Prepare Our Kids for Life, Not Standardized Tests | Ted Dintersmith | TEDxFargo
Summary
TLDRThe speaker recounts their journey from passive parent to education reform advocate, sparked by a school's ineffective life skills session. They critique the outdated, test-driven education system, originally designed for a manufacturing era, as ill-suited for today's innovation economy. Despite this, they find hope in innovative schools that foster creativity and critical thinking. The speaker's mission is to spread this vision through a documentary, 'Most Likely to Succeed,' urging a shift from standardized testing to an education focused on inspiration, engagement, and life preparation.
Takeaways
- 📧 The speaker's journey began with an intriguing email from their children's school about teaching important life skills.
- 🤔 The speaker pondered over what schools should be teaching children to prepare them for life, beyond just academic grades.
- 📋 They made a list of skills and traits they believe are essential for life, such as problem-solving, communication, and perseverance.
- 🏫 The school session turned out to be a monthly presentation by gym teachers focusing on deterrence through graphic content, which left the speaker unsatisfied.
- 📉 The speaker analyzed their children's education and found a stark contrast between school activities and real-life skills.
- 🚫 The realization that schools were teaching irrelevant skills led to a deeper concern about the future employability of students.
- 🌐 The speaker's background in innovation highlighted the rapid changes in the job market and the need for a new educational model.
- 🏭 Historical context was provided to understand how the current school system was designed for a manufacturing era, not the innovation era.
- 📉 The 1983 'A Nation at Risk' report indicated a failing education system that was outdated and not preparing students adequately.
- 🎥 The speaker's solution was to create a documentary showcasing innovative schools that prepare students for real life, not just standardized tests.
- 🌟 The film 'Most Likely to Succeed' aims to inspire change by showing what schools can be and should be doing to educate students for the future.
Q & A
What motivated the speaker to attend the school session about teaching life skills to children?
-The speaker was intrigued by the vague and concise message from the school about teaching children important life skills. This lack of detail led the speaker to wonder what specific skills would be taught, prompting attendance.
What kind of life skills did the speaker believe schools should focus on?
-The speaker thought schools should focus on skills like inventive problem-solving, communication, teamwork, determination, perseverance, resourcefulness, and characteristics such as boldness, appreciating wonder, setting goals, and learning how to learn.
Why was the speaker dissatisfied after attending the session at the school?
-The speaker was dissatisfied because the session only focused on 45-minute monthly presentations led by gym teachers, using scare tactics like showing gruesome videos to discourage behaviors like smoking. The approach seemed superficial and ineffective for developing meaningful life skills.
What realization did the speaker come to after reflecting on their children's education?
-The speaker realized that the focus had always been on grades and homework, but not on how the content related to real life. After dividing tasks into columns of 'relevant to life' and 'irrelevant,' the speaker found that much of what was taught in school was irrelevant or even harmful to a child's future.
What concerns did the speaker have about the traditional education system's impact on children's future prospects?
-The speaker was concerned that the traditional education system, which focused on following instructions and routine tasks, would leave children unprepared for an innovation-driven economy. This could result in mass unemployment or marginalization.
How does the speaker view the characteristics of young children, and why are they important in today's world?
-The speaker sees young children as naturally inquisitive, bold, creative, and comfortable with risk and failure. These traits are crucial for success in today's rapidly changing, innovation-driven world, and the speaker believes that preserving these traits is essential for future success.
What historical context does the speaker provide about the design of the current education system?
-The speaker explains that the current education system was designed around 1893 to prepare children for a manufacturing-based economy, where efficiency, routine, and error-free execution were prioritized over creativity and innovation. This system was highly effective for its time but is now outdated.
What was the response of policymakers and education reformers in the 1980s to the failing education model?
-In response to the failing education model highlighted by the 1983 report 'A Nation at Risk,' policymakers doubled down on the existing system, increasing testing and measurements instead of rethinking the model to fit a world transitioning from manufacturing to innovation.
