The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools | Will Richardson | TEDxWestVancouverED 

Its very crazy how when you are bad at math or science people say try and work harder. But when you're bad at art people just say it's not your thing

In 8th grade i had a teacher who believed this and he did not teach like any of the other teachers.. he made class exciting and he treated us like humans not robots he made sure everyone was okay when they walked in and he was honest and taught life experiences and everyone loved that teacher but he kept on getting in trouble with the school system because he would talk about the reality of the real world and to think for yourself so sometimes in class another teacher would stand in the back of the class to make sure he would not get off topic... he was the only teacher i have ever had so far that was so raw and spoke truth.

It always gets me when people say "I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and all I remember is 'hola'"

Schools were meant to make us factory workers (no joke)

This is a great video. I am 16 and I completely agree. Why shouldn't we be able to learn what we want and what interests us? I think it's ridiculous. The U.S. Education system has got to change. And I hope it does. Not just for me and my friends sakes, but for everyone and the future generations. This is a great start to changing it. Thank you for inspiring me and my friends.

THE WAY WE'RE TAUGHT IS WE ARE TAUGHT TO BE "HELPLESS" AND DEPENDENT. THE THOUGHT KEPT COMING BACK TO ME THAT AS KIDS WE WEREN’T TAUGHT THE RIGHT THINGS TO BE INDEPENDENT. WE WERE TAUGHT THINGS TO BE INTERDEPENDENT AND NOT SELF-SUFFICIENT BUT RELIANT ON THE SYSTEM. COMMON SENSE, TELLS US IT IS THE NATURAL THING IN LIFE TO BE SELF-SUSTAINING AND INDEPENDENT. SO I CAME UP WITH SOME BASIC REFORMULATION OF WHAT COULD BE TAUGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS TO IMPROVE THIS SITUATION: Teach 1st to 4th Grades: 1.) Reading 2.) Writing 3.) Math 4.) History 5.) Science 6.) Religion TEACH 5thT TO 8TH GRADES 1.) How to grow a garden and preserve food; 2.) Emergency survival methods/what foods are nutritious; 3.) Home: How to cook nutritious meals. 4.) Prayer and Meditation. 5.) Psychology (Transactional Analysis); 6.) Martial Arts and/or Tai Chi 7.) Religion HIGH SCHOOL 9 TO 12 Grades: 1.) Electronics and Welding 2.) Home Repairs 3.) Generating Solar Power & other Renewable Energy Sources 4.) How to cook nutritious meals; 5.) How to do mechanical work on cars and small engines; 6.) How to build structures from blueprints. 7.) Identifying edible and poisonous wild plants; 8.) How to grow food gardens and gardens to purify soil and water. 9.) Metaphysics. IF WE ALL LEARNED THESE THINGS, WE WOULD BE MUCH BETTER OFF. THE SYSTEM NOW HAS US DEPENDING ON EVERYONE ELSE AND NOT OURSELVES. WE NEED TO ALL LEARN TO SUPPORT OURSELVES AS IT WILL SOLVE ALL THE PROBLEMS IN THE CITY AND COMMUNITIES. PEOPLE COULD MOVE AND LIVE ANYWHERE AS WE WOULD ALL BE SELF-SUSTAINING. College: Specialty Courses such as they teach nowadays are for college. Academic courses. It’s the BASICS that need to be taught, so people will no longer be helpless! PEOPLE CAN TAKE WHATEVER COURSES THEY WANT IN COLLEGE.

Answer: Abandon your formal education and follow your curiosity

Amen! I'm a homeschool blogger and vlogger, and I address this all the time because even homeschooling parents can have so much difficulty thinking outside the box.

I've asked my parents if I could be home schooled because of all the anxiety and worries I get in school. They said they'll think about it and I hope they agree to do that because I get insane amounts of pressure put on me and getting yelled at by my teacher.

I'm a teacher and I completely agree with this. My students get very good results because I'm using a different method, but still parents ask me why I'm not following a book, very sad that they care more about the book than about the results. Incredible!

This video reminds me of my teachers from grades 1 - 3 who let us explore and not retain information. I completely agree with the video; I've had students make the same suggestions while teaching in class. When I think about learning in general, I always think that as students get older their education becomes less engaging because that is how the content is designed to be. At this point what do teachers do? How can teachers make the content interesting if it is not relatable to a student's life if they are not interested in learning the topic? Doesn't this mean that the entire education system needs to change? Why do we have such a system in the first place?

When you ask adults how "they" learn, they come up with consistent set of reasonable answers. If you ask them how "students" should learn, I suspect the answer would be different. We even have a separate field of study devoted to "Adult Learning". For some reason, the rules change for adults. I don't think this should be the case. If we treated children as adults with respect to learning, applied the principles that we would apply to ourselves and to adults, we would be in a far better situation in school with respect to learning. Imagine telling an adult, an adult, that you are going to teach them Calculus or Physics or something they have no interest in whatsoever - You might even try to sell it to them by saying it will be good for them later in life. I am pretty sure most of us would say - "Thanks, but not interested". Students in K-12 don't have that option and it is a serious problem.

I forgot what i learned yesterday at school...

Best Ted talk on education I've seen! Sadly only a small number of people actually have the power to change it

Yeees! This is how learning should be. When I worked as a teacher, my first thought was: Who have taken away the curiosity from the kids?

