Samantha Power on a Complicated Hero

“If you want to see the change, you have to become the change.” Samantha Powers begins her TED talk by sharing a story about a conversation between Pat Schroeder, a CO congresswoman, and a journalist discussing the genocide happening in Rwanda and why U.S. Congress isn’t doing something to stop it.  Schroeder said that Congress is receiving more calls on the extinction of the mountain gorilla.  Why?  I think people care, or at least call and voice their concerns, about animals more than people because animals don’t have a voice of their own and people do. This reminds me of our discussion about A Whole New Mind; humans have empathy, meaning being able to feel for others.  Humans also easily feel sympathetic for animals. There is so much happening in our country, why should I get involved in affairs of another country?  

Powers goes on to share the life of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a U.N. diplomat who wants to help the people living in un-supported places around the world, such as places where genocide would be primary targets. Government are usually stronger than the people and even though the people want to fight back, they do not have the numbers. Examples include dictatorships in places like China and Egypt(before the president stepped down). The people do not have a say or cannot make change to the dictators' laws. Sergio started to get involved and began movements in Africa to make changes and help the people living there by giving them food and shelter.  

“If you want to see the change, you have to become the change.” I think this means that in order to make change, you have to understand why it needs to happen and how you can participate in making it happen. I admire Sergio’s motivation for his cause because he really understood the change. I wonder how someone could be so motivated for a cause, even though he appears to receive no benefit from it. In class and throughout Dan Pink's books, we explored intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and rewards. Sergio put his own life at risk, so that he could have intrinsic rewards instead of extrinsic ones. People like these are the true heros in America. The people who want to make a difference in order to help others are the true heros. I wonder if he had been doing it for the extrinsic reward (being called a hero) whether he would have accomplished as much. If the reward is the happiness of others, then I think it should be encouraged. If you help others for the feeling you have inside, then that is an intrinsic reward. To me, this is the best reward possible. I relate this to myself because I want to make a change in people’s understanding of others. I dislike judgment; however, it is a part of every person. It is a proven fact that all people judge because they cannot put that feeling aside. When I think of the fact that people are so judgmental, I feel sometimes like I can’t change this, and I feel sad. I know that if I want to help make changes I have to understand why people make judgments. Powers ends her TED talk with the four lessons she learned because of Sergio’s accomplishments - a relationship to evil, a respect for dignity, understanding freedom from fear, and an awareness of the world around you. I understood her TED talk as, change can only happen if you make it happen.

Dave Eggers Wish

Dave Eggers gave his speech very well. Even though he was nervous, his voice was inspirational and his story was funny. He believed that kids need more one-on-one time with teachers or adults in order for their school work to improve. I wonder why kids do better if they have more one-on-one time. I think this is because kids need more attention and not everyone speaks up in class. Some kids are either too nervous or afraid to ask questions to the teacher even though that is what they need. For example, sometimes I don't speak up about a topic during class because I want to ask the teacher myself. This is good for me if the teacher can find time to meet; however, the class could have benefited from my question. With this idea of one-on-one time, Dave Eggers and a few of his friends started a tutoring business for kids after school. Eventually, the kids started publishing books and selling them. Dave said that the kids wanted to learn and were more focused if they were going to finish homework before they got home. I think this is because kids were not distracted and could easily get the help they needed. So, if this is a fact, why don't our education systems allow more one on-one-time with teachers? Class sizes are very big and some teachers see about 100 kids a day. We could reduce class size; however, then not as many kids would be able to attend the school. How would we choose who got to attend school? We could also try making class length shorter and giving kids more off hours. This would limit the amount of work actually done and kids would probably get more homework. I think that it is the kids' responsibility to talk to their teachers and get the help they need. Some younger kids don't understand this which is why tutor centers are very important. One-on-one time is very important and should be encouraged, but school systems should not be changed in order to accommodate it.

Isabel Allende tells tales of passion

"Take your passion and make it happen"

What is truer than truth? The story." Isabel Allende is a very talented author who begins her TED talk with a story about when she was asked to carry the American Flag at the Olympics. The key word in the Olympics is passion. She believes that heart is what drives us and determines our fate. I agree. Intrinsic motivation is because of passion. People do what they do because they want to. Some people love education and learning which makes school fun and they tend to do better. Some people love sports and demote their lives to improving at a certain skill. I wonder what drives people to be passionate about a certain skill. I am passionate about cheer because I love camaraderie and the rush you get when everything goes right. I also think parents are a large part of children's decisions in life. Some kids want to be just like their parents or follow their path. This can be positive because then the parents can help their children throughout life. However, the kid is not thinking for themselves and making their own decisions, but rather, letting their parents help them through everything. An article on passion stated, "When passion lets loose, you drive focus, cultivate mastery, leverage spontaneity, foster creativity, build intuition and live toward mission. The dots connect. Clarity emerges. Your own bar of excellence sets higher, and you become infatuated with exceeding it." All of these are powerful emotions that many people look for in certain aspects of life in order to find what they are passionate about. If passion can foster creativity, then why aren't more people passionate about life. I wonder what the world would look like if everyone was passionate about something. Like Dan Pink keeps repeating in A Whole New Mind; right-brained people will rule the world. I guess that too much passion is a bad idea. We still need the people in society that will do the dirty, but essential jobs. However, passion helps people decide their future. For example, my dad loves to teach pilates and he is paid for it. These kinds of jobs are dream jobs. So passion, overall, can raise creativity and help prepare for your future; however, if too many people are passionate, then the world will become unbalanced. Passion is a complex subject, but opens many new doors.