Why is the speaker not discouraged by the current state of education, despite its shortcomings?
-The speaker remains hopeful because there are innovative schools that successfully prepare students for life through authentic engagement and creativity. These schools offer a glimpse of what education could look like if reformed more widely.
What action did the speaker take to spread awareness about innovative education practices?
-The speaker funded and supported the creation of a documentary called 'Most Likely to Succeed,' which showcases schools that align education with real-life preparation. The film has been screened at film festivals and education conferences, aiming to inspire change in communities across the U.S.
Outlines
🤔 The Discontent with Traditional Education
The speaker recounts an email invitation to a school session about teaching life skills, which sparked a personal quest to define what those skills should be. They compiled a list of essential skills and traits, such as inventive problem-solving, communication, teamwork, determination, and perseverance. However, the session turned out to be a monthly presentation by gym teachers focusing on negative consequences of behaviors like smoking. This led to dissatisfaction and a deeper reflection on the relevance of school activities to real-life skills. The speaker observed that schoolwork often focused on irrelevant tasks, while essential life skills were neglected. They also noted that current educational practices could jeopardize students' future by discouraging the very traits needed for a rapidly innovating world.
🏫 The Historical Roots and Modern Shortcomings of Schooling
The speaker delves into the historical design of schools, explaining that they were created to prepare students for a manufacturing-based economy, emphasizing efficiency and routine over creativity. They argue that this model worked in the past but is now outdated in the innovation-driven world. Despite recognizing the need for change, the educational system has instead intensified its focus on standardized testing, leading to a 'more of the same' approach that is detrimental to students. The speaker contrasts this with innovative schools that are successfully preparing students for the modern world, indicating that we already know how to educate for the future but are failing to implement these practices widely.
🌟 A Vision for Transformative Education
The speaker shares their mission to spread the message of educational reform through a documentary film that showcases innovative schools. They emphasize the need to shift the focus of education from standardized testing to inspiration, engagement, and trust. The film, 'Most Likely to Succeed,' has been well-received and is being used to inspire change. The speaker is committed to taking this message to all 50 states, urging communities to rally around the vision of education that prepares students for life, not just tests. They call for a collective effort to change the educational paradigm to one that fosters innovation, determination, and the skills needed for the 21st century.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Life skills
💡Inventive problem solving
💡Standardized tests
💡Manufacturing to Innovation
💡Irrelevant education
💡Inspirational education
💡Accountability
💡Innovation
💡Engagement
💡Purpose
💡Most Likely to Succeed
Highlights
The speaker received an email about a school session to teach important life skills.
The speaker expected the school to cover skills like problem-solving and communication.
The school's approach was to show gruesome videos as a deterrent for bad habits.
The speaker felt dissatisfied with the school's approach to teaching life skills.
The speaker started tracking what school activities were relevant to life preparation.
Many school activities were found to be irrelevant to real-life skills.
The speaker added a third column for activities that could harm students' life prospects.
The speaker's career in innovation revealed the rapid pace of change and the need for new skills.
The current education system was designed for a different era focused on manufacturing.
The 1983 'A Nation at Risk' report criticized the US education system.
Efforts to improve schools focused on standardized testing rather than relevance.
The speaker discovered innovative schools that were preparing students for real life.
The speaker produced a documentary to showcase what schools can achieve.
The documentary 'Most Likely to Succeed' premiered at Sundance and received positive feedback.
The speaker is touring with the film to promote a new vision for education.
The speaker calls for a shift in education from standardized testing to inspiration and engagement.
The speaker urges communities to embrace a new approach to education that prepares kids for life.
