Kathryn Schulz: Accepting Failure

You’re wrong. You make mistakes. I’m wrong. I make mistakes. We’re wrong. We all make mistakes. If you make mistakes, and I make mistakes, and we all make mistakes, then why is it so hard for people to embrace them? In a TED talk March of 2011, Kathryn Schulz gave a speech about being wrong. She makes the point that everyone in the whole world messes up daily and in reality there is nothing wrong with being wrong! People learn and problem solve from experiencing their own mistakes. Schulz argues that if society did not cast a negative light on messing up, then there would be much more success in the world. Progress in this world is a direct result of failure. So now ask yourself this question, what happens when you learn you have done something incorrectly? Your pride goes down, you get discouraged, and you are probably less likely to ever succeed because you might give up. Kathryn Schulz’s main point is that there is absolutely nothing bad about screwing up every now and then. Without failure, we would never know if we were succeeding at all. After all, Thomas Edison messed up hundreds of times before he figured out how to make the light bulb and no one calls him a screw up.

                Kathryn Schulz is a unique woman. While most people spend their entire lives focusing on the good, Schulz focuses on the bad. Through this she has learned many interesting concepts. Her techniques for explaining these concepts are fascinating. She shares with her audience personal stories of failure as well as accounts of others failures to prove her points. By being open with her listeners, they accept her points and see her point of view more clearly. One of her stronger techniques is her ability to make her audience laugh. Through comedy she proves her important points and leaves a lasting impression. Connecting with her listeners is a key technique especially in her presentation. Schulz topic of failure is difficult for people to accept because no one likes the feeling of defeat. However because of her ability to connect with her audience, she is able to influence their opinions on messing up.

                Schulz presentation style is basic but she is able to make it exciting in her own way. During her almost 18 minute speech, she often refers back to her powerpoint to solidify her key points and to help explain what she means. Her slides consist of a variety of pictures, bulleted facts, and quotes. Schulz also is the first presenter I have seen that uses audience participation. She asks the listeners questions and then uses their answers to help prove her ideas. This is most effective because it helps her audience apply her ideas to their own lives and therefore she successfully gets them to understand what she means.

                There are a hundreds important ideas from Kathryn’s speech that matter to everyone everywhere. However I think that there are a few key concepts that are especially important to the world, to education, and to me. The first idea being that it is ok to be wrong. Now I know that everyone has been told this at one time or another in their lifetime but I think that Schulz proves this instead of just preaching it. She believes that failure is the key to success for everyone. In the world, people make mistakes every day. Leaders of countries make mistakes all the time and because of this, their achievements in office are over looked because of their mistakes. This is not right. People should be given as many times as they need to get something right, as long as they get it right in the end and own up to their mistakes. This brings us to education; students should not be given a final grade the first time on all their work if they do not feel they did their best. After all isn’t the main goal for students to learn the material? Why does it matter if they learn it by a certain time set by the teacher? If students were allowed to make mistakes and not worry about the grades they received, then the education system would immediately see the benefits. If I personally was able to accept failure in my own life easier, I think that I would find solutions much more quickly. When I mess up, I dwell on my mistakes instead of immediately thinking of ways to improve upon what I did wrong. In my opinion, Kathryn Schulz’s lesson is the most important lesson anyone could ever learn.

Clay Shirky: Cognitive Surplus

In today’s society, citizens need to rely on their right brained abilities more and more each day. The world is demanding more than ever for new creative designs incorporated into their daily lifestyle. Along with the pleasure of having a colorful and creative world around us, the right brained citizens are doing even more for the benefits of society. In a TED talk in June of 2010, Clay Shirky addressed the advantages of cognitive thinkers. Shirky believes in an idea called “cognitive surplus” where people share their creative ideas on the internet in their free time. This idea has grown to a point where people are now open sourcing for the good of society as a whole. This is also referred to as design for generosity. Many of the ideas for designs are results of extrinsic events that people then make creative to help society. Ideas ranging from a website called Ushahidi all the way to LOL cats are all proposals that go along with cognitive surplus. One of Clay Shirky’s most interesting points on cognitive thinking is the fact that even if a creative idea is bad, it is still utilizing a new way of thinking.