Clay Shirky TED Video

Clay Shirky begins his TED talk by sharing a story about a woman in Kenya. She blogs about the violence after a media blackout and eventually her blogs become global. This would not have been possible without digital technology and human generosity. Technology allowed the world to hear about the experience in Kenya. America uses this technology every day in order to spread news to different states. I think that media is important in order to maintain society and keep progressing. Without communication, society functions slower and not as accurate. If teachers did not tells kids about an assignment, then the kids would not be able to complete it by the deadline. Communication is essential to everyday life. Media also relates to cognitive surplus. It is the ability of the worlds population to volunteer and contribute on large global projects. The world has over 1 trillion hours of free time a year, but it is what we do with it that counts. The intrinsic motivation for people to be couch potatoes is not because they want to, but because it is the only opportunity given to them. If students in school were only given the opportunity to be lawyers, then that is what they would become. Education is about thinking for one’s self and learning new ideas and subjects everyday. It is the people who “go with the flow” that create the spectrum between doing anything and nothing. People that do nothing allows the people that try do do something stand out.  Another topic Clay Shirky talks about is the Truence Theory. It states that if you punish people for an action, they will not do it again. For example, if I was late to a cheer practice I would have to do 10 push-ups for every minute I was late. An experiment was conducted to test this theory. Parents were fined at a daycare for picking their child up late. This experiment showed that money takes away guilt. If the parents were not fined, then they would feel bad about coming late and not do it again. However, if you fine parents they don’t feel bad and will continue to pick their kids up late. Does this means there should be no punishments? I think that punishments should no be the consequence of an action at school because the kids will continue to do the wrong action. The mindset is, “If all I have to do is extra work, then I will just be late to class and do a little extra work every day.” This is the wrong mindset to put in this generation. They will not improve and this will make it more difficult for the generations to follow. Punishments and motivations are important,  but only to a certain level of understanding.

Daniel Pink: Motivation

Daniel Pink speaking at TED

 Pink starts off his TED talk with a story about his adventures in law school. He uses humor and tells the audience about his failures and his motivations. This leads him to his actual talk with the "candle problem." This experiment was then pushed to where the fastest group received money. Another group was told to solve it but was not offered any money. The group given money took 3.5 times longer to solve the problem. Why is this? If this fact has been proved, then why do companies still offer rewards and many other motivations? I think that companies feel they can prove this wrong. This experiment does not apply to everyone; however, it does apply to the majority of people. Some companies want to get more employees and feel that offering a larger amount of money is a faster way to do this. However, this can not be the only reason that motivations work or do not work. I think that there is more the experiment than meets the eye. While researching motivations I discovered Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. These are the steps towards motivations of workers. According to these steps, employees have safety, physiological, and social needs as well as ego and self-actualization. Money might limit motivations, but there is more to the experiment than meets the eye. Daniel Pink makes excellent points; however, not all of them are supported.

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

While looking for results on creativity through TED talks, I came across Adora's talk on how many of the problems in the world are because of adults. At only 12 years old, she address adults straightforward and shares her stories on her experience with this situation. She believes that even though kids learn much from adults, it is time to let the adults learn from the kids. An important example is that kids should teach the teachers instead of listening to lectures all day. Smith has been helping us think for ourselves and tune deeper into our brains. Until now, I did not realize how important it was and how it will prepare us for the future. Adora also talks about how many young children want to grow up and be publishers, firefighters, princesses and many more. She shared a story with how her parents supported her dream of publishing. Most parents would have said, "Wait until your older;" however, her parents supported her dream and she published her own book, Flying Fingers. Adora has an excellent point; however, there is one small problem. Children are going to grow up to be adults. New generations are happening every day and this slowly evolves society towards different ideas because of the previous generations. If children continue to teach the adults and follow their dreams, then we will not have to worry about a never-changing society. Each person will think differently and share their ideas with many others. Adora's talk really made me think about our generation and how we can change the world.

Sir Ken Robinson Video

I noticed many different techniques throughout this video. This TED talk really moved me. The speaker got the crowd interested in his speech and made it easy to relate to. This article displays some interesting and helpful tips for public speaking. He follows many of them which helps the crowd become more engaged in what he has to say.  He also did not stand still or read of a paper. He made it more fun to watch while explaining some difficult subjects. He constantly looked at each part of the crowd. This made him seem more open and easy to listen to. This video connected to A Whole New Mind very well. He explained that parts of the brain are being affected by education. Children's education should encourage creativity. He does not immediately start explaining his subject, but rather, he compares other TED talks and make a few jokes. This talk apply to education because he believes that school kills creativity. This CNN article explains why parents along with Sir Ken Robinson, agree with this. As students, it is important for us to see how we can apply this or let others know that they need to do so. I think Sir Ken Robinson made the talk very interesting about a not very interesting subject. This takes lots of practice and skill.