Five dangerous things every school should do | Gever Tulley | TEDxKids@Vilnius 

Let's put 30 kids in a room and tell them not to interact with each other

humans are a very freedom loving species. spending 8 hours a day in a cube is not a good place for learning

Can this guy be the head of the department of education?

I just realized that school totally killed me. Jeah I have good grades ... The price? Totally everything I wanted to do as a kid.

Some of the things we did in high school in the 1970s would not only get you permanently expelled but arrested today.

When he mentioned children asking questions that aren’t related to the class, it reminded me a lot of my favorite high school teacher. He taught history, but at the beginning of class, we would always take an ungraded “general knowledge test.” It was just ten questions about random but useful things that had nothing to do with history. Like the pronunciation of often mispronounced words like “preventive.” Or maybe about the length of the Nile River, or Mark Twain’s real name. And he wouldn’t grade the tests; we students would exchange papers, and he’d tell us the correct answers. By the end of the semester, we’d all be making near 100%, but none of this would be factored into the grade for the class. It was just for fun. He’d also add random jokes and puns when giving out the answers. These tests would take up the first 5-10 minutes of class, and then he’d go on and teach actual history. But it made the class fun and woke us up. I still remember many of those random facts to this day. Before taking his history classes, history was my least favorite subject. But after that, it became my favorite,

educating children is the last priority of schools, teachung them uniformity and compliance is the first

"And it has to do with algebra, which u have never done. But u dont care cus its what standing between u and burning a marshmello with sunlight, and thats worth doing so im gonna do this math." Amen to that

I'm 15 years old and sick of learning absolutely nothing that I actually take an interest in. We can't choose electives until year 8. A lot of people have it worse than me but I am sick of having no control of MY LEARNING. I only work during school to please my parents and teachers. We must approach education in a completely new way in order for kids to learn. I don't blame children who are not doing 'well' in school. It is the fault of parents and schools to expect a 11 year old to be enthusiastic something that they hate. If a student is enthusiastic about their learning then they will thrive. If they are FORCED TO STUDY topics they hate, they will never give 100%.

1. Let children be co-authors of their own education. 2. Trust children. (They should not need permission to go use a bathroom). 3. Say yes more often to children. 4. Focus on habits and character (not grades) 5. Let’s agree that everything is “interesting”. Let the kid follow their curiosity and do projects which they find interesting (eg spend a day without sight by putting on shades for a day).

“And its a little bit embarrassing to be an American.” Yep he got that right

Schools in my town: Only do what WE say. No creativity! Also schools in my town a few years later: now come up with a creative way to do this

Why has this not become more popular? It is something I would love to have in my school.

okay so I'm an 8th grader at my school and after watching this I suggested a Students Government at the school. after a while, we had our own 'government' with president, vice president, speaks man, elections every year, making and modifying laws in the school. Then I was elected as the First Students President, and suggested to have a referendum. Now. Most of these things said in the video are implemented in our school, and we now have a City Student's Government as well. it is absolutely amazing how things like overall morale, productivity, and unity between the students and the schools have increased. Thank you for the tips. Brilliant

My life was wasted in the stupid school system.

Student: I want to make fireworks Him: yeah sure just do all the research required Student Hunts for books about fireworks Him: also if you blow you're self up you're paying the insurance Student also finds book about how to pay insurance

Dang. These videos advocating for freer forms of education always get me feeling some type of way. I’ve always done well in school; I pick things up pretty quick, I’m good at taking tests, that kind of stuff. And I’ve had people tell me plenty times that I’m smart, creative, etc. I never been one to point out huge glaring problems with the education system, but then again, it’s been a long, long, time since I’ve been genuinely interested in any sort of task I’ve been given. As soon as I’m away from an environment that doesn’t demand something of me, I do nothing. I have no desire to work towards anything that won’t have some sort of immediate practical benefit. Because why should I? I’ve learned that it’s a lot easier and a lot safer to just dedicate myself to working within the lines. I’m in college now and the one thing I just really want to gain back is motivation. I want to be excited about creating like I was when I was really little. And hopefully still be able to be successful

These 8 year-olds are way smarter than me... A fifteen year-old honors student

eleven overprotective parents disliked this video.

In the Netherlands there’s a tradition called a dropping. A dropping is when you take a small group of kids (8-14 yeast I believe) and just drop them somewhere in the middle of nowhere between 10-12pm and the only thing they can take with them is s compass a map and one phone and they have to find their way home on their own. Almost every child in the Netherlands has done this at least once and tbh that’s one of the coolest things I ever did in my life.