                Clay Shirky’s techniques are almost identical to the ways of every other TED talk. Often times he will make light hearted jokes but for the majority of the time he is serious about everything he speaks on. He tells many captivating stories that keep the listeners engaged in his topic. His stories also help to prove key points about how important cognitive surplus is. He is very fluid with his speaking and knows his facts backwards and forwards. By accomplishing this, his thoughts flow naturally which makes him seem like an expert on his theories. Due to his ability to prove his intelligence, the audience understands him easily and agrees with what his ideas are. Although his techniques are very similar to those of other speakers, his presentation is still unique because of the way he utilizes his techniques.

                Shirky’s presentation style was also much like those of other presenters. He explained his entire presentation with the help of a power point containing multiple slides to accentuate his points.  However, his presentation did stand out due to his amount of evidence he incorporated. Shirky used a lot of graphs and pictures to help the audience understand his train of thought. The most accommodating aspect of his points were the graphs. When graphs were projected onto the screen, it showed how extreme results of some experiments were. Although his presentation did not especially stand out, he still did an excellent job of making his slides interesting and helpful.

                There are several key points made in Clay Shirky’s presentation that are relevant to society today. I found that the most important point he makes is about communal design vs. civic design. Communal design would be ideas such as LOL cats. LOL cats have no benefit to society except for providing a good laugh every now and then. Although some people could argue that this is very beneficial to society, it is not making a difference in society for people who are not participating in the creation of LOL cats. Whereas in civic design, even if citizens are not contributing to the information being shared, they are still able to utilize these ideas to benefit themselves. An example of a civic design would be Ushahidi which has branched and is now being used all over the world. A key lesson involving both of these design ways is about using your right brain. Although LOL cats are not directly helping society in a way that Ushahidi is, they are both still encouraging expanding the abilities of cognitive thinking. This goes back to the idea that even if a creative idea is not great, it is still an attempt in using ones cognitive skills. The importance of practicing cognitive thinking is especially important to education today as well as me personally. Due to the fact that the world is becoming more right brained demanding, it is important that students in today’s education system begin to make use of their cognitive ways in preparation of the new right brained dominant world that stands before us. Each of Clay Shirky’s points help everyone  gain a better understanding of why cognitive thinking is important and how it can be used in the world today.

Example of LOL Cat:

Daniel Pink: Sticks and Carrots

What if you lived in a world where there were no schedules? You showed up when you wanted to, completed tasks where you wanted to, and never had to go to a meeting. This idea sounds frivolous and like a total failure. However, when Daniel Pink, author of books such as A Whole New Mind and Drive, gave a TED talk about a business plan identical to this, he proved that a society such as this could very well thrive in the world today, and in some cases is already occurring.  One of Pink’s ideas  was that in society when people are not given incentives, such as extra time off or bonuses, they are more likely to increase productivity and be more creative with their ideas.  Pink has researched multiple studies that prove that when someone is told they will receive a reward if they succeed, they often end up doing worse in their task. In Daniel Pinks opinion, incentive ruins creativity and makes you less likely to have success in your projects. Pink’s main point in his TED talk is that, “There is a mismatch of what science knows and what business does.” He believes that if we allowed left brain tasks to be outsourced more, and allowed  America to work on an unscheduled hours dominated by right brainers, the American economy and the world would flourish.

                Daniel Pink has a variety of techniques in presenting his speech. Toward the beginning of his talk, he makes many jokes, mostly about himself and the craziness of society. His jokes continue throughout his speech but take a back seat to his other superior technique. His most effective technique is presenting a “case” rather than giving a speech. His “court case” provides substantial evidence supporting his ideas which help make his points more concrete. By having a lot of evidence he is able to influence his audience and keep them interested in his topic. In his voice you can hear his inspiration and that encourages people to go out and make a difference in the world. Pink’s various techniques enable him to imprint his ideas into the minds of his audience in order to prove a point.

