STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS

Summary

In this thought-provoking script, the speaker challenges the traditional purpose of school, arguing that it was originally designed to produce compliant workers for the industrial age. He critiques the focus on obedience and memorization, and calls for a reimagining of education that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and personalized learning. The speaker proposes a future where technology enables access to world-class lectures and personalized coaching, emphasizing the need to connect, not just collect, knowledge.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script challenges the traditional purpose of school, questioning whether it's still relevant or if it needs redefining in the modern context.
• 👨‍🏫 The historical context of schooling is explored, highlighting how it was designed to produce compliant workers for the industrial age.
• 🔨 A personal anecdote about a fifth-grade math lesson illustrates the disconnect between traditional teaching methods and practical, engaging learning.
• 📈 The script criticizes standardized testing, introduced by Frederick J. Kelly, as an inadequate measure of a student's potential or knowledge.
• 🤔 It suggests that schools should foster creativity and critical thinking rather than mere compliance and memorization.
• 🏭 The industrial age's influence on education is discussed, explaining how the system was designed to produce workers for factories.
• 📚 The use of textbooks as a one-size-fits-all teaching tool is critiqued for not inspiring passion or deep understanding in students.
• 🌐 The potential of technology to revolutionize education by providing personalized learning experiences is highlighted.
• 🏛️ The script foresees a future where traditional educational structures, like famous colleges, may become less relevant as learning becomes more decentralized and accessible.
• 🤝 The importance of cooperation and real-world application in education is emphasized over isolation and theoretical knowledge.
• 🔑 The script concludes by urging a reevaluation of what school is for, advocating for a shift towards fostering passion, insight, and the ability to connect ideas.

Q & A

What is the main question the speaker wants the audience to consider about school?

The main question the speaker wants the audience to consider is 'What is school for?', emphasizing the need for a collective understanding of the purpose of education.

According to the speaker, what was the original purpose of public education?

The original purpose of public education, as per the speaker, was to train people to be willing to work in factories, to behave, comply, and fit in, rather than to train scholars of tomorrow.

What does the speaker criticize about the use of standardized tests in education?

The speaker criticizes standardized tests as an abomination invented to sort students during a period of high demand for education, and criticizes the system for not adapting or improving beyond this crude method.

Why does the speaker mention the story about hammering nails in a classroom?

The speaker mentions the story about hammering nails to illustrate the concept of 'zero education' and to criticize the idea that school was about teaching obedience rather than critical thinking or creativity.

What is the significance of the number 2 pencil in the context of the speech?

The number 2 pencil is significant because it was made famous by Frederick J. Kelly, who invented the standardized test, symbolizing the industrialization and standardization of education.

How does the speaker relate the industrial age to the current state of education?

The speaker relates the industrial age to education by stating that the system was designed to produce compliant workers for factories, emphasizing productivity and conformity, which still influences modern education.

What is the speaker's view on the role of technology in education?

The speaker views technology as a tool that can revolutionize education by allowing for personalized learning experiences, access to world-class lectures, and eliminating the need for human teachers to teach basic skills.

What does the speaker suggest as an alternative to traditional homework and lectures?

The speaker suggests that lectures should be available online at night, allowing students to access world-class lectures for free, and that homework and interaction with teachers should occur during the day.

Why does the speaker argue that memorization is no longer valuable in education?

The speaker argues that memorization is no longer valuable because the internet provides instant access to information, making the ability to recall facts less important than the ability to find and apply information.

What is the speaker's stance on the concept of 'normal' in education?

The speaker is critical of the concept of 'normal' in education, arguing that it stifles individuality and creativity, and that education should encourage students to stand out and think independently.

How does the speaker propose changing the current educational system?

