What standardized tests don't measure | Nikki Adeli | TEDxPhiladelphia
Summary
TLDRDeke Adelie, a junior at the Science Leadership Academy, shares his journey from Iran to Mississippi and finally to Philadelphia. He reflects on the limitations of standardized testing and its impact on students' potential, contrasting it with his experiences in South Korea and Iran. Deke emphasizes the importance of real-world learning opportunities, like those at SLA, which foster creativity and community involvement. He calls for a shift in educational focus from test scores to practical skills and experiences, urging adults to support and believe in the potential of today's youth.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The speaker's parents emigrated from Iran to America for better educational opportunities.
- 🏫 Growing up in Starkville, Mississippi, the speaker found a lack of distractions but also a lack of critical thinking in schools.
- 🐸 A 6th-grade frog dissection unit sparked the speaker's curiosity about the meaning of learning beyond memorization.
- 🧠 The speaker questioned the impact of geographic disadvantages on educational potential and competitiveness.
- 💼 The concept of competition on a national level was highlighted through the example of a high-earning teacher in South Korea.
- 📚 The Iranian education system was described as highly focused on testing for university admission.
- 🌐 The speaker's experiences in Iran showed that extracurricular activities were not valued for college applications.
- 💸 Budget cuts in Philadelphia targeted arts, music, and after-school clubs, emphasizing the importance of testing.
- 🏛️ SLA (Science Leadership Academy) was chosen for its focus on student responsibility and choice in learning.
- 👨💼 The speaker is developing software through an internship at Penn Medicine to improve hospital outpatient processes.
- 📈 As a Philadelphia Youth Commissioner, the speaker is creating a resolution to mandate real-world learning opportunities for high school students.
Q & A
What was the main reason Deke Adelie's parents emigrated from Iran?
-Deke Adelie's parents emigrated from Iran during the Iran-Iraq war because they couldn't pursue their college education due to the university either being subpar or closed.
Why did Deke Adelie's parents choose to move to America?
-They chose America because they believed it would provide an opportunity for their future children to have a quality public education that would prepare them for their careers.
What was Deke Adelie's experience with education in Starkville, Mississippi?
-Deke Adelie experienced a lack of distractions and focused mainly on school and soccer. However, they questioned the quality of education and the emphasis on memorization over critical thinking.
How did Deke Adelie's experience with dissecting a frog in 6th grade influence their thoughts on education?
-It led Deke to question the meaning of learning, as they were taught to memorize vocabulary and parts of the frog rather than understanding the subject matter deeply.
What is Deke Adelie's view on the potential of students in geographically disadvantaged areas?
-Deke Adelie believes that being geographically disadvantaged should not limit a student's potential to be competitive on a national level.
What is the concept of competition that Deke Adelie discusses in relation to education?
-Deke Adelie discusses the concept of competition on a national level, comparing the education systems and the emphasis on testing in countries like South Korea and Iran.
Why do students in South Korea and Iran focus heavily on testing?
-In South Korea and Iran, doing well on tests is crucial for success and higher education opportunities, which is why students are taught from a young age to excel in test-taking.
What was Deke Adelie's experience with the education system in Iran?
-Deke Adelie observed that Iranian high school students' education is catered to a major declared in 9th grade, and their fourth year is dedicated to preparing for a University exam.
What is Deke Adelie's opinion on the current focus on testing in American education?
-Deke Adelie believes that the focus on testing in American education is misguided and does not foster the development of well-rounded citizens or future leaders.
How does Deke Adelie feel about the potential of teenagers to make a change in the world?
-Deke Adelie feels that teenagers are capable of making significant changes and wants to ensure they have the opportunities and support to do so.
What is the main takeaway from Deke Adelie's TED Talk?
-The main takeaway is the importance of believing in the potential of teenagers, providing them with real-world experiences and opportunities, and preparing them to be leaders both now and in the future.