I had a teacher in grade 2. back in 1999 that I will remember forever because she taught us in the way this video discusses. We were encouraged to think for ourselves and our classes were the furthest from traditional. She made learning fun, and I always wished that I could be that same type of teacher to my future students. It's been hard though because school administrations' worst offense is veering off the set path. I had to struggle for the tiniest bit of wiggle room at the schools I've taught in, to the point where I gave up. I would love to work at a school where traditional methods of learning are extinct.

Will, you're preaching to the choir here. I just drove 9,000 miles around the United States visiting learner-centered schools, such as Renaissance Schools of Arts and Sciences in Portland, Oregon and Rainbow Community School in Asheville, North Carolina. There are hundreds more learner-centered schools in the U.S. alone. The vast majority of these schools are independent, meaning that one has to have the means to pay tuition to attend them. Clearly, the U.S. Secretary of Education is aware of these schools because he sends his own kids to the University of Chicago lab school, which was founded by John Dewey. The true "elephant in the room" that no one seems to want to discuss is the historical and current "mission" of compulsory public education in America. Until we change that mission from turning out worker bees to "successfully compete in the global economy" (the Mission statement of the U.S.DOE) to facilitating the development of individuals in the very ways you have listed, we're not going to see a meaningful change. This is going to take a 180 degree shift in the purpose of public education--from everyone "knowing and being able to do the same thing at the same age" to helping individuals develop their own unique potential. The goals aren't mutually exclusive. People who become self-directed, lifelong learners are the greatest hope for the economy. They may also be more difficult to govern because they tend to ask questions. Our educational policy makers clearly know that learner-centered schools foster the development of independent, responsible, creative, socially aware human beings. That's why they send their own kids to these schools. So if they know that, why don't they implement the same approaches in public schools? Why isn't learner-centered education available to ALL children in this country, rather than just those from families who can afford to pay for it? Why, in fact, do they continue to force schools even farther to the side of the "what doesn't work" column? If we don't turn the spotlight on those inequities...if we don't ask the hard questions about the purpose of public schools and who that purpose serves, we might as well accept the inevitable. Public education has been tremendously successful in creating whole generations who have learned to do what they were told. People who have never been given the opportunity to discover how their actions can affect the world. People who have come to believe that, whatever the problem, someone else will take care of it. So now, we have a society that is far more concerned with the Kardashians than they are with global warming....people who feel they've done their civic duty if they go on Facebook and say, "Oh, isn't that awful." Do we know how to create the conditions in which children become powerful learners? Absolutely. Will it happen in public schools? That's the big question.

When I retired early from private industry 4 years ago, I went back to school to earn my teaching certificate to substitute teach. I sub in middle schools in many different subject areas although I am certified to teach math. In a typical FL school district, a middle school teacher has at least 120 students (20 students x 6 periods). As long as teachers are required to teach so many students in a day, I can't imagine how teaching and learning more focused on the student's passions and interests can take place. Teaching is the hardest thing I have ever done, especially given what I call the 'factory farming' environment of our typical public school.

I am a Primary School Teacher (2 years of FT Teaching) and your presentation makes so much sense and I literally shook and had my emotions affected just watching this. This video was published in 2015 and here we are in 2019 and that disconnect remains. I have been trying so hard the last two years to make changes to align my Music Classes to 21st Century Teaching. My Music Units are embedded with the core learning about how we learn (strategies on how to learn that are based on brain research). At the moment I have depression, anxiety and taken 10 weeks off (Leave without pay) to because became physically sick. I had the commitment, courage, passion, interest, energy to make the changes when you get knocked down many times, each time takes longer to get back up. I don't blame any of my colleagues or anyone in the situation I am in. We are all just showing symptoms of this disconnect and the stress of teaching and having so many other extra roles and responsibilities to manage makes us say and do some crazy things.

You know what's funny but sad, there may be high school teachers who use TEDTalks for their students but won't watch this for their own benefit.

And then there's Finland. They just actually teach you

Nahhhh school has too much pride and love their income from the students to gives a shlt

If you want to know more about how messed up our school system is, listen to Glenn Beck's audio book; Conform. I'm listening to it in the car every chance I get, and it's really opened my eyes even more.

I think that Dan Meyer sets up learning in a great way. Show students an engaging problem. When they try to solve the problem they will recognize they need certain skills or knowledge to solve it. They are then motivated to acquire said skills creating a pathway for sustained learning that is connected to solving meaningful and often real-life problems.

Now that I'm out of high-school for a while, I am just so enraged at what a prison it was. I not only wasted 5 years but I was exposed to such harsh and violent environment, and just soul crushing and ultimately disdain for learning and expressing myself. If I could go back I would skip class all the time and just pursue my passion for drawing. I would've been so much better at drawing by now.

I find it interesting that this video was posted in 2015 and we are still having the same discussions about traditional schools, how learners have access to information at their finger tips and are not "empty vessels" that need to be filled with knowledge.

I love people like this! Expose the hard truth, even if it becomes an uphill battle.

Completely hit the nail on the head as usual Will. We know what to do. Why aren't we doing it? It is time to move past the fear and inertia and just get on with it. Thanks for the inspiration!

The point that resonates with me is the importance of having honest conversations about learning. As educators we need to assess whether curriculum really meets the needs of our learners in an ever changing society.The examples of students contributing to global innovation and real-world needs hit home. They surely have purpose and will be able to witness the 'fruits of their labour' . Projects like those are meaningful and applicable. Stepping out of our comfort zones, openly assessing curriculum and student needs is a positive step towards securing deep learning.

