:22.435 don't be surprised if they start to fidget, you know? 00:05:22.435 --> 00:05:29.913 (Laughter) (Applause) 00:05:29.913 --> 00:05:32.322 Children are not, for the most part, 00:05:32.322 --> 00:05:34.190 suffering from a psychological condition. 00:05:34.190 --> 00:05:40.379 They're suffering from childhood. (Laughter) 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:42.452 And I know this because I spent my early life 00:05:42.452 --> 00:05:46.306 as a child. I went through the whole thing. 00:05:46.306 --> 00:05:49.315 Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum 00:05:49.315 --> 00:05:51.723 that celebrates their various talents, 00:05:51.723 --> 00:05:53.360 not just a small range of them. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.510 And by the way, the arts aren't just important 00:05:55.510 --> 00:05:56.784 because they improve math scores. 00:05:56.784 --> 00:05:58.635 They're important because they speak to parts 00:05:58.635 --> 00:06:02.150 of children's being which are otherwise untouched. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:02.150 --> 00:06:08.562 The second, thank you — (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:08.562 --> 00:06:12.725 The second principle that drives human life flourishing 00:06:12.725 --> 00:06:14.355 is curiosity. 00:06:14.355 --> 00:06:17.730 If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, 00:06:17.730 --> 00:06:21.343 they will learn without any further assistance, very often. 00:06:21.343 --> 00:06:23.548 Children are natural learners. 00:06:23.548 --> 00:06:27.864 It's a real achievement to put that particular ability out, 00:06:27.864 --> 00:06:30.010 or to stifle it. 00:06:30.010 --> 00:06:34.235 Curiosity is the engine of achievement. 00:06:34.235 --> 00:06:36.487 Now the reason I say this is because 00:06:36.487 --> 00:06:40.879 one of the effects of the current culture here, if I can say so, 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.698 has been to de-professionalize teachers. 00:06:44.698 --> 00:06:47.050 There is no system in the world 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:49.930 or any school in the country 00:06:49.930 --> 00:06:53.028 that is better than its teachers. 00:06:53.028 --> 00:06:57.636 Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. 00:06:57.636 --> 00:07:00.615 But teaching is a creative profession. 00:07:00.615 --> 00:07:04.048 Teaching, properly conceived, is not a delivery system. 00:07:04.048 --> 00:07:06.941 You know, you're not there just to pass on received information. 00:07:06.941 --> 00:07:09.498 Great teachers do that, 00:07:09.498 --> 00:07:12.361 but what great teachers also do is mentor, 00:07:12.361 --> 00:07:15.869 stimulate, provoke, engage. 00:07:15.869 --> 00:07:18.682 You see, in the end, education is about learning. 00:07:18.682 --> 00:07:20.402 If there's no learning going on, 00:07:20.402 --> 00:07:22.039 there's no education going on. 00:07:22.039 --> 00:07:23.881 And people can spend an awful lot of time 00:07:23.881 --> 00:07:26.297 discussing education without ever discussing learning. 00:07:26.297 --> 00:07:29.186 The whole point of education is to get people to learn. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:29.186 --> 00:07:31.875 A friend of mine, an old friend -- actually very old, 00:07:31.875 --> 00:07:35.672 he's dead. (Laughter) 00:07:35.672 --> 00:07:41.401 That's as old as it gets, I'm afraid. 00:07:41.401 --> 00:07:46.737 But a wonderful guy he was, wonderful philosopher. 00:07:46.737 --> 00:07:49.749 He used to talk about the difference between the task 00:07:49.749 --> 00:07:53.818 and achievement senses of verbs. 00:07:53.818 --> 00:07:55.622 You know, you can be engaged in the activity of something, 00:07:55.622 --> 00:07:57.213 but not really be achieving it, 00:07:57.213 --> 00:08:01.865 like dieting. It's a very good example, you know. 00:08:01.865 --> 00:08:06.531 There he is. He's dieting. Is he losing any weight? Not really. 00:08:06.531 --> 00:08:07.844 Teaching is a word like that. 00:08:07.844 --> 00:08:11.816 You can say, "There's Deborah, she's in room 34, she's teaching." 