Outlines
🌟 Journey to America and Education
Deke Adelie shares the story of his parents' immigration from Iran to America during the Iran-Iraq war. They sought a better education for their future children. Settling in Starkville, Mississippi, Deke's upbringing was simple with limited distractions, focusing on school and soccer. He laments the lack of critical thinking opportunities in his Mississippi education, despite being in a 'mentally gifted' class. This class was exclusive and focused on memorization rather than understanding, which sparked Deke's curiosity about the potential of students in small towns and led him to explore the concept of competition on a national level.
📚 The Pressure of Testing in Education
Deke discusses the emphasis on testing in education systems, particularly in South Korea and Iran, where students are groomed from a young age to excel in exams that dictate their future success. He contrasts this with his experience in Mississippi and Philadelphia, noting the budget cuts that led to a focus on testing over arts and extracurricular activities. Deke questions the purpose of schools, advocating for the development of well-rounded citizens rather than just test-takers. He criticizes the current educational funding models that tie financial support to test performance, suggesting this approach does not align with the goal of fostering creativity and individuality.
🏫 The Impact of SLA on Personal Growth
Deke shares his positive experience at the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia, which emphasizes student responsibility for learning and offers choices. SLA provides opportunities for students to engage with their community through internships and volunteer work, which Deke believes are crucial for real-world application of learning. He discusses his own project developing software to streamline hospital outpatient processes and highlights similar initiatives by his peers, emphasizing the importance of these experiences in fostering a sense of making a difference in the world.
🌐 Advocating for Real-World Learning
Deke, as a Philadelphia youth commissioner, is working towards creating a resolution that mandates internships and real-world learning opportunities for high school students across the city. He believes these experiences are essential for preparing students for the future and enabling them to become active members of their communities. Deke calls for adults and community leaders to believe in the potential of teenagers, setting high expectations while providing support and mentorship. He concludes with a call to action, urging the audience to invest in the present by supporting teenagers in taking on leadership roles today, which will naturally shape a better future.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Education
💡Geographically Disadvantaged
💡Critical Thinking
💡Competition
💡Iran-Iraq War
💡Mississippi
💡Standardized Testing
💡Self-Worth
💡Funding
💡Science Leadership Academy (SLA)
💡Internships
Highlights
Deke Adelie's parents emigrated from Iran to America for better educational opportunities.
They chose Starkville, Mississippi, for its quality public education and community.
Deke highlights the lack of distractions in Starkville, focusing on school and soccer.
Mississippi's education system lacked opportunities for critical thinking.
Deke's 6th-grade experience with dissection sparked a curiosity about learning.
The realization that geographical disadvantage shouldn't limit potential.
The concept of competition on a national level and its impact on education.
Comparison of educational systems in South Korea and Iran.
Students in Iran see Deke as lucky due to the extracurricular activities valued in America.
Philadelphia's budget cuts targeted arts and music, emphasizing the importance of testing.
The purpose of schools should be to grow citizens, not just test takers.
44 percent of students don't feel a sense of self-worth due to the focus on testing.
Governmental programs often link funding to test performance.
Deke's move to Philadelphia and the choice of Science Leadership Academy (SLA).
SLA's approach to education focuses on responsibility, choice, and self-development.
SLA's program allows students to engage with the community through internships and volunteer work.
Deke's work with Penn Medicine to develop software for outpatient processes.
The importance of belief and time in allowing teenagers to make a mark.
Deke's role as a Philadelphia Youth Commissioner aiming to create opportunities for high school students.
A call to action for adults and communities to believe in the potential of teenagers.
The idea of making students the present leaders, not just the future leaders.