Thank goodness for horses. Love my animals and vet medicine. Learned my anatomy, biology, math, business, homesteading, personal exercise and much more but yeah you learn what you love and have passion for and go from there. I am still thankful for all of my good teachers though. Seeing stuff actually work makes it real. Doing it just on paper just isn't the same. Show them charcoal can grow pretty crystals. . .my princesses think I'm magical. Basic volcanos are still magical too.

My biggest 'aha' moment from watching this video was the disconnect between what educators and leaders believe school should be and how students experience school. Student passion drives learning in a much deeper and more impactful way, yet, as schools we don't create many opportunities for students to explore their passions.

I wish I had watched Will Richardson's presentation before recording my own video on TEACHING vs. LEARNING. I wholeheartedly agree with his observations. Thank you for the explanation that was enlightening yet clear, simple and practical!

That's a wake-up call for all teachers and those people who were once teachers but are now administrators... As a teacher of over over 20 years' experience this frightens me, but I also have to accept that it is real.

Great synthesis of ideas. Messages such as these are vital for sustaining the momentum that is in fact building. I've sent this out to my staff to let them know they're moving in the right direction.

I've realized that my biggest concern in this world is our health and education (wish I would have paid more attention to this). In order for me to make a difference in education in the U.S. what should I do? Are there organizations or social movements out there that support 'changing the school system'.

That's true, I'm 31 years old today, I have a successful career and a college degree. Almost nothing I learned in school was useful to me to any degree, it was an enormous waste of time. It's better than nothing, I had a few good teachers here and there, but there's got to be a better way, also a shorter way. We spend too much time in school as a species.

This presentation really resonated with me as a parent of a very curious and creative 6-year-old you usually cannot articulate how his day at school has gone. In the last 2 weeks, he has used chemical reactions to launch foam rockets, extracted DNA from a strawberry, illustrated characters of his own design, learned the physics behind maneuvering a kayak (and, through that experience, also learned about red-eared sliders, cranes, snapping turtles, swans, and fish feeding habits). None of this occurred in the classroom. He was withdrawn due to high COVID levels in our community and we opted to spend some time with his grandparents, instead. So, these were self-initiated learning experiences. He learned from these experiences organically. They were authentic experiences that piqued his interests and held his attention. He was engaged and happy throughout the learning process. He was eager to share what he learned and to build on this knowledge day after day. This passion for learning is absolutely worth striving for in our schools. As Will Richardson notes, we KNOW what works for learners, we just need to have the will to change the status quo.

Many great insights in this video. I agree that student engagement is decreasing in many instances and we need to look at learning beyond pre-identified outcomes and standards. Having these conversations and challenging education norms is positive as students experience authentic and engaging learning opportunities.

The only problem with the presentation was the assumption that the solution has to involve school. Most parents could create the environment "we believe in" right now by taking their kids out of school. And if more parents did this it would generate pressure on schools to actually change so as to compete with intelligent homeschooling parents.

The idea that students really don't need schools in their current form resonated with me the most. The pace at which technology and connectedness grows absolutely means that anything students are currently learning through lectures and rote memorization, they could look up themselves. It's definitely hard to rebuild an entire system, but I think that if schools are truly intended as learning environments and educators are sincere about wanting to facilitate learning, then we all need to start moving in a new direction. :)

The discussion around "changing the narrative of school" at about the 9:00 minute mark is striking because I think using narrative can be a strong overarching foundation for a curriculum in its own right. Using narrative as the impetus to learn might be a way to implement a range of pedagogical elements educators discuss but might find incongruous with curriculum. One example of how we might create a narrative across subject matter and make learning more meaningful and engaging is through wearable smart devices. These technologies can be used by students to track body data (e.g., in physical education class) and bring that data to a math class to learn graphing, or coding smart devices to record specific body data metrics of interest defined by individual students. This example illustrates how something as commonplace as an activity tracking device can be used to create a narrative for students across subjects over the course of a single day, or even a year. The point is getting creative with the tools available to promote a student centered curriculum premised on developing a narrative between learning activities, subjects, and experiences.

but never lose hope there are people who are welling for changes in the educational field

As an educator, I know what I would like to see take place in my class. I would love to incorporate Problem Based Learning into my daily practice however the majority of my colleagues fear the prospect. Most of my colleagues are eons behind with regards to technology. It is difficult to turn my environment into an authentic learning environment when there is a lack of support. Providing the opportunity to work collaboratively has definitely had positive effects. As a parent, I find it incredibly frustrating that my middle school aged twins are taught to "study for the test". They will get high marks but lose the knowledge almost immediately after the test. The education system needs to change; our expectations, how we teach, what we teach, etc. There is very little authenticity in their learning and it has little meaning.

Brilliant! Thank you for helping folks see the gap between poor and authentic practice

Well, now I know why I did so well in biology in 10th grade without trying. It was because I was subconsciously interested in the subject and I was just soking up all the information and to top it all off, my teacher was amongst the greatest I've ever had

Productive Learning theory in this video resonated with me. It puts the onus on the educator to deliver an engaging classroom experience. This would promote a deep learning as opposed to a surface learning experience.

we need the social aspect of school, that is the most important part, i feel our focus is shifting from standard jobs to an entertainment centered world, where people dont need to learn how to work in a factory or how to calculate formulas, only how to improve the technology that does it for us

Insightful and thought-provoking. Probably we can associate "productive learning" to "motivated learning", such learning is interest-driven, its outcome is likely positive.