00:08:11.816 --> 00:08:13.551 But if nobody's learning anything, 00:08:13.551 --> 00:08:15.350 she may be engaged in the task of teaching 00:08:15.350 --> 00:08:18.419 but not actually fulfilling it. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:18.419 --> 00:08:22.266 The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. That's it. 00:08:22.266 --> 00:08:24.579 And part of the problem is, I think, 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:28.035 that the dominant culture of education has come to focus 00:08:28.035 --> 00:08:31.703 on not teaching and learning, but testing. 00:08:31.703 --> 00:08:35.401 Now, testing is important. Standardized tests have a place. 00:08:35.401 --> 00:08:38.715 But they should not be the dominant culture of education. 00:08:38.715 --> 00:08:40.573 They should be diagnostic. They should help. 00:08:40.573 --> 00:08:48.139 (Applause) 00:08:48.139 --> 00:08:50.603 If I go for a medical examination, 00:08:50.603 --> 00:08:54.187 I want some standardized tests. I do. 00:08:54.187 --> 00:08:55.858 You know, I want to know what my cholesterol level is 00:08:55.858 --> 00:08:58.546 compared to everybody else's on a standard scale. 00:08:58.546 --> 00:08:59.984 I don't want to be told on some scale 00:08:59.984 --> 00:09:03.555 my doctor invented in the car. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:03.555 --> 00:09:06.609 "Your cholesterol is what I call Level Orange." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:06.609 --> 00:09:12.297 "Really? Is that good?""We don't know." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:12.297 --> 00:09:17.364 But all that should support learning. It shouldn't obstruct it, 00:09:17.364 --> 00:09:19.275 which of course it often does. 00:09:19.275 --> 00:09:21.441 So in place of curiosity, what we have 00:09:21.441 --> 00:09:23.975 is a culture of compliance. 00:09:23.975 --> 00:09:26.900 Our children and teachers are encouraged 00:09:26.900 --> 00:09:29.499 to follow routine algorithms 00:09:29.499 --> 00:09:33.837 rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity. 00:09:33.837 --> 00:09:34.905 And the third principle is this: 00:09:34.905 --> 00:09:37.900 that human life is inherently creative. 00:09:37.900 --> 00:09:40.308 It's why we all have different résumés. 00:09:40.308 --> 00:09:42.094 We create our lives, 00:09:42.094 --> 00:09:44.432 and we can recreate them as we go through them. 00:09:44.432 --> 00:09:47.446 It's the common currency of being a human being. 00:09:47.446 --> 00:09:49.979 It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse 00:09:49.979 --> 00:09:51.325 and dynamic. 00:09:51.325 --> 00:09:54.334 I mean, other animals may well have imaginations 00:09:54.334 --> 00:09:56.614 and creativity, but it's not so much in evidence, 00:09:56.614 --> 00:09:58.062 is it, as ours? 00:09:58.062 --> 00:10:00.638 I mean, you may have a dog. 00:10:00.638 --> 00:10:03.644 And your dog may get depressed. 00:10:03.644 --> 00:10:06.099 You know, but it doesn't listen to Radiohead, does it? 00:10:06.099 --> 00:10:10.019 (Laughter) 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.531 And sit staring out the window with a bottle of Jack Daniels. 00:10:12.531 --> 00:10:16.955 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:16.955 --> 00:10:18.616 And you say, "Would you like to come for a walk?" NOTE Paragraph 00:10:18.616 --> 00:10:21.747 He says, "No, I'm fine. 00:10:21.747 --> 00:10:27.519 You go. I'll wait. But take pictures." NOTE Paragraph 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.433 We all create our own lives through this restless process 00:10:30.433 --> 00:10:32.442 of imagining alternatives and possibilities, 00:10:32.442 --> 00:10:34.681 and what one of the roles of education 00:10:34.681 --> 00:10:38.717 is to awaken and develop these powers of creativity. 00:10:38.717 --> 00:10:42.277 Instead, what we have is a culture of standardization. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:42.277 --> 00:10:46.384 Now, it doesn't have to be that way. It really doesn't. 00:10:46.384 --> 00:10:49.936 Finland regularly comes out on top 00:10:49.936 --> 00:10:51.311 in math, science and reading. 00:10:51.311 --> 00:10:53.927 Now, we only know that's what they do well at 00:10:53.927 --> 00:10:55.791 because that's all that's being tested currently. 