The speaker proposes changing the current educational system by redefining its purpose, embracing technology, personalizing education, and focusing on experiences and creativity rather than compliance and memorization.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Purpose and History of Schooling

The speaker begins by questioning the traditional greeting in schools and the ingrained processes of public education. He challenges the audience to consider the purpose of school, suggesting that there's a lack of consensus on this issue. The speaker introduces the historical context, mentioning Mary Everest Boole's innovative teaching methods and the shift in education's focus from creativity to obedience. The narrative includes a personal anecdote about a school project involving hammers and nails, illustrating the disconnect between traditional teaching methods and actual learning. The speaker also touches on Frederick J. Kelly's role in creating standardized testing and its subsequent negative impact on education.

05:01

🏭 The Industrial Age's Impact on Education

This section delves into the historical reasons behind the structure of modern schooling, linking it to the needs of the industrial age. The speaker discusses how the industrialists' need for a compliant workforce led to the creation of a public education system designed to produce workers for factories. The concept of 'normal schools' for training teachers is introduced, emphasizing the aim to produce 'normal' students who fit into the industrial system. The speaker criticizes the use of textbooks as a tool for teaching, arguing that they are ineffective at fostering passion or engagement. He contrasts the natural human tendency to seek efficiency in work with the desire to engage more deeply in artistic pursuits, suggesting that the factory model of education stifles creativity.

10:01

🌐 The Future of Education in the Digital Age

The speaker addresses the current crossroads in education, driven by technological advancements that have made traditional teaching methods obsolete. He outlines eight potential changes in education, including the shift to online lectures, the end of memorization, access to a wide array of courses, and personalized education. The speaker advocates for a move away from standardized testing and compliance-based learning outcomes, towards a system that values experience and cooperation. He suggests that the role of teachers should evolve into coaching, and that learning should become a lifelong process integrated with work. The speaker also predicts the decline of the importance of traditional, famous colleges, emphasizing the need to reevaluate what constitutes a 'good' education in the digital era.

15:04

🔍 Reevaluating Educational Goals and Methods

In the final paragraph, the speaker calls for a reevaluation of what school is for, challenging the myths that good performance in school leads to happiness and success, and that good parenting guarantees academic success. He argues for a focus on teaching students to connect ideas rather than merely collecting facts. The speaker criticizes the current system for valuing grades over genuine learning and for discouraging students from standing out. He concludes by urging the audience to question the purpose of school and to engage in conversations that will lead to meaningful educational reform, emphasizing the importance of aligning educational practices with the true goals of education.

Keywords

💡Public Education

Public education refers to the government-sponsored system of compulsory education available to all children, typically provided free of charge. In the video, the concept is discussed critically, highlighting how it was historically designed to train individuals for factory work, emphasizing obedience and compliance over creativity and individuality. The speaker points out that the original intent of public education was not to cultivate scholars but to produce workers for the industrial age.

💡Standardized Tests

Standardized tests are assessments that are administered and scored in a consistent manner to measure a student's knowledge or abilities. The video discusses how Frederick J. Kelly invented standardized tests during World War I to manage the influx of students into the expanded school system. However, the speaker criticizes these tests as crude and inappropriate for measuring a student's true capabilities, noting that their primary purpose was to sort and categorize students rather than to foster learning.

💡Industrial Age

The Industrial Age, also known as the Industrial Revolution, was a period of significant economic and social change that began in the late 18th century and continued into the 19th and 20th centuries. The video connects the rise of public education to the needs of the Industrial Age, where there was a demand for a compliant workforce. The speaker argues that schools were designed to produce individuals who would fit into the assembly line mentality, emphasizing productivity and conformity.

💡Compliance

Compliance in the context of the video refers to the adherence to rules, standards, or instructions, often at the expense of individual thought and creativity. The speaker criticizes the educational system for valuing compliance over innovation, suggesting that the system was designed to produce workers who would follow instructions without question, which was beneficial for the factory model of the Industrial Age but detrimental to fostering independent thought and creativity.

💡Consumerism

Consumerism is the social and economic order and ideology that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. In the video, the speaker argues that public education was also designed to create consumers who would buy the products of the industrial economy. Schools were seen as a way to instill the values and behaviors necessary for a thriving consumer market, such as the desire to own more and the willingness to conform to social norms.