Transcripts
so my name is deke Adelie I'm a junior
at the science Leadership Academy and
today I want to start my story by where
it actually started it started in the
80s in Iran and it was during the Iran
versus Iraq war where my parents were
pursuing their college education and
during the time of the war they couldn't
pursue it because either the university
that they were going to was up to par or
the university they were going to was
closed so they took it upon themselves
that they had to emigrate from Iran and
the reason why they emigrated to America
was because they knew that if when they
had started a family this would be an
opportunity for their kids to have a
quality public education that were
prepared them for their career down the
line so they picked America and out of
all 50 states and out of all 19,000 355
cities they picked a small town in
Mississippi in that town was Starkville
home to the Mississippi State University
Bulldogs and once the bulldog always a
bulldog and I must urge how small
Starkville really why's there wasn't
really a mall I mean the mall that I
considered was a Walmart Supercenter and
there weren't many distractions as a
child the really only things I focused
on was school and soccer and you would
think that if there aren't many
distractions that there would be a
quality schools in this town and as much
as I love Mississippi this is where I
learned to ride my bike where I learned
to fall off my bike and where I grew up
and I whenever someone asks me where are
you from I always say I'm from
Mississippi but the one thing that I
questioned that I didn't have the
opportunity to have in Mississippi was
the ability to critically think and I
know that there was classes like
mentally gifted classes except all of my
peers didn't have the opportunity to be
in that class with me because you had to
go through a test that said you were
mentally
gifted so you were in this exclusive
class and even in this class we were
taught to critically think through
snafus puzzles and 24 math games and as
fun as those were and the incentive to
do well was you got a Hershey kiss or a
jolly rancher at the end I mean I did
well because I like candy but I really
wanted to learn how to critically think
in the subjects that someday down the
line I would end up pursuing like math
like science and like reading and the
first encounter that I came across this
was in the 6th grade
so in the 6th grade we did a whole unit
on the Frog and my teacher said at the
beginning of the quarter is that if I
wanted to dissect a frog I had to die I
had to go through a test and I knew that
I had to do well in this test because
every day when I went home from school I
always saw on TV that people like
hillary duff were dissecting frogs so i
had to dissect a frog and I asked my
teacher what the skills were to do well
on this test and she got down on my
level and she asked and she told me and
she cringed really big and said you need
to memorize vocabulary words and you
need to memorize the parts of the frog
and at this moment I came across a
question of what did it really mean to
learn because neither of the two times
that she had brought it up said he to
learn about the frog you need to learn
the vocabulary words and it was exactly
this that took me on to this adventure
of what was the potential for kids in
these towns because they were said to be
geographically disadvantaged even though
you were geographically disadvantaged
did it really mean that you had to stop
the potential to go on and be
competitive on a national level if you
were geographically disadvantaged and it
didn't and it didn't make sense to me
and so I went out to seek out this
question and they came across the
concept of competition and this concept
of competition was on a national level
and many times you hear that I mean
America is very powerful as a country
but you always hear that we are
competing with other countries and it's
countries like South Korea for example
and that if we want to do well we need
to do something like people who are
second in education so this is kimchi
Kim Joon is an English teacher in South
Korea now what makes Kim Cahoon
different is that his salary is four
million dollars a year yeah you don't
hear an English teacher in America
getting four million dollars a year um
and what he does is that he runs a cram
school in Seoul South Korea and it
sounds exactly what it sounds like so he
does tests teachings to prepare kids to
do well on their University exam and
that's the bowl for kids in South Korea
because their way of becoming successful
into doing well in their country and to
possibly come to America is to do well
on this exam so that's their goal so
from a young age they're taught to do
well on tests in that tests matter and
that if they want to do something in
life they have to do well on these tests
another country that also is going in
that type of direction is Iran more
closer to home for me and for the past
two summers have had the opportunity to
go to Iran and to really observe the
education system in Iran and get to talk
to students and to give some background
on what the Iranian education system is
like specifically in high school is that
your first three years are catered to a
major that you declare in your ninth
grade year so whether that's math
whether that's biology social science
what have you and then your fourth year
is dedicated to do it while in the
University exam and what they do is that
they give you a multitude of tests to