00:10:55.791 --> 00:10:57.432 That's one of the problems of the test. 00:10:57.432 --> 00:11:00.591 They don't look for other things that matter just as much. 00:11:00.591 --> 00:11:03.095 The thing about work in Finland is this: 00:11:03.095 --> 00:11:06.474 they don't obsess about those disciplines. 00:11:06.474 --> 00:11:08.237 They have a very broad approach to education 00:11:08.237 --> 00:11:12.775 which includes humanities, physical education, the arts. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:12.775 --> 00:11:18.511 Second, there is no standardized testing in Finland. 00:11:18.511 --> 00:11:20.271 I mean, there's a bit, 00:11:20.271 --> 00:11:21.822 but it's not what gets people up in the morning. 00:11:21.822 --> 00:11:24.027 It's not what keeps them at their desks. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:24.027 --> 00:11:25.860 And the third thing, and I was at a meeting recently 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:29.287 with some people from Finland, actual Finnish people, 00:11:29.287 --> 00:11:32.090 and somebody from the American system 00:11:32.090 --> 00:11:33.863 was saying to the people in Finland, 00:11:33.863 --> 00:11:37.782 "What do you do about the dropout rate in Finland?" NOTE Paragraph 00:11:37.782 --> 00:11:39.403 And they all looked a bit bemused, and said, 00:11:39.403 --> 00:11:42.252 "Well, we don't have one. 00:11:42.252 --> 00:11:44.591 Why would you drop out? 00:11:44.591 --> 00:11:46.856 If people are in trouble, we get to them quite quickly 00:11:46.856 --> 00:11:48.441 and help them and we support them." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:48.441 --> 00:11:50.335 Now people always say, "Well, you know, 00:11:50.335 --> 00:11:53.463 you can't compare Finland to America." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:53.463 --> 00:11:54.858 No. I think there's a population 00:11:54.858 --> 00:11:56.986 of around five million in Finland. 00:11:56.986 --> 00:12:00.815 But you can compare it to a state in America. 00:12:00.815 --> 00:12:04.719 Many states in America have fewer people in them than that. 00:12:04.719 --> 00:12:06.386 I mean, I've been to some states in America 00:12:06.386 --> 00:12:10.199 and I was the only person there. (Laughter) 00:12:10.199 --> 00:12:14.572 Really. Really. I was asked to lock up when I left. 00:12:14.572 --> 00:12:18.603 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:18.603 --> 00:12:22.536 But what all the high-performing systems in the world do 00:12:22.536 --> 00:12:26.718 is currently what is not evident, sadly, 00:12:26.718 --> 00:12:30.703 across the systems in America -- I mean, as a whole. 00:12:30.703 --> 00:12:35.637 One is this: They individualize teaching and learning. 00:12:35.637 --> 00:12:39.103 They recognize that it's students who are learning 00:12:39.103 --> 00:12:42.761 and the system has to engage them, their curiosity, 00:12:42.761 --> 00:12:45.338 their individuality, and their creativity. 00:12:45.338 --> 00:12:47.697 That's how you get them to learn. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:47.697 --> 00:12:51.784 The second is that they attribute a very high status 00:12:51.784 --> 00:12:54.065 to the teaching profession. 00:12:54.065 --> 00:12:57.009 They recognize that you can't improve education 00:12:57.009 --> 00:12:58.658 if you don't pick great people to teach 00:12:58.658 --> 00:13:00.517 and if you don't keep giving them constant support 00:13:00.517 --> 00:13:02.282 and professional development. 00:13:02.282 --> 00:13:05.219 Investing in professional development is not a cost. 00:13:05.219 --> 00:13:06.625 It's an investment, 00:13:06.625 --> 00:13:09.556 and every other country that's succeeding well knows that, 00:13:09.556 --> 00:13:14.515 whether it's Australia, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, 00:13:14.515 --> 00:13:17.961 Hong Kong or Shanghai. They know that to be the case. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:17.961 --> 00:13:21.504 And the third is, they devolve responsibility 00:13:21.504 --> 00:13:25.243 to the school level for getting the job done. 00:13:25.243 --> 00:13:27.621 You see, there's a big difference here between 00:13:27.621 --> 00:13:31.385 going into a mode of command and control in education -- 00:13:31.385 --> 00:13:32.985 That's what happens in some systems. 