💡Textbooks

Textbooks are systematic educational materials covering a particular subject, typically used as the main teaching resource in schools. The video criticizes the use of textbooks as a teaching tool, suggesting that they are ineffective at inspiring passion or interest in a subject. The speaker argues that textbooks are a relic of the industrial model of education, where information is delivered in a standardized,批量化 manner, rather than being tailored to individual needs or interests.

💡Technology

Technology, in the context of the video, refers to the advancements in digital and electronic systems that have the potential to revolutionize education. The speaker suggests that technology can provide personalized learning experiences, making it unnecessary for a human teacher to be present for every lesson. This could lead to a shift in the role of teachers from lecturers to coaches, facilitating learning rather than delivering content.

💡Creativity

Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; it is a core theme in the video. The speaker argues that the current educational system stifles creativity by focusing on compliance and memorization rather than encouraging students to think independently and innovate. The video suggests that true learning and success come from nurturing creativity and allowing students to explore and make connections between ideas.

💡Passion

Passion refers to a strong and barely controllable emotion, in this case, for learning and pursuing one's interests. The video emphasizes the importance of passion in education, suggesting that it is more valuable than mere compliance or adherence to a curriculum. The speaker argues that passion drives learning and innovation, and that the educational system should be designed to ignite and support this passion rather than suppress it.

💡Homework

Homework is work assigned to students for completion outside of regular class hours. In the video, the speaker proposes a reversal of traditional educational practices, suggesting that lectures should be consumed as homework through online platforms, while class time should be used for interactive learning and problem-solving with teachers. This approach is intended to make better use of technology and human interaction in the educational process.

💡Memorization

Memorization is the process of committing information to memory. The video criticizes the emphasis on memorization in traditional education, arguing that with the advent of the internet and other information technologies, there is little value in memorizing facts. Instead, the speaker advocates for an educational system that focuses on understanding, critical thinking, and the ability to find and apply information rather than simply recalling it.

Highlights

The traditional greeting 'Good morning, Mr. Godin' reflects ingrained respect and obedience in public education.

The question 'What is school for?' is crucial but often overlooked in educational reform discussions.

Mary Everest Boole's idea of using string and nails to teach math illustrates creative educational methods.

A parent's involvement in a school project with hammers highlights the hands-on aspect of learning.

The story of a teacher enforcing obedience by discarding a student's work underscores the historical purpose of school as a place for compliance training.

Frederick J. Kelly's invention of the standardized test and its subsequent issues are discussed.

An experiment with raising hands demonstrates the instinct to hold back, a behavior taught from a young age.

The industrial age's impact on education, focusing on training workers and consumers, is critiqued.

The historical shift from needing scholars to needing compliant factory workers influenced school design.

Horace Mann's role in creating the public school system and the concept of 'normal' education is examined.

The use of textbooks as a tool for standardized education is questioned for its effectiveness in engaging students.

The difference between work, which people try to minimize, and art, which people strive to maximize, is highlighted.

An interactive activity with blocks is used to illustrate the discomfort with open-ended creativity.

Technology's potential to revolutionize education by providing access to world-class lectures and personalized learning is discussed.

The proposal of changing the traditional educational model to include homework during the day and lectures at night is introduced.

The idea that memorization is no longer valuable in the digital age is presented.

Access to any course worldwide at any time is suggested as a new educational paradigm.

The need for precise, focused education tailored to individual needs rather than mass education is argued.

The role of teachers transforming into coaches and the importance of lifelong learning are emphasized.

The concept of the 'death of the famous college' and the focus on actual learning over brand names is critiqued.

The use of Arduino and Raspberry Pi in education to encourage students to create and innovate is suggested.

The two myths about school performance leading to success and the role of parents in academic achievement are challenged.

The importance of asking 'What is school for?' and aligning educational practices with this purpose is concluded.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Yasushi Aoki Reviewer: Capa Girl

Good morning, boys and girls.

Audience: (Murmur)

That was terrible.

You've learned how to do that from a young age.