When I was in 7th grade, my social studies teacher Mr. Gillespie would always ask the class if anyone did anything interesting over the weekend, or someone would bring up a recent event and more often than not it would start a conversation that spans half the class period about something interesting that the class wants to talk about. We'd then spend the rest of the period doing minimal notes on the unit we were doing in social studies at the time. Because of those conversations that was my favorite class in my entire school career, and this talk just helps in proving why!

"Dangerous things schools should do" Trust Children

My school lives off the whole “own your education” thing but isn’t really implemented. Sure we can learn things at our own pace but class lessons are always taught at the regular, possibly slower pace from what normal schools do. We don’t do experiements much, and now they have gotten rid of our right to go to the bathroom after lunch. In my opinion my school is worse than most public schools because they gave us the hope that we can do what we want, when we want, but instead we are allowed even less than what a normal school is allowed.

I think I would actually look foward to going to school everyday if we learned with activities and experiments instead of copying words off of the projection on the wall. This school looks so fun and I honestly wish it was in my state so my future kids could go. Hopefully schools will improve to be like this one soon.

"""High Achieving""" Senior here in high school studying engineering in dual credit at UTA atm... I wish. I wish. I'm awfully tired of the numbers game I've been playing for all these years. It's numbing.

honestly, it moves me that somebody said exactly that out loud. you never really realize how bad our society, schooling and parenting has gotten over the years. it sucks that in those decades we just went with the flow and didnt try to preserve the natural beauty of the world and its limitless potential. looking back at the 13 years I spent in school, the only moments i remember werent even in this country. it was of a small, poor town called bardarski geran. those months of freedom during the short summers where the only things that stuck with me. I feel it takes less than a week to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. not 4 years. don't you think that we should let brains properly mature before ramming books down their throats too?

The 'Summer Camp' sounds like my engineering class. We have a robotics team where we build a robot in 7 weeks and then bring it to a competition. "And yes, it flies" that made me laugh a bit too much.

I WANT THIS MAN AS THE NATIONAL LEADER OF THE US EDUCATION BOARD!!!

can i go to this school?

the 12 people that disliked this video want kids to be perfect little robots

I'm in high school currently, and we have a brilliant physics teacher, who instead of talking about theory for an hour straight answers our questions, uses close to us, real life examples. I wish there were more teachers like this.

I'm 14 years old, and seeing what these children are able to do, compared to what I am able, literally made me cry. I'm mourning in my room, watching a ted talk knowing that my life will never be like that.

I love this talk. Teaching all kids like this would build an entire country of legitimately free people who don't need the government's permission to get married or divorced.

Man, cool school. Wish my kids could go! It's exactly how I think of schools, and how they SHOULD be! Great job.

This definitely one of the best ted talks I have ever seen!

the problem with schools like these is that it is almost impossible to reproduce at a mass scale, we can't find a reliable way to train more educators into Gever Tulleies.

First thing: that is lunch with friends. Ask a question, suddenly everyone talkes about that then hops to a random topic.

How did a 40 age man Start a school I really want to know

it is the sad story of the dependance to the parents education because the only people who learn to enjoy this kind of things and science and learning are the kids who have parents who are doing it home, and the others are mostly lost. What a wonderful idee to create this school!!!

as a teacher I love this idea! :)

Ms. Friz: "FIELD TRIP EVERYBODY!" (This reminds me of the magic school bus.)

This is the kind of education I WISH I was getting as a high school sophomore.

This talk makes me feel so conflicted, yet so happy, all in the same minute. Thank you Mr. Tulley

I like the way this guy thinks. He's got something here.