00:13:32.985 --> 00:13:34.306 You know, central governments decide 00:13:34.306 --> 00:13:35.596 or state governments decide 00:13:35.596 --> 00:13:38.591 they know best and they're going to tell you what to do. 00:13:38.591 --> 00:13:42.318 The trouble is that education doesn't go on 00:13:42.318 --> 00:13:45.196 in the committee rooms of our legislative buildings. 00:13:45.196 --> 00:13:48.284 It happens in classrooms and schools, 00:13:48.284 --> 00:13:51.357 and the people who do it are the teachers and the students, 00:13:51.357 --> 00:13:54.765 and if you remove their discretion, it stops working. 00:13:54.765 --> 00:13:57.815 You have to put it back to the people. 00:13:57.815 --> 00:14:02.644 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:02.644 --> 00:14:05.356 There is wonderful work happening in this country. 00:14:05.356 --> 00:14:07.499 But I have to say it's happening 00:14:07.499 --> 00:14:10.065 in spite of the dominant culture of education, 00:14:10.065 --> 00:14:11.466 not because of it. 00:14:11.466 --> 00:14:15.070 It's like people are sailing into a headwind all the time. 00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:17.531 And the reason I think is this: 00:14:17.531 --> 00:14:20.868 that many of the current policies are based on 00:14:20.868 --> 00:14:23.909 mechanistic conceptions of education. 00:14:23.909 --> 00:14:27.677 It's like education is an industrial process 00:14:27.677 --> 00:14:30.684 that can be improved just by having better data, 00:14:30.684 --> 00:14:32.351 and somewhere in, I think, the back of the mind 00:14:32.351 --> 00:14:34.487 of some policy makers is this idea that 00:14:34.487 --> 00:14:37.805 if we fine-tune it well enough, if we just get it right, 00:14:37.805 --> 00:14:40.436 it will all hum along perfectly into the future. 00:14:40.436 --> 00:14:43.657 It won't, and it never did. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:43.657 --> 00:14:47.756 The point is that education is not a mechanical system. 00:14:47.756 --> 00:14:51.653 It's a human system. It's about people, 00:14:51.653 --> 00:14:54.708 people who either do want to learn or don't want to learn. 00:14:54.708 --> 00:14:59.523 Every student who drops out of school has a reason for it 00:14:59.523 --> 00:15:01.844 which is rooted in their own biography. 00:15:01.844 --> 00:15:04.867 They may find it boring. They may find it irrelevant. 00:15:04.867 --> 00:15:07.381 They may find that it's at odds 00:15:07.381 --> 00:15:09.925 with the life they're living outside of school. 00:15:09.925 --> 00:15:13.764 There are trends, but the stories are always unique. 00:15:13.764 --> 00:15:16.765 I was at a meeting recently in Los Angeles of -- 00:15:16.765 --> 00:15:19.010 they're called alternative education programs. 00:15:19.010 --> 00:15:22.413 These are programs designed to get kids back into education. 00:15:22.413 --> 00:15:24.357 They have certain common features. 00:15:24.357 --> 00:15:26.389 They're very personalized. 00:15:26.389 --> 00:15:29.599 They have strong support for the teachers, 00:15:29.599 --> 00:15:31.860 close links with the community 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:33.486 and a broad and diverse curriculum, 00:15:33.486 --> 00:15:36.117 and often programs which involve students 00:15:36.117 --> 00:15:38.790 outside school as well as inside school. 00:15:38.790 --> 00:15:40.500 And they work. 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:41.902 What's interesting to me is, 00:15:41.902 --> 00:15:45.088 these are called "alternative education." 00:15:45.088 --> 00:15:47.270 You know? 00:15:47.270 --> 00:15:49.046 And all the evidence from around the world is, 00:15:49.046 --> 00:15:53.272 if we all did that, there'd be no need for the alternative. 00:15:53.272 --> 00:16:01.692 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:01.692 --> 00:16:04.540 So I think we have to embrace a different metaphor. 