You're supposed to say, "Good morning, Mr. Godin."

So let's try again.

Good morning, boys and girls.

Audience: Good morning, Mr. Godin.

Have you thought about what that's for?

Have you thought about how,

for a hundred or hundred and fifty years,

that was ingrained into the process of public education?

And have you thought at all

as people on the cutting edge,

as people who are interested in making school work again,

about a very simple question:

What is school for?

I don't think we're answering that question.

I don't even think we're asking that question.

Everyone seems to think they know what school is for,

but we're not gonna make anything happen until we can all agree

about how we got here

and where we are going.

My goal today is to put that question into your head

and help you think about it.

First we have to understand what school used to be for.

There was a woman named Mary Everest Boole

and she came up with this notion --

she was a mathematician in the late 1800s --

that you can use string and nails and wood

and make decorations, those things with the string goes back and forth,

and there is math built into that,

and that a teacher on the cutting edge,

of fifth graders, might decide to use that idea

modulo nine and remainders and string going back and forth

to teach an important lesson about math.

So that memo went home to all the parents at my kids public school and said,

"We need help with this. We need hammers."

So I am sort of unemployed.

I showed up at school that day with a bag of hammers,

a big bag of 18 hammers.

Now, I don't know if you've ever heard

18 kids hitting nails with 18 hammers in a little room for 20 minutes,

but I have.

I’m not gonna do it for you because it's really hard to listen to.

And what the teacher explained to the kids is

they must arrange the brads in this certain pattern,

hammering, hammering, hammering

and make sure they're in there nice and firm.

And so these kids are hammering, hammering, hammering,

20 minutes of zero education.

Just 20 minutes of hammering.

And then the teacher walks over and she says to a boy,

"I told you to make sure the brads were all the way in."

And one by one she pulled them out and threw them on the floor

every single one.

And put the board down

and that is what she believed school was for.

School was about teaching obedience.

"Good morning, boys and girls"

starts the day with respect and obedience.

Now I have to move on to Frederick J. Kelly.

Some of you brought your own number 2 pencil for the quiz

that is going to be part of today.

The number 2 pencil is famous because Frederick J. Kelly made it famous.

Back around World War I we had a problem,

which was that there was this huge influx of students

'cause we'd expanded the school date to include high school

and there was this huge need to sort them all out.

So he invented the standardized test

and an abomination.

And he gave it up ten years later

when the emergency was over

but because he gave it up

because he called it out,

because he said the standardized test is too crude to be used,

he was ostracized and lost his job

as the president of a university

because he dared to speak up against a system that was working.

So let's try a little experiment here.

I'd like everyone to go ahead and raise your right hand

just as high as possibly you can.

Now please raise it a little higher.

Hmm. What's that about?!

(Laughter)

My instructions were pretty clear and yet you all held back. How come?

You held back because you've been taught

since you were 3 years old to hold a little bit back

because if you do everything, if you put all out

than your parents or your teacher or your coach or your boss

is gonna ask for little bit more, aren't they? (Laughter)

And the reason they will is because we are products of the industrial age.

The industrial age made us all rich.

The industrial age brought productivity to the table.

Productivity allowes human beings working together with a boss or a manager

to make more than they could ever make alone.

Productivity makes us a car for 700 dollars instead of 700 000 dollars in 1920.

But the thing about productivity and industrialism is this.

The people who ran factories had two huge problems.

Problem number one:

they looked around and said, "We don't have enough workers.

We don't have enough people who are willing to move off the farm

and come to this dark building for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week

and do what they are told.

If we can get more workers, we could pay them less.

And if we can pay them less, we'd make more money.

We need more workers."

And so, the KKK went to industrialists and said,

"You need to get those kids out of the factories,

those people you're paying 3 dollars a day,

'cause they're taking our jobs." And so a deal was made.

And the deal was universal public education

whose sole intent was not to train the scholars of tomorrow.

We have plenty of scholars.

It was to train people to be willing to work in the factory.

It was to train people to behave, to comply, to fit in.