This subject is the reason why if I ever had a child I would be terrified of sending them to traditional schools. I survived school with my child-like creativity intact. I'm not afraid to try fixing something I know next to nothing about or even trying to build something I know next to nothing about; usually works out well after enough study and experimentation. My greatest fear is that I will have children and be forced by the legal system to either send them to school or teach them the subjects they pick. I agree that grammar, history, mathematics and hard skills need to be taught early during school years; however a lot of subjects I was forced to fail through have had absolutely no impact on my life despite trying hard to think of any situation in my life where knowledge of those subjects would have helped me at all. So I would have less time to teach said child things that are actually useful: repairing machines, building furniture, designing and repairing electronics, repairing and remodeling homes, chemical properties that are useful and ones that are dangerous, and any number of things I've had to learn on my own or from my father because school failed to teach me these things I actually want to do with my life. You have to open your eyes to see just how dangerous this system is and why it's so monumentally horrific. Because I failed in those unimportant subjects that were not essential for me to develop into a productive member of society. My grade point average was below what was required to get certain grants and scholarships that would have paid for further, more specific education. What if whether or not you got into college was determined by a grade in a class about computer programming, or hair styling, or baking or any number of good but not required skills. That's what I faced and had to suffer for. I only had the weekends to partake in learning all of the skills I actually rely on. I would have loved the 70ish days worth of PE to have been spent on building stuff with my dad's tablesaws, drill presses, welders, grinders, lathes and hand tools. Probably would have given me the better start I needed into adulthood to actually utilize those skills toward a good life where I'm doing something I enjoy and making money doing it. Instead I'm sitting here without a job trying hard to determine how to take this hack saw, old grinder motor, washing machine motor and whatever wood I can salvage from demolished houses in the area to make the tools I need to break out of wage slave work and do something productive. I'd like to see any of my "teachers" in school design the belt drive that can handle multiple large tools on a single powerful motor with decoupling capabilities to free up power for specific tools when tough materials are used, because I have exactly that worked out on paper and it actually looks like a sound system.

Fitting how this is TEDtalk is happening in the most depressed country in Europe.

This hits hard for me- I went to an international private school in Sweden for a few years, staring when I was 7. Everything was incredibly free spirited, lessons were taught creatively, it was very diverse, questions were allowed, and the adults trusted the students. When I moved back to the United States, it was almost a slap in the face when test after test were shoved my direction, talking was banned, and when I got up to go to the bathroom(we didn’t need to ask at my previous school), I was shouted at and ridiculed, which seemed absurd to me at the time. Now, a few years later, I’ve eased into this harsher system and am sad today I’m used to it. Two of my three main teachers are harsher than I’ve ever had, but my third still gives me hope. She genuinely cares about us learning, not just grades and statistics and a pay raise. I’m happy to see there is still some hope for creative thinking, but I think it’s easy to say the American school system is for the most part limiting and honestly just sad.

RU-vid algorithm brought me here in 2019

That's an amazingly true statement! "The kids didn't know how to ask", this a real life eureka moment for me thank you sir

The only cheating I condone: Cheating the government system so you don't get in trouble for teaching kids the right way. :P Btw, I now have an idea for something I want to make. I'll be back in a few weeks with my PVC pipe and canvas sheet contraption.

As a kid...i wish i could go to his school...my school is so miserable... this was severely depressing to me....

If this was schoo, I would definitely be a more different person than I am today, but I know I would have loved that person, I love this....

I wish there was a college like this, I wouldn't have dropped out and I'd be a lot happier and more engaged with life in general and in a more interesting world with more interesting people I could relate to

As a kid I hated having to wait a lot of years just doing what I wanted to do. I hated to do 'fun' things once in a while like drawing and swinging on some ropes. I always wanted to create all sorts of things myself.

He might be one of the best human being I have ever seen. He is the root for good. Thank Gawd people can be good.

literally how do we make all schools be like this i support this with my bones and my body and my soul im shaking i will do anything to make this happen

I just had this pop up in my recommendations. Being someone who just finished their primary school years I cannot agree with this man more. I really do hope for this to make a change in our world. That was one of the most moving talks I’ve ever listened to

god i wish this man was in charge of my education

What an amazing TED Talk! I went to a Montessori school from kindergarten through middle school, and it's all about letting the kids follow their curiosity and run around and stuff. In 6th grade, we planned our own itinerary for our New York trip, subway stops and everything. This guy knows what's up, and I wish more education was like this.

I did not know Bruce Willis gave inspirational talks!

Greed: Ruining everything since the dawn of time

at some point of this Video I realized that I was smiling...

Fantastic talk. I was a child of the late 70's and 80's. My brother is 3 years older than I. While in grade school, I recall that in his class, the students got to 1) engineer the best vehicle for an egg drop and drop it from the roof of the school. 2) Build model rockets and shoot them off. 3) build hot air balloons using tissue paper and tea candles. I remember thinking, "I cant wait until I'm old enough to do these at school". We never did. It became too dangerous. ;( Because I saw these things my brother and his class did (but didn't get to do myself), I still became an engineer. These things fascinated me.

