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Good evening.

2
00:00:08,994 --> 00:00:13,750
When I was a child, I coined a phrase
to introduce myself quickly,

3
00:00:13,750 --> 00:00:18,269
and to give a quick answer 
to all the questions I was often asked.

4
00:00:18,269 --> 00:00:21,510
And the phrase was:
"Hi, my name's André.

5
00:00:21,510 --> 00:00:24,159
I am a boy -- At the time,
I already had long hair,

6
00:00:24,159 --> 00:00:27,276
and people thought I was a girl,
which I found amusing --

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00:00:27,766 --> 00:00:31,781
"I am six, I don't eat candy
and I don't go to school."

8
00:00:31,781 --> 00:00:33,745
And these days, when introducing myself,

9
00:00:33,745 --> 00:00:36,415
well, I can introduce myself
in very much the same way,

10
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and that's what I'm going to do tonight.
Good evening. My name is still André,

11
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I am still a boy,

12
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I still don't eat candy,
among other things,

13
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and I still don't go to school.

14
00:00:47,774 --> 00:00:51,534
I am a 43-year-old child
who has never been to school,

15
00:00:52,264 --> 00:00:57,490
which in our world
makes me kind of an exception,

16
00:00:57,490 --> 00:01:00,678
and to me, being an exception
is always a surprise,

17
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while what I've been through,
is most natural.

18
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Any child, given the same circumstances,
would have a very similar experience.

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And that's what I would like
to talk to you about tonight.

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I'd like to talk to you about children's
spontaneous tendencies,

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which were never disrupted in my life,

22
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and which makes me an exception
though I am the most ordinary of kids.

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And that's all that matters to me,
I am neither special nor gifted.

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In other words, if an avocado pit,
were soaked in water...

25
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It happened recently,

26
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when my four-and-a-half
year-old son, Antonin,

27
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whom I introduce to you
tonight, gave it a try.

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Let's put an avocado pit in water,

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in a few days, it will grow
a stem and roots,

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and none of us would say,
"That avocado was gifted!"

31
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Because the avocado pit
is hard-wired to grow,

32
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and that was my experience,

33
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and that's what I'd like
to share with you,

34
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stressing that because
it could happen to any child,

35
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it should be of interest to us.

36
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I am referring to children's
spontaneous tendencies.

37
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And the very first one
that comes to mind,

38
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is a question for you:

39
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what is the first thing a child does
when left to himself?

40
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He plays.

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And all the children play,

42
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regardless of the setting or environment,

43
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war, famine, fear, luxury,
I don't know what's worst.

44
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Anyway, when given
a chance, children play,

45
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and if never interrupted,
they would keep playing.

46
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But we do interrupt.

47
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Now, I am fortunate to be working
with a neurobiologist,

48
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and neurobiologists have 
revealed an interesting fact,

49
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they tell us it is no accident
that we are sent into the big world,

50
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equipped with the most brilliant
learning device ever invented,

51
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I call it playing.

52
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There's no better way to learn
than by playing.

53
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You should write it
on the refrigerator door.

54
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This makes us wonder
why no one has ever asked

55
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what would happen to a child
who was allowed to play,

56
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not only for an entire day,
but for instance, for 43 years.

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Would he really turn out to be 
an illiterate, asocial and jobless savage?

58
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So to continue with neurobiology,

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for children, playing
and learning are synonyms.

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It is one and the same thing
and they can't distinguish between them.

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Now let's imagine that a loved one,
a person of reference,

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comes to the child and says to him:

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'You need to stop playing
in order to learn.'

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That's funny but it's as though
I were telling you,

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now, breathe without taking in air.

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It wouldn't make any sense,

67
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and you'd think I am asking
for something senseless.

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And this is the interesting part,

69
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because children don't let
themselves think like that.

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They don't let themselves think
that the adult has a problem.

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And since they don't, they think
they are the one with a problem.

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And when children realize
they have a problem,

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it activates the same neural networks
in their brain as intense pain.

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Let's be clear about that.

75
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And so, after this
contradictory instruction,

76
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children have another
spontaneous tendency,

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which we learn from neurobiology,

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I am not a neurobiologist,

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and I will not claim 
qualifications I don't have,

80
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but I will summarize
some common conceptions,

81
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we thought there were
genetically-wired brains,

82
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some wired to be dumb,
and others to be smart.

83
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And since it was convenient,
we held onto that for many years,

84
00:04:58,019 --> 00:05:01,521
and then we recently made
a stunning discovery,

85
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we found that the part of the brain
that controls the thumb,

86
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is overdeveloped in present day youths.

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(Laughter)

88
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So we thought, "That's amazing,

89
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it means the brain can 
develop just like a muscle."