We process you for a whole year.

If you are defective, we hold you back and process you again.

We sit you in straight rows just like they organize things in the factory.

We build a system,

all about interchangeable people

because factories are based on interchangeable parts.

If this piece is no good, put another piece in there.

And org charts, those little boxes are all designed to say,

"Oh, we can fit Bob in there 'cause Rachel didn't show to work today."

And so we built school.

That's what school was for.

And the second thing industrialists were really worried about was

that we weren't going to buy all the stuff they could make,

that in 1880, 1890, people owned two pairs of shoes,

one pair of jeans. That was it.

You don't know anyone who owns one pair of jeans anymore, ever.

What they needed to train us to do was buy stuff.

They needed to train us to fit in.

They needed to train us to become consumers.

And so, Horace Mann, who meant well,

built the public school as we know it.

And then, he needed more teachers, right?

Because you have more schools so he built a school for teachers.

Do you know what it's called? The normal school.

He called it the normal school

where they train people to teach in the common school

because he wanted you to be normal,

and wanted the class to be normal,

and he wanted people to fit in.

And then we came up with this: the textbook.

Now if you want to teach somebody,

how to become passionate about,

I don't know, American history,

why would you give them this?

(Laughter)

Do people walk into Barnes & Noble and say,

"I'm really interested in that latest gripping thing

that's going to get me all engaged about the Civil War.

Do you have one of those textbooks in stock?"

If you wanted to teach someone how to be a baseball fan,

would you start by having them understand the history of baseball,

who Abner Doubleday was, what barnstorming was,

the influences of cricket and capitalism and the Negro leagues?

Would you do that?

Would you say, "OK, there's a test tomorrow.

I want you to memorize the top 50 batters in order by batting average,"

and then rank the people based on how they do on the test

so the ones that do well get to memorize more baseball players?

Is that how we would create baseball fans?

Here is the key distinction.

What people do quite naturally is, if it's work, they try to figure out how to do less.

And if it's art, we try to figure out how to do more.

And when we put kids in the factory we call school,

the thing we built to indoctrinate them into compliance,

why are we surprised that the question is "Will this be on the test?"

Someone who is making art doesn't say,

"Can I do one less canvas this month?"

They don't say, "Can I write one less song this month?"

They don't say, "Can I touch one fewer person this month?"

It's art. They want to do more of it.

But when it's work, when it's your job, when you're seven,

of course you want to do less of it.

So one of the things that I've done as an application is

when I meet people, I take this out.

There's a great bargain online.

And it's filled with these blocks, right?

You've probably seen blocks before.

I'm gonna dump them out of it.

And I say, "Take four blocks and make them into something interesting."

Now it's an interesting question.

Because you can use the letters and you can use the shapes

you can spell the word, you can put a profanity there.

You can spell a word that means nothing.

You can make the shape into a bridge.

And people hate this.

Because there's no right answer and there's a million wrong answers.

They hate this because there's no Dummies Guide to

how to make something interesting out of blocks when you are 30 years old.

And now, we are at a crossroads.

We're at a crossroads because as a culture we say the only thing we care about,

the only place we are willing to cross the street to go,

the only thing we are willing to buy,

the only person we are willing to vote for,

the only stuff we are willing to talk about

is interesting,

is art,

is new,

will touch us,

is valuable.

And then we spend all of our money and all of our time

teaching people not to do that.

And so we're now at this crossroads because technology is here too.

And the technology says, you know what,

for the first time in history, we do not need a human being

to stand next to us to teach us to do square roots.

For the first time in history,

we do not need a human being to teach us how to sharpen an ax

because the Internet connects us all.

And so I want to share with you 8 things that I think are gonna change completely

if we decide how we want answer to this question,

or maybe even if we don't.

One, as Sal Khan has pointed out,

homework during the day, lectures at night.

World-class lecturers lecturing on anything you want to learn

to every single person in the world who's got an Internet connection for free.

And then all day go and sit with a human being, a teacher

and ask your questions and do your work and explore face-to-face.