This guy needs to be Head of Education Everywhere

8 year old me: Can I drive the car? Mom: YES!

i wish more people thought like this, i always think about how school robs you of your creativity and i feel like it is shaping us into people that cant think for themselves and that you are "wrong" or "stupid" if you think differently or outside the box, and its valuable time that we wont get back and we have no say in it. I really hope that we can make a change as soon as possible

This guy gets my imagination going as to what a good school would be like. I long for an education like the one he describes, but alas I live in the USA with the horrid education-in-a-box system it, and many other countries, have. I once had a teacher who had a classroom that, although not having quite the amount of freedom as desired, it still had enough to make it one of the most favorite classrooms in the school, practically unanimously. All-in-all, school needs freedom. School needs a rework.

I had a Geometry teacher this year and we would often have conversations in the class and I learned more in those conversations than anything I’ve ever learned in school.And that was the most that most of my classmates have ever heard of me. I’m gonna miss that class and I’m sad I didn’t get to finish it.

I'm actually sad that this only got 268 likes because theis is some pretty important stuff and even tho it didn't get any dislikes it surely deserves a lot more likes (sorry for miss spellings)

This made me cry, I don't know why

I am very glad we have free thinking hippies like this in our country. I'm also glad we don't have an over abundance of them.

No one: Schools: straight a’s or the highway

As a tenth grader doing eleven math in Canada, this would make everything sooooo much easier

1. I wish I focused more on history and English and less on math and science, but schools don’t like children having choices 2. I wish they fixed bullying, but they don’t 3. I wish they focused more on things I will 100% use, not 2% (taxes, insurance)

Shoutouts to the guys making the translations for these talks. You are awesome.

This is one of the better talks about scholastic development that I have seen. Adults might actually listen to it.

This video needs to be more famous

Best talk ever on education system with real solutions.

One of the best Ted talk on education.

I just asked my mom if we can move to go to this guys school. Fingers crossed 🤞

I love this man and his ideals

is it ironic that i watch this in school?

"Let children be co-authors of their education" I wish someone would tell my mother this. I have been going to this private for the past 5 years. And i must say they have been the most miserable of my my entire life. I am a very passionate person with big dreams but i can find the motivation to do things. I feel like this school is like a ball and chain attacked to my foot holding me back. I've tried to motivate myself but then i remember that i have school tomorrow and everything I've worked on i suddenly just cant anymore the creative spark is snuffed out. This past week that our school has been out I've been the most motivated inspired and happiest i have in a while. Many times i have begged my mom to let me transfer even to the point of tears (and i never cry so that's saying something) but i cant have any say in where or what i learn. I wish she would at least listen to me and try to understand how this school makes me feel but apparently mother knows best and my opinion means nothing

Shout out to my high school English teacher because he also understands the importance of freedom in education. He’s always encouraging us to bring ideas to the class. Unfortunately the school system won’t allow him to do much of it.

My principal is one of the 112 people that disliked this.

where is this school so I and my children can attend

Has anyone see that school that has no rules at break time? It's amazing. And after break time the kids all concentrate 100% because they've done exactly what they needed to do. It's on RU-vid somewhere! I recommend watching it

I've ALWAYS had something else that took my interest when I was little, either physics, or art, or how things work but since it was not about class I was told to keep them for home, I was tired by the time I ended my homework, every word he said seems like a dream, being told yes, not having to be where someone wanted me to be and being trusted? irreal

9:58 The curve made by a piece of material with evenly distributed mass is actually exp(x)+exp(-x), not x^2, which was for a long time the best approximation known.

9:55 Actually the shape a rope makes when you hang it is called a Catenary not a parabola

"Let's trust children more." I put my hands together and I cried. I cried because it feels like the school doesn't trust us that we're studying and are constantly asking us "Are you in class?" "Are you just logged in and have wandered off?" Please, if the subject you're teaching is worth paying attention for, why would we wander off? Or better yet, why ruin the subjects and make us look at them as monsters of knowledge instead of making them interesting facts we WANT to learn about?

When you have fun, you’re interested. When you’re interested, you learn.

Psst, in the description you put Tinekring School instead of Tinkering School.

Wish I could've had a camp like that.

This guy needs to be one of the people who fix this broken world

This reminds me of a summer camp I go to we’re me a kindergartener was tought how to shoot a bow and carve tools. I was able to make my own perfectly working bow by the end of the week with arrows I built my self. Like that was more knowledge then I we’ll ever get in my entire years of elements

I wish i went to that school

I want to go to that summer camp.

I'd like him to become the head of the education department. It's probably too late for me, as I'll finish education in 3 years, but at least the younger kids will have it better. Because honestly? Bad teachers can easily kill one's desire to learn. And desire to learn is key to actually learning stuff for longer than until next test

Adults need this just as much. We're not all lost hope just cause we're over 18