make sure that you do well on that
University exam and when I got to talk
to all these kids who are where I was
teaching at one of the English schools
was that they kept calling me lucky they
kept saying Nicky show ma hailey ho
Shanxi which in English means you're
lucky and I stepped back and I asked him
I said well why do you think I'm lucky
and they said because the things like
volleyball that we do and playing the
violin that doesn't count towards what
we actually apply to when it comes to
applying to colleges because in Iran the
way you get accepted to a top university
is based on your national ranking on a
test and little did they know that
during the time that I was having this
conversation with them which was last
summer I didn't know that in
Philadelphia specifically there were
budget cuts budget cuts
quickly targeted arts and music and
after-school clubs and when I realized
as I said well if there are these types
of things that are being cut
universities and other outside programs
would have to focus on the test because
that's all that's left
and we as a country we don't focus on
creating a good test taker unless that's
what I think I mean the value in the
purpose of schools is to grow a citizen
and the citizen is to be a multitude of
personalities it's up someone to
open-minded knowledgeable and someone
who in the long run can give back to
their community however the way I see it
is that this is not the way we're going
because the majority of what we're
funding is to testing and to make sure
testing comes into play now which I'll
touch on later and what I what I want to
talk on is why I actually ended up doing
this TED talk so what I first heard the
theme of the new workshop of the world
the first thing I heard was workshop and
when I heard workshop I thought of a
birdhouse now the concept of a bird has
to me is that you build a birdhouse to
grow and to nurture and to hope that one
day those birds will make your birdhouse
their own home I see schools the same
way is to grow and to nurture these
young minds into the future leaders of
tomorrow and to grow them into citizens
however if we are as diverse as
Philadelphia is a nice diverse as a
country we are why are we putting kids
into standards to reach for them to then
fulfill any sort of potential they might
have and it's this that confuses me
because 44 percent of students in
schools right now don't even feel a
sense of self-worth and it's this that
we always applaud quirkiness and
individuality in this concept of
individualization that we aim for as a
country that you're allowed to think
outside of the box and you're allowed to
speak up in class but we never advocate
for it and specifically this so I talked
about funding and when it comes to
funding the first thing a talk on top of
my mind is governmental programs
and if you see here I've probably fine
print but I'll read it for you so one of
the parts of this back sheet says your
state can win this grant that will only
help students I'll compete workers
around the world but also to fulfill
their god-given potential so this is
saying if you do well on the tests we
will give you funding to then fulfill
this god-given potential so you would
assume that it would actually be the
other way around if God is giving you
this potential then thank you and then
later on you see that reforms actually
on the bottom of it says well this
actually helps you compete on a global
level it will help you out compete any
worker in this entire world and then
again this goes back to the concept of
what is our goal in the first place are
we trying to help compete any worker in
the world and is this the way to do it
is it to do it in a way that we suit
ourselves to a system that doesn't even
have the same goal as we're aiming for
and I like this quote by Benjamin
Franklin it's by failing to prepare
you're preparing to fail now I know that
the intent of these programs is we're
preparing you to do well in this world
but putting a scantron sheet in front of
me and putting a pencil in front of me
and saying that if this test defines who
you are that's only preparing me to do
well and tests in the long run multiple
times we hear policymakers and
politicians say we want our students to
do well so they can take over our spots
one day and to come up with policies to
improve our society and the global
economy however not even once our
students in class and in boardrooms
making decisions about their own
education so what makes you think
so what makes you think that now if
we're not making our own policies and
actually even giving our voice to create
these on policies that affect us
personally that it will happen in the
long run and it is that thing that
bothers me and it is certain things that
paralyze students is Minds in this
creative and innovative minds that come
from all over that paralyzed us and that
defines us and that thing is testing and
I don't want to say that tests are bad
because I'm not actually saying tests or
bad I'm saying the concept of what tests
have become is bad it's magnified it's
become a curriculum that our aim is to
do well on testing however the first
reason where we implemented tests is for
our students to do well in the world and
I list all these negative effects
however this types of these types of
things that tests have become actually
helped me get to Philadelphia so what
happened was was that in 2009 I came to
visit my sister for Christmas break and
during Christmas break my sister and I
are pretty evil I would say because we