90
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and we devised brain-muscle
developing software,

91
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designed to give us brains
like this to carry around,

92
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but it didn't work.

93
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And now we are faced with
a pretty puzzling question:

94
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why does it work for text messages,
but not for maths?

95
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(Laughter)

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And that's when we made
the discovery of the 21st century.

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We discovered that our brain develops
when we use it enthusiastically.

98
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And enthusiasm is the key to everything.

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It's amazing to see neurobiology giving us
proof of something we've always known,

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for we know that in an enthusiastic mood,
we grow wings, and become unstoppable,

101
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we know that learning comes naturally,

102
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and here neurobiology gives us
a very interesting stat,

103
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the child, serially and naturally equipped

104
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with the most brilliant
learning device ever, playing,

105
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is equally endowed, with his
fair share of carry-on fertilizer,

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because it turns out that enthusiasm
is the brain's fertilizer.

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It is well documented,
you can Google it.

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It is very captivating
to see how it works.

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So we each come equipped not only
with the best of learning devices,

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but in addition, its carry-on fertilizer.

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Children are perpetually immersed
in a state of enthusiasm.

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Figures indicate that children 
aged 2 to 3 get enthused,

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feel a surge of enthusiasm
every 2 to 3 minutes,

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and are enthused by just about everything.

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Even a little piece of paper
can keep them enthused for hours.

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And the same figures, you know
what they say about us, grown-ups,

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we [only] ever work up 
the same amount of enthusiasm,

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2 to 3 times a year.

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(Laughter)

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Yet, it doesn't have to be so.

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In us, in each child,
lays a potential genius.

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And since there is a child
inside each one of us,

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there is a potential genius inside us
waiting for just one thing,

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to see what will enthuse us.

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But for us to be enthused,
we also need to get rid of some things,

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for instance, the stratification
of trades and subject matters.

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An example: My son, Antonin,

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went out one day, at 5p.m.
into the streets of Paris,

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and was taken by the sight 
of garbage trucks.

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So we followed them from stop to stop,

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stopping at each pick-up
and observing their game,

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and they happened to notice
this little boy watching them,

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because he knows nothing
of the stratification of trades.

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I would even say that
for him, in that moment,

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the garbage man is far more relevant
and easy to relate to than a lawyer.

136
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And so, not only was he
watching those men,

137
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but what's more, he looked
at them with admiration.

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And it reflected on them.

139
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Suddenly, they were doing their job
a little differently,

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with more enthusiasm.

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They played, they made dance moves
with the garbage bags...

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Antonin is now a star for the garbage men
of our neighborhood,

143
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and we can no more gob out
incognito at 5 p.m.

144
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because there is always
a garbage truck somewhere

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honking their horns 
to greet him from afar.

146
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And this is the third spontaneous
tendency of children,

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to go out into the big world.

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The worst that could happen to a child,
would be to lock him home,

149
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where he'd experience 
family life at all levels,

150
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but equally all family fears.

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The advantage of going
into the wide world,

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is that one learns to share
the fear of different people,

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hence different fears.

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This is child optimization,
the child is optimized for the world,

155
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yet we take them out of the world
to prepare them for the world.

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Strange, isn't it?

157
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There is something else
we need to get rid of.

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To rekindle enthusiasm
and rediscover the child in us,

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we must rid ourselves
of our ironic attitude towards children.

160
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And thus also, towards the child in us.

161
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We must restore trust in the child

162
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and in his extraordinary
spontaneous tendencies,

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three of which I have just covered.

164
00:09:21,515 --> 00:09:27,238
And to restore trust and get rid
of this ironic attitude,

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I like sharing a short story,

166
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because it illustrates
the ironic attitude,

167
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and also illustrates
how we can trust children,

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I invite you to come with me,

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to the side of the mirror
where we trust children.

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Come. Antonin is two and a half years old,
it is time to buy him a car.

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So we go to a toy shop
and he picks a car,

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he chooses a red Ford Mustang,
at 1/18, it is this tall,

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a convertible model,
it is key that it be a convertible,

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because when it is convertible,

175
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you can reach the steering wheel
and play on the wheels.

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Were it not convertible, you would 
need to drive with the door open,

177
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:12,035
but driving with the door open
is not very convenient,

178
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and that's exactly what we forget,

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the child wants a perfect
imitation of the world.

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Children are born imitators.

181
00:10:20,740 --> 00:10:23,760
Once you stop to think about
children, you can see that.

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00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,215
Antonin once discovered 
the sound of a nailing gun,

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00:10:26,215 --> 00:10:29,517
it is an extremely complex sound,
with the influx of air, percussion,

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00:10:29,517 --> 00:10:30,747
the outflow of air,

185
00:10:30,747 --> 00:10:33,507
it's a sound we in fact 
would not be able to imitate.