One of my favourite professors was, in my opinion, one of the key reasons I personally explored a "non-traditional" career. It was him that explained that we could carve out roles within our industry that didn't exist yet. That technology and our ability to connect at record speeds would change the way we work. What he did do, was prepare us with the foundation required to explore these opportunities confidently and capably. That was key. That is key.

School is not a good thing. It's only good for the government who wants slaves to work for them which is why money is so important nowadays. We're told that we're free, but we're not. We're told that studies are super important, but they are the exact opposite. I would love to leave school and get educated by myself because I'm tired of schedules and stuff, and I think we learn pointless things too, but every time I tell my parents that, they think I'm a stupid teenager who reads conspiracy theories all the time. My parents believe that the mainstream media is great, my father watches TV and both my parents read newspapers all the time. My family contains the most brainwashed people ever and I'm so done. Leave school after elementary school...

I think the observation Will Richardson makes about schools not being built for learning anymore is very authentic and relevant to the education system today. As a teacher in priority schools (schools that are low performing because of extreme circumstances including poverty, behaviours, lack of resources, special needs, etc.), I personally see the old way of teaching not working with students. The narrative that Richardson speaks of does not include students who live with these circumstances, making it difficult to be successful in school. For example, the old education system deemed attendance as an essential element to success. Although I do not disagree with this statement, attendance issues have increased significantly since COVID-19, making it a reality for many educators. With this in mind, the teacher now has to modify the curriculum and lessons so that when these students do show up to class, they are best able to reach learning expectations. Also, teachers also have to find ways for students to contribute to the classroom community when they are not present. Online platforms such as google classroom or class blogs allow this to be possible. Nonetheless, these are just beginning steps to changing how schools are built and equipped to help students succeed. I believe that there is a lot more that needs to be done to help make education more meaningful and accessible for students. One suggestion I think would help with this is by taking the time to rewrite the curriculum. There are far too many gaps in knowledge, making students unable to reach learning expectations. However, if school boards took the time to rearrange the curriculum and to rewrite expectations, students might be more successful. I understand this means that certain topics might not be covered or may be covered later than wanted, but I think it would allow students to catch up and close gaps. As well, while rewriting the curriculum, it would be beneficial to bring in community members to help make the learning connections relevant to students’ lives. This means including more voices and real-life examples so students can see themselves and their community in the learning.

It really was sobering to read the list of statements that students never say they enjoy about school. Yet, that list very accurately described what a lot of schools are like today. I agree that on some level educators know that what they believe about deep learning is not reflected in the way they teach and the way schools are structured. It was very enlightening to hear him talk about some of the other schools that had developed new, and unique ways of operating. I think that as educators and administrators see more of these kinds of schools being developed, it might give them the courage to follow suit.

Nothing other than language has ever been useful to me. Fluent in 4 languages, a star pupil in biology and physics class. The things i was interested in, biology, science, etc, were wiped from my future in just 1 year. I had problems with math, no help or even offers for help from anyone, goodbye academic future. It's no wonder your voice gets lost in a class of 40 students. Nobody notices you, nobody cares. This was before internet could help you out by the way. This was before calculators were approved in class and you were supposed to calculate 'in your head'. I still have no clue how that works or what they mean by that. I understood the math problems perfectly well and how to do it, but by then i was already too far behind to understand what all the new squiggly symbols meant or to use a calculator effectively when we finally got to use one. The gap was too wide to ever catch up. My parents were also very helpful, sending me to work in a chicken slaughter in summer to "teach me what will happen to people who do not pay attention in school!" Dad: 'lonely at the top' scientist, stepdad: engineer. Yyyy..eah. No help... why no help?? "It's the shool's duty to.. blah blaah" Find a vocation. I wasn't interested in anything else but being a scientist. I ended up with horticultural training. None of which was useful to me because i was interested in ecology, soil, life, not death, pesticides, big machines and chemicals. 20 years later, i still don't know what i'm supposed to do with this pointless knowledge that has no roots in reality or the future. I have been robbed of my future too long ago to care. When i left school, i didn't even have the basic life skills to survive. Finance, cooking, basic knowledge was never taught. It took me all those 20 years on the dole, in and out of various eating disorders and mental issues, to figure out how to even keep myself alive in the real world. I'm getting a 'job' now. Not optional by the way. She suggested a nice factory job, i insisted on outside work. Something to do with weeding parks or whatever, to 'be of service to the wonderful society' that keeps me alive and off the street. At least i won't be enriching some greedy big business. That would really make me feel screwed over. I have two choices in life now, take any job i'm offered, to keep my protected disabillity status and secure livelihood, forever artificially kept under minimum wage as an incentive to employers, but 'working' or leave this lifelong poverty trap and fend for myself with no chance of ever going back into disabillity. What would you choose? I guess i want to be eating dinner in the future, not rummaging through trash cans. Now i can quit the urban farming business i have been trying to set up for 5 years, on 75% of minimum wage, no loans no nothing, to try to sustain myself in the future, to work half days, wading through your fifi dog's doodoo in the name of 'work experience'. I won't have time for that now. Think i don't know how a hoe or a broom works? Society can drop dead for all i care. At the very least, have the decency to greet us next time you see us hoeing in the park. Ever wondered why these people all look like they just swallowed a turd? Now you know. This is what happens to people who get zero *actual* support, just money to eat, rent a room and get sent off to work as a slave of society. Thanks for granting me the privilege of living out this pointless, passionless life so comfortably.

