Enthusiasm: the fertilizer that makes childhood blossom | André Stern | TEDxDijon

This presentation was made at a local TEDx event, organized independently of TED conferences.

André Stern, a 43-year-old child who grew up with no schooling at all, shows us three spontaneous tendencies of the child. It is an invitation to discover the cherub in you, and thus rekindle enthusiasm, the fascinating brain fertilizer.

Good evening.

When I was a child, I coined a phrase
to introduce myself quickly,

and to give a quick answer
to all the questions I was often asked.

And the phrase was:
"Hi, my name's André.

I am a boy -- At the time,
I already had long hair,

and people thought I was a girl,
which I found amusing --

"I am six, I don't eat candy
and I don't go to school."

And these days, when introducing myself,

well, I can introduce myself
in very much the same way,

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

I am still a boy,

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

and I still don't go to school.

I am a 43-year-old child
who has never been to school,

which in our world
makes me kind of an exception,

and to me, being an exception
is always a surprise,

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

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

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

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

which were never disrupted in my life,

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

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

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

It happened recently,

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

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

Let's put an avocado pit in water,

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

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

Because the avocado pit
is hard-wired to grow,

and that was my experience,

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

stressing that because
it could happen to any child,

it should be of interest to us.

I am referring to children's
spontaneous tendencies.

And the very first one
that comes to mind,

is a question for you:

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

He plays.

And all the children play,

regardless of the setting or environment,

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

Anyway, when given
a chance, children play,

and if never interrupted,
they would keep playing.

But we do interrupt.

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

and neurobiologists have
revealed an interesting fact,

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

equipped with the most brilliant
learning device ever invented,

I call it playing.

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

You should write it
on the refrigerator door.

This makes us wonder
why no one has ever asked

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

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

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

So to continue with neurobiology,

for children, playing
and learning are synonyms.

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

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

comes to the child and says to him:

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

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

now, breathe without taking in air.

It wouldn't make any sense,

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

And this is the interesting part,

because children don't let
themselves think like that.

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

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

And when children realize
they have a problem,

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

Let's be clear about that.

And so, after this
contradictory instruction,

children have another
spontaneous tendency,

which we learn from neurobiology,

I am not a neurobiologist,

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

but I will summarize
some common conceptions,

we thought there were
genetically-wired brains,

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

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

and then we recently made
a stunning discovery,

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

is overdeveloped in present day youths.

(Laughter)

So we thought, "That's amazing,

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

and we devised brain-muscle
developing software,

designed to give us brains
like this to carry around,

but it didn't work.

And now we are faced with
a pretty puzzling question:

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

(Laughter)

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

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

And enthusiasm is the key to everything.

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

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

we know that learning comes naturally,

and here neurobiology gives us
a very interesting stat,

the child, serially and naturally equipped

with the most brilliant
learning device ever, playing,

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

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

It is well documented,
you can Google it.

It is very captivating
to see how it works.

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

but in addition, its carry-on fertilizer.

Children are perpetually immersed
in a state of enthusiasm.

Figures indicate that children
aged 2 to 3 get enthused,

feel a surge of enthusiasm
every 2 to 3 minutes,

and are enthused by just about everything.

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

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

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

2 to 3 times a year.

(Laughter)

Yet, it doesn't have to be so.

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

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

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

to see what will enthuse us.

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

for instance, the stratification
of trades and subject matters.

An example: My son, Antonin,

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

and was taken by the sight
of garbage trucks.

So we followed them from stop to stop,

stopping at each pick-up
and observing their game,

and they happened to notice
this little boy watching them,

because he knows nothing
of the stratification of trades.

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

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

And so, not only was he
watching those men,

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

And it reflected on them.

Suddenly, they were doing their job
a little differently,

with more enthusiasm.

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

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

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

because there is always
a garbage truck somewhere

honking their horns
to greet him from afar.

And this is the third spontaneous
tendency of children,

to go out into the big world.

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

where he'd experience
family life at all levels,

but equally all family fears.

The advantage of going
into the wide world,

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

hence different fears.

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

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

Strange, isn't it?

There is something else
we need to get rid of.

To rekindle enthusiasm
and rediscover the child in us,

we must rid ourselves
of our ironic attitude towards children.

And thus also, towards the child in us.

We must restore trust in the child

and in his extraordinary
spontaneous tendencies,

three of which I have just covered.

And to restore trust and get rid
of this ironic attitude,

I like sharing a short story,

because it illustrates
the ironic attitude,

and also illustrates
how we can trust children,

I invite you to come with me,

to the side of the mirror
where we trust children.

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

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

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

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

because when it is convertible,

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

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

but driving with the door open
is not very convenient,

and that's exactly what we forget,

the child wants a perfect
imitation of the world.

Children are born imitators.

Once you stop to think about
children, you can see that.

Antonin once discovered
the sound of a nailing gun,

it is an extremely complex sound,
with the influx of air, percussion,

the outflow of air,

it's a sound we in fact
would not be able to imitate.

But he can, because he found
the string of syllables,

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

Children are born imitators,

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

And so, we pick up the 1/18 red Mustang,

a collection model,
and we go to the cash register,

and the cashier actually confirms
that it's a great purchase,

and she says: "It's a beautiful model.
I'll wrap it for you, is it a gift?"

-"Oh no, not at all, he's going
to play with it right away."

-"Wait a minute, is it his?" -"Yes."

-"Oh, but it is not suited
to his age at all!

(Laughter)

I have cars suited to his age.

Look, I have lots of them."

Do you know what types
of cars she shows me?

They are plastic with bogus proportions,

(Laughter)

brightly colored,
with a smile, a nose, ears,

and one of them even has an audio message:
"Hey, I'm a car, and you, who are you?"

(Laughter)

"But my son is not mentally challenged!
He is a child like all others,

what he wants is a car
that looks like other cars

he sees everyday in the street,
and the cars suited to his age,

fortunately, he never sees any
in the street. (Laughter)

So, please Miss, we will take
the red Mustang."

She says, "Yes", but adds,

"you see this beautiful model,
he will break it to little pieces."

And here, it is important to note
that the lady is not trying to scare me,

she wants to share her fear with me.
It's not the same thing.

Then she finds the greatest of all fears.

"You know," she says,

"he will not only break it
to little pieces,

he will also swallow those little pieces."

(Laughter)

Okay, maybe the whole joke
is on the cashier,

but I really like that you laughed
and we are laughing together.

Because when we can laugh
in that place,

it is proof that you came with me
to the other side of the mirror,

the mirror where we trust children,

and where we know that two years later,
the red Mustang is unscathed,

all of a sudden you can see
how we illustrate this ironic attitude,

and also how we can illustrate,

the strength we get from being
on the side of the mirror

where we trust children,

and maybe, and this is what I suggest,

once you're on this side of the mirror,

you will feel like staying there,

and meeting the child in you
with his spontaneous tendencies,

and maybe you'll be free
from your irony towards children,

and that was my invitation for tonight,

I wish you lots of enthusiasm.

(Applause)