Transcripts
[Music]
this started
innocuously when my kids were in middle
school I got an email from the school
saying we're having a session next week
explaining to you what we're doing to
teach your children important life
skills and as a parent that's
irresistible but that was the essence of
the communication teach your kids
important life skills and if it had been
more descriptive I wouldn't be here
today but because it was so concise and
so vague I spent a week saying what will
they cover what in fact should schools
be doing to teach kids important skills
that are useful in life and I started
making my list and my list included
things that were skills like inventive
problem solving or communication or
teamwork or figuring out complex
situations or characteristics and
character traits like determination and
perseverance and
resourcefulness being able to stand up
to failure being bold or appreciating
the Wonder in nature and human
achievement or capabilities we all need
like setting bold goals for yourself
learning how to learn being able to
persevere through difficulties finding
your passion and purpose in life and
figuring out how you can make your world
better so I made that list and I put it
on a piece of paper but I left a lot of
blank space on the paper because I
knew I would hear way more than that and
I wanted to take notes I wanted to learn
from this session and I expected to be
surprised and I was surprised so so the
session consisted of the initiative that
they were
unleashing was 45 minutes a month these
middle school kids would go to a
presentation run by the gym teachers and
they would pick the problem or the
challenge of the month and so if you
didn't want kids to ever smoke we would
show the most Grizzly gruesome videos of
tar infested lungs and advanced stages
of tongue and mouth cancer and somehow
that would be transformation
transformational to our kids and so I
left that session and and somehow felt
vaguely dissatisfied and so when I came
home I started to think about my kids in
their education I'd always cared about
their education but I think like most
parents I had really focused on two
things I focused on how my kids were
doing what grades they were getting and
I focused on how much they were doing
were they buckling down and doing their
homework but I never had steep back and
said what are they doing let alone how
does it relate to life so I made a great
big sheet I divided into two columns and
I said over here I'm going to track
things they're doing in school that help
prepare them for life and over here I'm
going to attract things that are
irrelevant and I'm just going to pay
attention and watch this over a matter
of days or weeks or months and see what
pattern
emerges and a bit to my surprise the
column on the right the irrelevant
column was full and then some in less
than a week and when I say the names of
things that were on it you will
immediately associate them with school
and the reason is because that's the
only place you ever use them things like
factoring polinomial or jirens or kum's
law
the left the column of what's preparing
kids for life I was doing my very best
to give things a benefit of the doubt
but that column remained stubbornly
empty but that wasn't what really
concerned me what concerned me was that
I ended up having to add a third column
and that third column was things that
would jeopardize or impair a kid's
prospects in life and I knew something
about that because I spent my career in
Innovation and and as a career venture
capitalist backing some of the top
for-profit but also social entrepreneurs
people that want to make this world
better I knew two things with the utmost
Clarity one was that Innovation
sprinting forward in a way none of us
can even imagine every structured job in
the economy if it hasn't disappeared
already will disappear and so kids
coming through education simply trained
to follow instructions and jump through
hoops are kids that are going to be
marginalized or chronically unemployed
and that's not 10 kids and 100 Kids
that's millions of kids but the second
thing I knew is that this was a time of
incredible opportunity and if you look
at the characteristics you see in every
5-year-old inquisitive bold
creative totally comfortable with taking
risk and failing if we could just
preserve those characteristics this
would be the best of time for our young
adults but my list of things that were
going on in school that jeopardized kids
prospects were all around that and that
we were actively in schools
discouraging eliminating those types of
characteristics and traits and so that
changed my life my life in many ways
stopped I stopped being a person and
started to being a cause much to the
Chagrin of my My Wife and Kids and um
and I started traveling everywhere and
meeting people and reading books I
watched every education documentary I
could find and in the process I learned
so much and one of the things I learned
one of the things I thought I'd be
discouraged about was the design of our
schools because here I am staring at
this thing that says says kids need to
be good at X we're making them good at
something that's irrelevant this is a
big problem but our schools actually
were thoughtfully designed by very fars
seted people people that anticipated a
world that was changing so in 1893 the
committee attend said the world is going
to move from agriculture to
manufacturing there will be millions of