tricked my mother to move me to
Philadelphia and my mom was like okay
fine it's important because when Nicki
was young her sister Liz went off to
college so they need to grow some sister
bond will stay for a semester you know
so what my sister and I ended up doing
is we found my mother a job and the
today became permanent and so time went
by and it came to the time of high
school so when I got the list of high
schools that I was accepted to the one
that stood out to me was SLA
science Leadership Academy and when
intrigued me about this school was that
it one not only made me responsible for
my own learning but it also gave me
choices and what made intrigued my mom
about this school was that this was the
reason why she had came to America in
the first place is that they didn't
abide by this system that the country
was going in but it created its own path
and that students would be able to form
different types of learning skills and
self-development to move in the
direction of where they wanted their
career to go and if it's anything that
SLA has really given to me it's two
things
particular it's time and belief and
specifically I want to talk about a
program that's in SLA so SLA has this
time allocated during the week for their
students in the 10th and 11th grade to
go anywhere in the city they'd like and
to interact with their community and
what you do is you form some sort of
internship or some sort of volunteer
work
I personally formed a partnership with
Penn medicine and with Penn medicine
what I do is right now I'm developing
the software that will ease the
outpatient process in hospitals to make
it a more faster and easier process for
this Pitt outpatients to get home easier
and to be back with their families and
I'm not the only one making dramatic
changes in their community so then
there's no me know me as a peer of mine
a close friend of mine as well and know
me works with the media mobilizing
project she's a student columnist and
specifically her column is in is part of
the movement that's pushing for
equitable public schools and then
there's win-win is part of the public
workshop and as a part of this team he
goes out to different parts of the city
and creates these new and awesome
different playgrounds some types like
benches and it's these types of things
that got him out his community and other
students as well to really interact with
their community and I know that as an
SLA student as a teenager in
Philadelphia I come from very diverse
city and I know I'm not the only one
that wants to make this type of change
as a teenager and I know the teenagers
want to find their mark I'm sure many of
you know how hard your teenage years
were because they were and I know
because I'm a teenager and the one thing
we want to know as one of the things we
want to know is that we're making some
sort of change and that we're making our
mark into this world and we want to be
prepared to make our mark in this world
and if you if you realize what know me
and I and and when have all done we've
done all these magnificent projects in
our community and none of it involved in
number two pencil or scantron
all it took was a little bit of belief
and a little bit of time and that's and
that's one of the two of the biggest
things that I have gotten from SLA that
I truly appreciate and I know that I
want to make this a bigger thing so as a
Philadelphia youth commissioner I have a
moving in a direction where I'm creating
a resolution and a resolution that will
help mandate these types of internships
and an opportunity for high schools
across the city to have the opportunity
to go into places like city it to city
banks and hospitals and cupcake shops
and what have you something that will
prepare them for the real world because
on my own I can't change a whole
curriculum so what I'm going to do is
then work with my resources and I'm
going to help create this real-world
application and I want other peers
across the city to have the same
opportunity as I have at SLA and is that
to apply what you learn in school to the
outside world because that is what grows
a citizen and that is what's going to
prepare us to be the future leaders of
tomorrow and I like this quote by
director Steve McQueen and it's school
was painful for him because so many
beautiful people didn't achieve what
they could achieve because no one
believed in them and I want this I want
this my entire talk to have some sort of
call to action and so as a city I'd like
to call this to action and as adults in
this room as many community leaders are
you as you all are and to anybody
watching as well is that I would love
for adults and communities to really
believe in this generation in
Philadelphia right now because it's a
matter of our belief that we know that
we can accomplish something and it's
that that I would love for people to set
high expectations for teenagers and sit
and set high standards but to help us
along the way because their teenage
years of the years we're going to fail
and the years we're going to make
mistakes but we need a mentor beside us
and many times as I've said today is
that many politicians and policy makers
and any adult has said we want our
students to be the future leaders of
tomorrow how about making them the
present leaders the leaders of today and
the only way you're going to do that is
by investing into the present
and if you are to invest into the
present I rest assure you the future
will take care of itself
thank you
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)