This was great, thanks for sharing. I agree pretty strongly with everything he says, especially the bit about failing. When I lived in Germany, I was stunned to learned that most all of my German friends had failed a year at school. In the States, failure is not an option, and it's horrible for two reasons: 1) we just keep pushing kids through the system, almost without regard for what they're really learning; and 2) for the reason Sir Ken gives, which is that failure is a critical part of the creative process. Interestingly, one of the absolute key attributes of Silicon Valley is that just about everybody in the Valley worth much of anything has failed more than once. Too bad none of those people work in marketing! I'm buying the book Sir Ken mentions the minute it comes out!
But as a writer I know that failure is the only way to get anywhere.
His words - and these comments - also remind me of a sign that used to hang in a theatre where I did a lot of improv. "If you're not failing often, you're doing something wrong."
Failure being un-American is so true. I remember a young swimmer at an Olympic Games a few years ago being asked by a journalist how it felt to have failed. She'd won Silver! Apparently being the second best in the world is still considered failure by some. If we stop for just a second and imagine the pressure this puts on kids we would understand a lot of what ails this country. I'm still in a kind of shock from his story of the dancer. "Someone else would have put her on medication and told her to calm down". What a powerfully sad statement. And how many times a day in America is it being replayed without the happy ending??
Fandy and I had a teacher with us for dinner tonight - the soon-to-be-wife of a friend. She teaches in the South Bronx. Problem kids from 5 to 13! As she said "I have 13 year old MEN thrown in alongside 5 year old kids". That statement alone tells you how much is wrong. I played her this video and she was close to tears! She asked me to email her the link and she plans to send it to all her fellow teachers.
We had fun tonight - eating,drinking and talking. But if this video hits home with just a few people who actually educate kids for a living I feel this evening will have achieved a much higher goal.
7 comments:
Brilliant. Brilliant observations brilliantly presented.
I'm very thankful you shared this - I probably would never have seen it otherwise.
good stuff. thanks.
This was great, thanks for sharing. I agree pretty strongly with everything he says, especially the bit about failing. When I lived in Germany, I was stunned to learned that most all of my German friends had failed a year at school. In the States, failure is not an option, and it's horrible for two reasons: 1) we just keep pushing kids through the system, almost without regard for what they're really learning; and 2) for the reason Sir Ken gives, which is that failure is a critical part of the creative process. Interestingly, one of the absolute key attributes of Silicon Valley is that just about everybody in the Valley worth much of anything has failed more than once. Too bad none of those people work in marketing! I'm buying the book Sir Ken mentions the minute it comes out!
Failure is un-American.
But as a writer I know that failure is the only way to get anywhere.
His words - and these comments - also remind me of a sign that used to hang in a theatre where I did a lot of improv. "If you're not failing often, you're doing something wrong."
Failure being un-American is so true. I remember a young swimmer at an Olympic Games a few years ago being asked by a journalist how it felt to have failed. She'd won Silver! Apparently being the second best in the world is still considered failure by some. If we stop for just a second and imagine the pressure this puts on kids we would understand a lot of what ails this country. I'm still in a kind of shock from his story of the dancer. "Someone else would have put her on medication and told her to calm down". What a powerfully sad statement. And how many times a day in America is it being replayed without the happy ending??
I hate to keep commenting on this but...
Fandy and I had a teacher with us for dinner tonight - the soon-to-be-wife of a friend. She teaches in the South Bronx. Problem kids from 5 to 13! As she said "I have 13 year old MEN thrown in alongside 5 year old kids". That statement alone tells you how much is wrong. I played her this video and she was close to tears! She asked me to email her the link and she plans to send it to all her fellow teachers.
We had fun tonight - eating,drinking and talking. But if this video hits home with just a few people who actually educate kids for a living I feel this evening will have achieved a much higher goal.
Dave -- check out the whole TED site - Technology, Entertainment, Design - at ted.com.
It chock full of interesting videos of speeches and ideas from people like Sir Ken.
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