Looking back on my high school career, I completely regret not taking advantage of CO-OP programs. I was so caught up in trying to excel in academic programs to ensure I was ready for university. I was completely obsessed with my grades and awards. A traditional notion of what learning was supposed to look like. Now I look back and realize how many of those courses were extraneous and how little information has been applicable to my life. Those marks meant nothing. The regurgitation of facts has become void. I reflect on my friends who participated in CO-OP programs and received first hand experiences and built meaningful and lasting networks in institutes and facilities and were able to leverage those connections post-college and university to develop a career. Those experiences were effective and practical. I think students need to be motivated and supported to engage with less traditional classroom settings to heighten engagement and meaningful lasting interactions.

Even as a teacher who has only been teaching for two years now I agree with this video because the school system is not build for learning its build for training students to be an employee at work who follows regulations and dont question the system. If i have to talk about experiences that would actually benefits students with life challenges but does not fit the system learning procedures and protocals. This is sad especially for active, talkative, daydreaming and creative students who do not find sitting still, following rules and routines as fun as moving around and exploring new and fun activities even outdoors and off campus ones! we need to change the system for our types of learners.

A concise and clearly stated message about the need for better practice in education. Isn't this what we all want; better practice in education? Haven't we all had struggles and triumphs in various areas of our own educational journey? I am sure most people who view this video can think of teachers that have inspired and encouraged them, and/or teachers that made them feel disconnected and disengaged. Most people that I speak to have a "bad teacher" story. With all of the information available to us at our finger tips today, I think it is important to think about WHAT needs to be taught in schools as well as how it should be taught. If knowledge is so accessible, should education be more about coaching and mentoring skill development? What skills in what areas? Who should determine what needs to be learned by our students? Since Mr. Richardson is suggesting that the knowledge we glean and retain for the long term is important, what knowledge should we be teaching students that REALLY IS important for them to remember...long term? This video is a great introductory step! I would love to see a Part II!

wow, I missed this - this came out in 2015? Love this talk, hit my soul!

Great video , that why we started working with Primary school to develop talents . There are a lot of talents in elementary school that need to be developed at early stage . This has brought result in good academic performance.

The main issue is that most kids will not learn something productive or that will help them in the future on their own. If they are not taught to read, they will not learn to read on their own; etc. I understand that teachers have to be facilitators and have kids learn on their own pace. Will all the information at our fingertips it is advantageous for kids nowadays. From my experience, kids(and most adults) use the world wide web for entertainment purposes.

Damn. What a great talk. We need a movement to push against the people who resist change in schools. How much better would our world be if kids' excitement to learn increased during their school years instead of dying out? If they could develop their individual interests and start a path towards entering adulthood prepared to enter a field that they cared about? What a waste our current system is.

Most of my learning has been done to satisfy my curiosity, and not out of any need to solve a real world problem. And like anyone, I've forgotten most things I learned. Many people in education value learning for learnings sake, and that is why schools continue to teach knowledge and subjects that are not "useful."

All that remains when you have forgotten what you learnt at the school is - Education!

This basically sums up why I'm "under-performing" in school

I can't believe he didn't mention schools with a self-directed education philosophy like Sudbury schools and Free Schools. They have been around for quite a while.

It's amazing that most teachers still use the traditional teaching methods. I have seen my kids passionate about some subjects where teachers make possible for them to learn what they enjoy. Unfortunately not many of them do that, even with the technology available to help them. On the other hand in our corporate training the workshops are more problem based learning. The problems start when we have mandatory trainings and not everyone enjoys them, but they still need to attend. The trainers could do better job in making these sessions less boring and using more real life problem based learning.

This video is the real deal. I agree with almost everything he says

Hi Will, In our world technology is developing rapidly and we must take care of our children as principals and as teachers and as parents and mediate them toolst that will help them cope with the new reality and with the new jobs expected them in the future. We agree with you that Meaningful and productive learning comes from the interest that the learner has in the same subject. The same interest that a learner has in a particular subject can help him learn a variety of subjects. Another thing we as principals should give students all the conditions they need in order for learning to be meaningful. We look forward to your reply, Ortal and Yulia

This man is telling the truth!!

This applies to adults as well as children. In some corporate training environments learning is not focused on learning it is focused on ticking off a box to reduce corporate liability. Testing is to ensure the box can be checked off and is less about ensuring understanding. I think the issue is related to constraints of cost and time, and without those constraints, and perhaps if corporations would realize they could reduce risk, and the subsequent court proceedings/payouts when things go wrong by making deep understanding the goal, they would dedicate the resources to ensure learning is productive.

Thanks

If kids that have access have more productive learning, how hard is it for those without access to achieve. I am a senior student with internet access and i completely agree that the internet and self directed learning is where i am most productive, like watching TEDED talks. I have such sympathy for others in my school without internet, as school is not a place to learn, they have nowhere to learn

Schools are built to train people to work in factory's, thats why they make us sit in a row. Only speak when spoken to, and were given specific breaks. Or, thats how I see it.

Productive Learning is more powerful because there is a real, relevant, and purposeful, especially if it is personally important to the individual. Then will more likely practice and remember it because they are interested in the content.

I would add even more to this. I'm experiencing this, and I'v been aware of it. Especially in the past year. I would add a lot more to this, and i'd be happy to share if if anyone wants.