opportunities for young kids that can do
the same task over and over efficiently
and without
error at the same time Henry Ford does
not need creative bold Innovative
assembly line workers so let's organize
a school to promote efficiency and
routine execution of operations and
let's discourage creativity and that's
the school system we changed to over the
course of the of about a 20-year period
from 1893 to the early 1900s and it
worked and America became the most
important country on Earth and we
created a robust and strong middle class
and we were the Envy of the world we
saved the world in in World War to but
then what happened let's fast forward is
that the same characteristics we would
hope for from the committee of 10
somehow didn't materialized in the 20th
century and by by the time we got to
even the 1980s it was clear our
education model had run out of steam so
there was a report done in
1983 about education called a nation at
risk and that report had this telling
sentence it said if our education system
had been imposed on us by a foreign
country we would declare it an act of
War think about that an act of War but
what did our equivalent of the committee
of 10 the philanthropists and policy
makers and business people who could
really influence education do did they
step back and say we are making a
transition from manufacturing to
Innovation and just as in the last
century we changed our model we need to
change it again that's not the the path
we took that's not the choice we made
and so instead we said let's take the
same oppos obsolete system and make it
better by doing more of it more
intensely and let's test and measure
more carefully and let's not really give
any thought to how relevant it is to
life but let's just put the pressure on
our schools to catch up with South Korea
and Singapore on these standardized test
measures and the results I think you all
know have been catastrophic and you
would think that being immersed in that
for this period of time I would be
incredibly discouraged but I wasn't
because at the same time I was visiting
schools they were doing the most
incredible things things it's not that
we don't know what we should be doing
with our schools it's not that we
haven't figured out how to prepare our
kids for a very different world that we
as adults grew up in we know that it's
just that those are isolated pockets of
great Innovation and practices and so
what I said is my contribution to this
should be how can I spread that message
how can I share that vision of schools
that are schools of possibility and hope
instead of placement and percentile
measurement on standardized tests and so
the vehicle I chose to do it I am not by
any stretch a filmmaker but I'm a
Believer in the power of film and so I
did a six-month search and I found a
documentarian that I think is the best
in the country and I supported him and
his and his team for two years to film
across the country in all sorts of
situations all demographics all
geographies all age groups and all types
of schools public private Charter I said
capture the story show our audience what
schools are capable of show our audience
what students and teachers can do if we
trust them and let them engage and
Inspire in things that are authentic and
that film called most likely to succeed
premiered in January at Sundance and
since then we've been to more than a
dozen major film festivals we've been at
every important education conference
we've had more than a thousand schools
request that film because when you're
there and I've been to 50 of these q&as
now the response of audience when they
see school situations that are aligned
with life
preparation they are so enthusiastic and
so committed and and people over and
over again are saying this is what we
need to do and so what I'm doing going
forward is I actually am taking this
film to all 50 states and so I called my
wife last night she couldn't be here but
here's what I said it was a very short
phone call because I was in between
things I said Elizabeth Fargo is
awesome sure I
said I said we are coming back here and
I said we're coming back here soon but
when I bring this film to a community I
can only do a small amount myself I can
be here I can bring the film but I have
to in the words of Blanch duah from
Street card name desire I have to rely
on the kindness of strangers and so what
I'm asking this community to do and I'm
asking it at all 50 states is to find
the people who share this vision of what
schools are capable of and pull together
an audience that includes teachers
teachers and parents and students but
also includes your communities your
State's own equivalent of the committee
of 10 the people that make the most
important decisions about the future of
your kids and let's communicate to them
this important message our country is
the most Innovative and determined on
the face of the planet in a time that
begs for those skills let's educate to
our strength instead of chasing Shanghai
and South Korea on standardized tests
let's change the center of the
university and education from
accountability and failed test measures
and make the center of Education be
inspiration and engagement and trust and
purpose and let's carry the message
forward to all schools that what we want
you to do is to prepare prepare our kids
for life so thank you
[Music]
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