Meet TED

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It's an organization that seeks to further a deeper understanding of the world in which we live and draw together the most creative people from all walk of life to impact our future. It's really an extraordinary movement. Speakers at their conferences have included mathematicians, musicians, artists, physicists, computer whizzes, actors, child prodigies, and writers. One of the great things that they've done is put their TEDTalks online here. Since the conference costs something like $6000 for a week, it's a good thing. If you're reading this blog, you know you're frittering away too much on the 'net. Spend some time with TED and make it worth your while. Whatever interests you or you have a passion about, someone's talking about it and how it can change the world.

We are talking a lot about 21st Century Education, a movement in education that is aimed to change the way we look at education, the purpose of education, and the ways in which education works to achieve that purpose. When you think that children who started first grade this year will retire in 2064, it put new light on how we need to look at educating children today for a world that we can't possibly imagine, a world that is so different from the one we lived in when we went to school that comparisons between the two almost can't be made. When I participate in these discussions and learn more, I am so proud to be a teacher. It's an immense responsibility, but I can't imagine anything else I'd rather do. More and more I just have absolutely no patience for people who think that teaching is easy, who think that we spend our days reading stories and sorting gummy bears. I worked once for people who never ceased to amaze me (and these were high-achieving well-educated people) with their patronizing attitudes about how there was "nothing to it" when it came to things like teaching, curriculum planning, etc. In short, all the things that actually happen to make the 45 minutes we spend with your child effective and apparently rather effortless. Believe me, it's not. I don't mind people who have honest critiques of our education system--as with all systems, it is flawed. It is asked to do more than it can handle, with less resources than is allocated. But I just have absolutely no patience with anyone who is flip or disparaging about how important it is and how challenging (and rewarding) teaching is.

I think I've been blessed to be a public school teacher and a homeschooling parent. I learned a lot about different attitudes and approaches to education from homeschooling parents--who homeschooled for more reasons than you can imagine. I think one of the things that good homeschooling families do that school lack is the attention that gets paid to a child's passions and interests and creativity. Homeschooling families sometimes hearken back to more traditional skills, but also generally allow their children to explore their interets, often integrating them with the academic curriculum.

Which brings me to Sir Ken Robinson, one of TED's speakers. Sir Ken believes that education needs to undergo a fundamental paradigm shift in terms of looking toward the future. He strongly believes that schools educate the creativity right out of children. The video clip is about 20 minutes, so use the bathroom and get a snack. If you are passionate about education or your children or your children's futures, take a look--it' funny, lively, and very very good.

And then check out the other TEDTalks via the links above. This should replace your Facebook addiction. At least you'll learn something.