It's stupid to have the same lecture being given handmade

10,000 times a day across the country

when we can get one person to do it great for the people who want to hear it.

Number two,

open book, open note all the time.

There is zero value in memorizing anything ever again.

Anything that is worth memorizing is worth looking up.

So we shouldn't spend any time teaching people to memorize stuff.

Number three, access to any course anywhere in the world anytime you want to take it.

So this notion that we have to do things in a certain order,

which is based on physical location and chronology, makes no sense.

Number four, precise focused education instead of mass batch stuff.

That's the way we make almost everything we buy now, right?

It used to be you could have any color of car you wanted as long as it's black.

So we could keep the assembly line going.

But now they make ten thousand kinds of cars

because they can.

So we should make ten thousand kinds of education.

No more multiple-choice exams.

Those were invented to make them easy to score

but computers are smarter than that.

Measuring experience instead of test scores

because experience is what we really care about.

The end of compliance as an outcome.

The resume is proof that you have complied

for years and years and years with famous brand names

and it gets you your next job.

It's worthless now.

And cooperation instead of isolation.

Why do we do anything where we ask people to do it all by themselves

and then we put them in the real world and say, "Cooperate."

Four more.

Teacher's role transforms into coach,

lifelong learning with work happening earlier in your life,

and really important the death of the famous college.

Not good college.

We don't know what a good college is

but we know what a famous college is

because someone ranked them as famous

or because they have a football team that is famous.

Why on earth are we paying extra,

why on earth are we working harder to comply and be obedient?

Just so we get a famous brand name

that has no relevance to success or happiness

put after our name.

I want to show you one more device I have over here as I start --

This is called an Arduino.

It's a little bit like Raspberry Pi.

They're both electronic devices that cost $20 to $30 each.

Raspberry Pi, which you can buy for $25,

has on it the complete Linux operating system,

a USB port, audio out, and a monitor.

So if we take that cable and that keyboard and that monitor

we already have in front of almost every kid in this country

and hand them one of these.

We can then say to them, "Go build something interesting

and ask if you need help."

Why wouldn't we want to teach our kids to go do something interesting?

Why would we want to teach our kids to figure it out?

And yet, everyday we send kids to school and say,

"Do not figure it out,"

"Do not ask questions I do not know the answer to,"

"Do not look it up,"

"Do not vary from the curriculum,"

and better better better better better comply,

fit in, be like your peers, do what you're told

because I must process you,

because everything in my evaluation is based on whether or not I processed you properly.

So, there are two myths

I want to close with --

The first one and we gotta be really honest with ourselves about this.

Myth one: great performance in school leads to happiness and success.

If that's not true, we should stop telling ourselves it is.

And two: great parents have kids who produce great performance in school.

If that's not true, we should stop telling ourselves it is.

Are we asking our kids to collect dots or connect dots?

Because we're really good at measuring how many dots they collect,

how many facts they have memorized,

how many boxes they have filled in,

but we teach nothing about how to connect those dots.

You cannot teach connecting dots in a Dummies manual.

You cannot teach connecting dots in a textbook.

You can only do it by putting kids into a situation where they can fail.

Grades are an illusion.

Passion and insight are reality.

Your work is more important than your congruence to an answer key.

Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is priceless.

And yet we undermine it.

Fitting in is a short-term strategy that gets you nowhere.

Standing out is a long-term strategy that takes guts and produces results.

If you care enough about your work to be willing to be criticized for it

then you have done a good day's work.

So what now?

What now? What should we do?

Because we've been talking about it a whole lot.

Only one thing.

Ask the question,

"What is school for?"

When they say this is our new textbook, the question is,

"Is that going to help us with getting what school is for?"

When they say this is the new superintendent, we need to say,

"Yes, but is this superintendent going to help us do what we think school is for?"

And if you don't know what school is for,

then have a conversation about it.

Because until we can agree what school is for,

we're not going to get what we need.

Thank you for the work you do. I appreciate it.

(Applause)