Wow. I really like these ideas. I got stuck on one thing, though. Grouping by age is a tough one to move away from. I believe sibling rivalry often grows out of the rapidly developing brain, typical personality shifts and age related tendencies. 17-year-olds typically hate working with 14-year-olds. Kids at 15 hate working with kids that are 13. And I believe this is because of the growth they have just recently gone through and the ways they have just revolutionized their own thinking and personalities, and so the kids just below that level of growth are predictably the most irritating to them. That is, kids change and reject who they were as a part of growing, and as a consequence, they frequently can't stand kids who are just a little younger. It may be subconscious, but the previous stage is too fresh and to raw to be around. The wider the age difference, the more kids seem to be able to be more compassionate or tolerant. Some age difference is a good thing, but I think that if given the chance for age diversity, kids will still gravitate toward age groupings. The same is true of race relations, religious affiliations, etc. People want to be with peers that are similar. Forcing some diversity is important, but problematic. We have to keep kids safe when there is potential for unequal power dynamics, which includes age groupings. I'm not saying that we should stick with forced age groupings. I have taught many classes with age diversity. I've seen it go both ways. But most of all, I've seen kids form safe zones with their age peers from which they can go out and face those that are different, and then regroup in their safe zone with peers of the same age, same gender, same ethnicity, etc. So I'm just saying that being mindful of this natural tendency, we should scaffold what it looks like to work with those that are different, give people practice, give them feedback, guide them, and not assume that if we stop enforcing age groupings that this will go away by itself or that it will automatically be safe or productive. I can be very helpful, but scary for kids, and they need tools for confronting these sorts of scary or conflictive experiences. They will be better people for it, but it has to be an overt part of their education if it is going to work. Or at least that is my intuition.

There’s no more learning in school anymore , it’s all about passing

The only time I've felt stimulated and actually wanted to learn more was this year when I started taking shop at my school. I'm a freshman who was raised around vehicles and I enjoy working on things more than anything else. So I'm in shop taking apart a motor and actually enjoying myself, wanting to learn more, and actually being stimulated, yet for the rest of the day I sit in a cold room having facts shoved down my throat that I'll take a test on then forget 2 days later. Kids should get to choose what they want to learn, especially in high school.

I learned more in this video than in school

Food for thought

The only time I came home and said I wanted to learn more was when we were studying the Soviet Union and we were talking about the MAD thing where if one country launches a nuclear attack then the whole world goes into a nuclear war which reminded me of the hunger games and if we burn you burn with us and we could die at any second if someone decides they want to launch any sort of nuclear weapon and that's pretty much the only thing that's interested me during a lecture in class throughout my 11 years so far of public schooling

This guy is spot on! After 31 years as a teacher and administrator, I tell you, schools have to change...or rather, we must change how we structure and design schools. The current system and approach is systemically destructive to learning and teaching. There's too much emphasis on standardized tests, too much emphasis on the latest and greatest "silver bullet" that will magically solve the "education crisis" n America as many believe. There're too many people at the board office level whose job is perpetuated by these test and greatest solutions sold to the school system as such, and then give to those at the board office to go out and deliver, and make everybody accountable for implementing it. There's much to do and undo in education today.

I think the problem lies in the expectations from schools, not the schooling. It is the competition, the expectations of parents and the population that is leading schools into this chaos. I come from a generation where parents were not so much involved in what we were doing in school and we were more engaged than today's kids. We had passions and dreams but the young generation today is looking for comfort than passion. I think the change can start in the communities first.

The elephant in the room that was not even hinted at in this lecture is the disparities between public and private schools and the differences between highly unionized public school districts and districts that aren’t. All of these systemic issues were exacerbated and intensely magnified by the pandemic. It is so DEEPLY depressing that the current status quo is the way it is and I honestly don’t think it’s going to change at all, any time soon. I feel if the public education system in the U.S. was to change and improve in a largely fundamental way, it was during the worst of the pandemic and lockdowns/closing of public schools, or immediately after “Flattening the Curve”. My heart and soul breaks for those who are currently or soon to be attending public education… oops! I’m officially taking up the time you need to get to your next class! OH! Homework is due tomorrow morning! ALSO! Don’t forget about the test tomorrow!!

Let me know when someone in the future will ask hey right a haiku to get a job.

Amen

A few comments: "Schools aren't built for learning". I'm sure everyone can see how that statement is categorically false. You do still retain a lot of what you learned at school, it's just been a while. I would agree more with the statement, "The majority of schools are not oriented and equipped to deliver POWERFUL and lasting learning in every subject". Second, schools aren't just for students. They are for society too. This is so that when kids graduate from grade 12, they are able to contribute in a meaningful way to society. That is why we still teach subjects that students don't like. It's also a life skill to be able to succeed at something you don't like doing. Not everyone is going to get their dream job. Not everyone is going to be able to eat kale or play basketball for a living. School is training for dealing with work life. Third. Schools have tried going with "do what kids are interested in at their own pace" with catastrophic results. It turns out that when you allow kids to do what they want and avoid what they don't want to do, they do what they want to do and and not what they don't want to do. Surprise. It follows that they are unprepared for university, which does have standards as does the workforce. Fourth. Contingent jobs doesn't mean you can just do what you want. In fact, being freelance or a consultant is often worse work and more demanding than full employment. We still live in a highly competitive, capitalist society where you get paid for what you can do. This may change (and gen Z may even change it) but for now you still need to show that you have the ability to do the things that employers want. That still means, even 200+ years after the industrial revolution, showing up for work on time, submitting work on time, and generally doing work things that you may not like. Fifth. Despite all that, I share this guy's vision of an ideal learning environment. It would be great to see part of the school experience dedicated to powerful learning. The push for university education in the 90s that continues through today has wiped out vocational schools, technical schools, specialty schools, arts schools, dance schools, etc. and funding for those programs in many schools is minimal. Maybe that's something we can focus on.