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00:10:33,507 --> 00:10:36,017
But he can, because he found
the string of syllables,

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which when overlapped and pronounced,
perfectly mimic the sound of a nail gun.

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00:10:39,773 --> 00:10:43,248
Children are born imitators,

189
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and they love to bring the most realistic
possible mimicry to their plays.

190
00:10:49,768 --> 00:10:53,005
And so, we pick up the 1/18 red Mustang,

191
00:10:53,005 --> 00:10:56,245
a collection model,
and we go to the cash register,

192
00:10:56,245 --> 00:10:59,747
and the cashier actually confirms
that it's a great purchase,

193
00:10:59,747 --> 00:11:04,393
and she says: "It's a beautiful model. 
I'll wrap it for you, is it a gift?"

194
00:11:04,393 --> 00:11:07,254
-"Oh no, not at all, he's going
to play with it right away."

195
00:11:07,254 --> 00:11:09,251
-"Wait a minute, is it his?" -"Yes."

196
00:11:09,251 --> 00:11:12,261
-"Oh, but it is not suited
to his age at all!

197
00:11:12,261 --> 00:11:13,998
(Laughter)

198
00:11:13,998 --> 00:11:16,524
I have cars suited to his age.

199
00:11:16,524 --> 00:11:18,025
Look, I have lots of them."

200
00:11:18,025 --> 00:11:20,753
Do you know what types
of cars she shows me?

201
00:11:21,493 --> 00:11:24,740
They are plastic with bogus proportions,

202
00:11:24,740 --> 00:11:25,750
(Laughter)

203
00:11:25,750 --> 00:11:30,017
brightly colored,
with a smile, a nose, ears,

204
00:11:30,017 --> 00:11:34,511
and one of them even has an audio message:
"Hey, I'm a car, and you, who are you?"

205
00:11:34,511 --> 00:11:36,001
(Laughter)

206
00:11:36,001 --> 00:11:41,249
"But my son is not mentally challenged!
He is a child like all others,

207
00:11:41,249 --> 00:11:44,513
what he wants is a car 
that looks like other cars

208
00:11:44,513 --> 00:11:48,508
he sees everyday in the street,
and the cars suited to his age,

209
00:11:48,508 --> 00:11:51,515
fortunately, he never sees any
in the street. (Laughter)

210
00:11:51,515 --> 00:11:55,241
So, please Miss, we will take
the red Mustang."

211
00:11:55,241 --> 00:11:56,746
She says, "Yes", but adds,

212
00:11:56,746 --> 00:12:00,735
"you see this beautiful model,
he will break it to little pieces."

213
00:12:02,255 --> 00:12:07,519
And here, it is important to note
that the lady is not trying to scare me,

214
00:12:08,251 --> 00:12:12,276
she wants to share her fear with me.
It's not the same thing.

215
00:12:12,276 --> 00:12:14,266
Then she finds the greatest of all fears.

216
00:12:14,266 --> 00:12:15,522
"You know," she says,

217
00:12:15,522 --> 00:12:18,242
"he will not only break it
to little pieces,

218
00:12:18,242 --> 00:12:20,483
he will also swallow those little pieces."

219
00:12:20,483 --> 00:12:22,274
(Laughter)

220
00:12:23,244 --> 00:12:25,770
Okay, maybe the whole joke
is on the cashier,

221
00:12:25,770 --> 00:12:29,230
but I really like that you laughed
and we are laughing together.

222
00:12:29,230 --> 00:12:31,243
Because when we can laugh
in that place,

223
00:12:31,243 --> 00:12:35,258
it is proof that you came with me
to the other side of the mirror,

224
00:12:35,258 --> 00:12:37,495
the mirror where we trust children,

225
00:12:37,495 --> 00:12:41,750
and where we know that two years later,
the red Mustang is unscathed,

226
00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:48,246
all of a sudden you can see
how we illustrate this ironic attitude,

227
00:12:48,246 --> 00:12:50,251
and also how we can illustrate,

228
00:12:50,251 --> 00:12:54,249
the strength we get from being
on the side of the mirror

229
00:12:54,249 --> 00:12:57,281
where we trust children,

230
00:12:58,231 --> 00:13:03,011
and maybe, and this is what I suggest,

231
00:13:03,751 --> 00:13:07,519
once you're on this side of the mirror,

232
00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:10,267
you will feel like staying there,

233
00:13:10,267 --> 00:13:15,269
and meeting the child in you
with his spontaneous tendencies,

234
00:13:15,269 --> 00:13:20,263
and maybe you'll be free
from your irony towards children,

235
00:13:20,263 --> 00:13:23,249
and that was my invitation for tonight,

236
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I wish you lots of enthusiasm.

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(Applause)