00:16:04.540 --> 00:16:07.197 We have to recognize that it's a human system, 00:16:07.197 --> 00:16:10.793 and there are conditions under which people thrive, 00:16:10.793 --> 00:16:13.698 and conditions under which they don't. 00:16:13.698 --> 00:16:16.623 We are after all organic creatures, 00:16:16.623 --> 00:16:21.269 and the culture of the school is absolutely essential. 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.697 Culture is an organic term, isn't it? NOTE Paragraph 00:16:23.697 --> 00:16:27.426 Not far from where I live is a place called Death Valley. 00:16:27.426 --> 00:16:33.098 Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in America, 00:16:33.098 --> 00:16:35.900 and nothing grows there. 00:16:35.900 --> 00:16:38.524 Nothing grows there because it doesn't rain. 00:16:38.524 --> 00:16:40.917 Hence, Death Valley. 00:16:40.917 --> 00:16:48.064 In the winter of 2004, it rained in Death Valley. 00:16:48.064 --> 00:16:51.836 Seven inches of rain fell over a very short period. 00:16:51.836 --> 00:16:57.038 And in the spring of 2005, there was a phenomenon. 00:16:57.038 --> 00:17:01.672 The whole floor of Death Valley was carpeted in flowers 00:17:01.672 --> 00:17:03.428 for a while. 00:17:03.428 --> 00:17:08.722 What it proved is this: that Death Valley isn't dead. 00:17:08.722 --> 00:17:11.593 It's dormant. 00:17:11.593 --> 00:17:14.838 Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility 00:17:14.838 --> 00:17:18.613 waiting for the right conditions to come about, 00:17:18.613 --> 00:17:21.956 and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, 00:17:21.956 --> 00:17:25.685 life is inevitable. It happens all the time. 00:17:25.685 --> 00:17:28.285 You take an area, a school, a district, 00:17:28.285 --> 00:17:31.325 you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibility, 00:17:31.325 --> 00:17:32.987 a different set of expectations, 00:17:32.987 --> 00:17:34.743 a broader range of opportunities, 00:17:34.743 --> 00:17:37.994 you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, 00:17:37.994 --> 00:17:40.304 you offer people the discretion to be creative 00:17:40.304 --> 00:17:42.058 and to innovate in what they do, 00:17:42.058 --> 00:17:45.669 and schools that were once bereft spring to life. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:45.669 --> 00:17:47.331 Great leaders know that. 00:17:47.331 --> 00:17:49.787 The real role of leadership in education -- 00:17:49.787 --> 00:17:52.344 and I think it's true at the national level, the state level, 00:17:52.344 --> 00:17:53.902 at the school level -- 00:17:53.902 --> 00:17:58.302 is not and should not be command and control. 00:17:58.302 --> 00:18:02.307 The real role of leadership is climate control, 00:18:02.307 --> 00:18:04.909 creating a climate of possibility. 00:18:04.909 --> 00:18:07.306 And if you do that, people will rise to it 00:18:07.306 --> 00:18:10.325 and achieve things that you completely did not anticipate 00:18:10.325 --> 00:18:12.125 and couldn't have expected. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:12.125 --> 00:18:14.492 There's a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin. 00:18:14.492 --> 00:18:17.355 "There are three sorts of people in the world: 00:18:17.355 --> 00:18:19.733 Those who are immovable, 00:18:19.733 --> 00:18:21.604 people who don't get, they don't want to get it, 00:18:21.604 --> 00:18:23.001 they're going to do anything about it. 00:18:23.001 --> 00:18:24.904 There are people who are movable, 00:18:24.904 --> 00:18:26.226 people who see the need for change 00:18:26.226 --> 00:18:28.872 and are prepared to listen to it. 00:18:28.872 --> 00:18:30.723 And there are people who move, 00:18:30.723 --> 00:18:32.503 people who make things happen." 00:18:32.503 --> 00:18:34.673 And if we can encourage more people, 00:18:34.673 --> 00:18:37.339 that will be a movement. 00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:39.526 And if the movement is strong enough, 00:18:39.526 --> 00:18:42.668 that's, in the best sense of the word, a revolution. 00:18:42.668 --> 00:18:44.447 And that's what we need. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:44.447 --> 00:18:45.680 Thank you very much. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.863 (Applause) 00:18:48.863 --> 00:18:53.894 Thank you very much. (Applause)