Im doing a ted-athon (marathon binge watching ted talks ) with breaks of course , i play games or watch netflix in between . I want to see how many ted talks i can watche in one month , or 6 month . Recently my average had been 3 ted talks per day but i intend to increase the daily amount . Any how i made a playlist on my channel so you can join me and watch them too ( or just half of them if you want skipping a few ). I am having fun watching this video because im learning new things and i hope you are having fun as well

The disconnect that exists between how we want students to learn and what we practice is alarming. Students deserve to be engaged in school, and learn according to their passions and how they are able to use the knowledge in real life scenarios. I could not agree more that we are stuck in an age of nostalgia and comfort when it comes to teaching and the detriment that it creates. As a learner, I am far more engaged in learning when the topic is something I can relate to my passions. I feel that is it important for teachers to bring these real-life examples and the lives of their students into the classroom. It not only promotes a higher level of learning but creates a safe environment for students to be themselves. Chris Emdin’s 5 C’s of reality pedagogy identifies his 4th C as “Context”. The experiences of each student are different. Context allows students to bring their lives into the classroom and allows students to represent who they are and where they come from. This connection that can be created between home and school life has the potential to make a difference in their learning by placing value on them.

We are currently seeing the results of not teaching formal logic in school anymore: people who can’t debate, who think emotions are more important than facts, and who have no respect for people with differing opinions. We have bullies and idiots all around us.

There are several huge elephants still in this room, which the speaker and everyone on the comments are still dancing around. 1) Education was not originally meant to be for everyone. It was for smart people. It was decided, rightly that it should be *available to* everyone, for two reasons: a) in the interest of fairness, to give everyone equal opportunity, and b) because that was the obvious way to determine who is and isn't cut out for it. Let everyone try, the cream rises to the top, and the non-academically oriented fall out and get a job. Then someone decided that no child should be left behind, and the mission of education was to prevent anyone from dropping out prior to some arbitrary deadline which keeps getting pushed upward. This obviously meant all the curriculum had to be dumbed way down. Now it bores the academically interested and doesn't interest the non-academic; it serves no one. There's a difference between making education available to everyone and forcing it on everyone. The modern western liberal refuses to acknowledge that conceptual distinction or question the assumed correctness of forcing others to do, against their will, what you think is best for them. Here's a little adage of my own to help you remember: "Forcing people is bad." 2) Most teachers are kind of dumb, in the colloquial sense. Even in college some of my professors were incredibly stupid. Stupid people teaching smart people doesn't work. And stupid people teaching stupid people... doesn't work. Smart people teaching stupid people can work moderately well. Smart people teaching smart people works much better. Teaching is a transfer of concepts. If you don't fully possess the concept and all it's related concepts to several orders of separation, as well unrelated concepts about the concept of transference of concepts, how can you hope to do a good job accurately and successfully transferring the concepts? You can't. Being well-meaning and caring and kind and nurturing doesn't help. (burst, bubble, burst.) You have to get smart people in there. Here's a little adage of my own about that: "smart people are better at stuff." 3) Education is not for teaching kids to be "responsible, socially aware, moral, citizen... blah, blah, blah." Sorry, but those are opinions, and that's called propaganda and brainwashing. People don't like being subject to it; all smart people prefer to make those decisions for themselves, and question the authority of the people telling them what opinions to have on subjective matters. Frankly, it boiled my blood and it still does, and it should boil yours too. As for the dumb people who need moral guidance, whose parents don't succeed in that endeavor, school is not the place for that. That's akin to teaching political views and religions. Just because we mostly share a similar opinion doesn't mean we have the right to force it on others, and call it education. That's not education. Education is the transfer of *information* not the instilling of popular public opinions into the young mind. Even if that has a place, it's indoctrination, not education. Everybody thinks it's not indoctrination when it's their opinion. Here's a little adage of my own to help cement the notion: "It's bad when you do it, too." 4) Creativity is innate. I'm not aware of evidence that it can be taught, or even fostered. In any case, that's not education. Creativity is an urge and a thought pattern. Information is a resource, with which people can be creative. The purpose of education is to give people that resource, so they can use it , or not, as they see fit, in accordance with their interests, abilities, proclivities. Trying to force creativity into people usually comes down to more ideological brain-washing about how the student is supposed to feel, what they're supposed to like and do. That is in stark contrast to education, which is an unselfish, unguarded, uncontrolled giving of an immensely valuable resource. It requires some trust in the receiver. Adage: "Creativity is what *you* come up with to do *with* the knowledge, after you are educated." 5) Standardized assessments: They are not for teaching. derp derp deerrrrrrpppp.. ... They are for assessing. For assessing both the teaching and the learning. For feedback, to evaluate the process for improvement. That's the only feedback. Feedback is vital. Feelings are not feedback when it comes to education. Because education is not about feelings. Education is the transfer of information; either it transferred or it didn't. If it didn't , you should have a choice: to accept whatever degree of education you have on the subject and move on, knowing full well what that level is, or to try it again, as many times as you like. Telling people, via effort/participation grades, that they know more than they know, to make them feel better, is doing them a *profound disservice.* It is a moral crime against that person. Teachers need to know how well their methods are working, and students need to know how well their methods *and* the teachers' methods are working for *them*, and employers need to know how fit a given graduate is for employment for a given task. Liberals hate the term "standardized" because it sounds vaguely conservative. The fact is, if you don't do well on a standardized test, you are, proportionally, not well educated on the subject matter, except in the rare case of a panic attack or some temporary mental break-down. Non-standardized grades need to go. They make zero sense, are not useful to anyone for any purpose, are unfair, misleading, and in subtle ways, immoral. All testing should be standardized, because any other testing or grading is meaningless and useless, does not tell anything. Either you know, or you don't. It doesn't matter whether you did your homework, or the project, or how much you participated in class, or how much you came to class, or how well you did on periodic tests throughout the semester, quizzes.... none of that matters at all except to give *you* an rough idea, throughout the semester of how well you're keeping up. The only thing that matters is how much of the *information* you *know* at the end. All of the rest is just tools to help you learn the information. It should have zero direct affect on your grade; that wouldn't make any sense. If on the mid-term one student gets a 100%, turned in a beautiful class-project, turned in all his homework, and another gets a 0%, every question wrong, didn't do the project or the homework... And then, on the final exam, they both get the same grade, well, then they should both get the final grade. And that's being generous to the student who did everything, because the truth is, if he had to do all that to learn the same information that another guy was able to learn without doing any of it, the second guy is probably smarter as well as having the same acquired knowledge, and therefore probably has greater potential in the field, and one could argue that he merits a higher grade. I wouldn't agree with that argument for other reasons, but I mention it to introduce the perspective of just how far afield is the idea that a student should earn a higher grade for trying harder. If you had to pick somebody to be on your team, for anything, would you pick the guy who tried extremely hard and got score X, or the guy who got score X with barely any effort? You can claim what you want, but if it really mattered, if your money or your life were at stake, you'd all pick the guy who got score X with barely any effort. Just saying. That's the reality, the elephant in the room. Adage: "Only taking the same test everybody else takes tells you how much you know relative to everybody else. And, having had to work harder to acquire whatever amount you have learned is not a a mark in your favor." 6)... this is getting too long, so I'll stop.

Over the course of my graduate studies in education, as well as my professional role(s) in the same field I have come across numerous TEDx talks and wonderful RU-vid videos, websites, tweets and Facebook posts all claiming our (Canadian, USA, UK) education system(s) are broken, and I agree. We (educators) have identified a very serious problem, but the solution to this problem is far more complex than removing rows of seats in a classroom. When talking about changing the public education system and the schools that reside in that system, we are really talking about the reallocation of millions if not billions of tax dollars that go into simply maintaining our current system. Our current Prime Minister cannot take a vacation without a good percentage of our population and media criticizing every last dollar spent. Can you imagine if the government started reallocating funds on a scale that would “fix” our broken system? Where is that money going to come from? Raising taxes? Unlikely. How about healthcare? Not with our aging population it won’t. Unfortunately, educators and people who care about education are such a small minority in terms of voting power in most countries/provinces/states that achieving change at the government level seems almost impossible. All of this essentially means that any “real” change is going to have to happen at such a small, grass roots level I am wondering whether my 5 month old son, or even his children should he have any will ever see any meaningful change in our education system. It took almost two decades to update Ontario’s sex ed. curriculum and even that was met with a very noisy opposition. I can’t even comprehend the backlash if sweeping changes were made to our system, even though they are sorely needed.

Will, I agree with you. Another huge and painful problem right now are our teacher training programs that are not raising up educators who are able to lead the schools you showcase...another "elephant" in the room.

People say how school is important for one's success, however, it is what one's passion for lifelong learning makes the true important part for one's success, lifelong learners thrives, conformists to school education will eventually fall.

Surprisingly, at the age of 50, I understand the things I learned at school much more now than I did when I was learning them. The things I learned at school enabled me to face many or the challenges life presented. School also taught me how to think critically, write correctly and communicate appropriately with others. People who had a poor education, and never strived to educate themselves, are at a very big disadvantage. The best way to learn anything is to find a good teacher. The best way to master any skill is to be trained and coached by someone who knows better.

School doesn't teach life.

Perhaps its just the college I am going to but this, for me, applies to college too, they say you are an adult and now you have the freedom to learn but its still handed to you in the same structure and time constraints as in high school, has anyone else had that?

Learning should happen naturally with passion coming from the heart. The question is how do we trigger than intrinsic motivation and passion. This is just like the chicken-egg dilemma. Students and current schooling. How do we change schools? Or do we need to change the students? Where do we start? I think we need to start questioning and teaching critical analysis skills to students at a much younger age.

Life Skills!

Throughout history, we have an institution called school. But the thing is, we don’t ask ourselves “what is school for?” I think that school was created to make people who can’t think clearly, socialize properly, and unable to connect to the real world, as if what is happening out there. Schools do a great job at that. Every day, students come to school to see what is there to learn something that is new, but today, students’ learning has been very unproductive. Today, we have the internet, where we can learn more than we ever could, so why are kids still going to school? How can we get students to learn by themselves? Unfortunately, we can’t. We have this institution where students are seated in straight rows to show that the way the seats are placed as factory based workers. Countries like Finland are succeeding in their educational systems, homework is nonexistent, and students focus on collaboration. They have shorter school days, more frequent breaks, which is good. I think that education is ripping students apart from the real society that needs to be taught to these students. I mean, it’s just unbelievable.

we still use this system cause it's easier for "bulk learning" governments are not wanting to invest the time and money to make schools these educative playgrounds, because those don't work for 1500 students.