                Daniel Pink is the first TED talk I have seen in which he is not just speaking during his presentation. Throughout his entire speech, he uses a slide show to help his audience grasp his concepts more easily.  In his slide show, he highlights key concepts and important facts. Pink also uses a few pictures to show his audience what the experiments in his research look like. His presentation style helps the listeners comprehend his ideas effortlessly.

                One main point in Pink’s presentation especially matters to the world which will directly affect education and citizens personally.  The issue brought up in his speech is that even though science has proved certain concepts, business still does not implement them into their programs. As mentioned previously, if business allowed their employees more flexibility instead of dangling incentives in front of them, their efficiency would greatly increase according to multiple studies.  The world would accelerate in many aspects of life if people put into place a more relaxed and easy going workplace. This idea starts with education. If children are allowed to be more creative and not put on a schedule starting at a young age, then as they grow older, they will implement these ideals into their workplace. Once they out into place these ways, the world will be much more productive.  By putting more pressure on students to complete tasks by a certain deadline and forcing students to finish assignments in a certain way, serious amounts of stress are put on us.  If more freedom is given to children at a younger age, kids will be less stressed and therefore they are more likely to succeed in the future.

Caroline Casey: Looking Past Limits

What if you went 17 years of your life without knowing you were blind? Although it seems that that could never possibly happen, it did. For a young woman named Caroline Casey, the world is a dark place in which she must create her own pictures all the time. For the first 17 years of her life, Casey never knew that she was any different than the rest of the people in the world.  In December of 2010, Caroline Casey gave a TED talk inspiring people to challenge themselves to do the unthinkable.  She made it clear that if you tell yourself that you can accomplish something, you will eventually succeed in your goal. The most important aspect of success in her opinion is to believe in yourself.  Casey believes that no one in the entire world can stop you from achieving you dreams except yourself. She challenges the world everyday to push themselves past their own limitations by not restricting herself to live within certain regulations because she is blind.

Caroline Casey is unique in many ways. Her audience at the TED talk conference in 2010 did not realize how unique she is until about five minutes in when she revealed to them that she had been blind since the day she was born. Surprising her listeners was a very effective technique because up until that point, no one understood just how extraordinary Caroline Casey is. Additionally by waiting until later on to tell them she was blind, she made the audience judge her for who she truly is and not by her disability.  She often made jokes about blind people, which made the listeners feel more comfortable knowing that she is ok with who she is. Her tone of voice was filled passion and excitement showing that she cared and meant every single word she said to them that day.  Due to her various techniques, Caroline Casey left her audience in awe of how amazing of a person she truly is.

Casey’s presentation style was simple and basic. Her presentation consisted of her speaking and nothing else.  When she spoke she was able to connect with her audience and did not need any slides, videos, or pictures to accentuate her points.  By forcing her audience to create their own pictures about what she spoke on, she allowed them to somewhat see what is like for her to do all the time. Her remarkable story was more than enough without any help.

Two key points in Caroline Casey’s presentation especially matter to the world, to education, and to me.  The first point is that no one can judge you if you don’t allow them to. This is important to the world because if people believed in this statement, people would not hesitate to share their ideas for fear of others judging them.  The same goes for education, students and teachers alike would not hesitate to put themselves out there and try new ways of learning. Personally, if I did not dictate my daily life by what society thinks of me, my life would be much less stressful and I would be more likely to share my ideas more often. The second point goes hand in hand with Casey’s first point. She preaches that no one can stop you from succeeding except yourself. If you believe in your dreams and try hard enough, anything is possible. No one in the entire world can be limited by the requirements of another person if they put their mind to it. In school, no student can limit themselves to a certain grade. A student can always push themselves to try harder and do better in school. Personally, this lesson teaches me that no coach, teacher, parent, friend, or enemy can get in the way of something that I truly care about. If I push myself to be the best that I can be, I will succeed eventually in whatever I want.

Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Expert

In today’s society, the world is rapidly changing and advancing in new ways. Due to the quickness of the world’s advancements, no one can predict exactly what will happen in the years to come. Sir Ken Robinson gave a TED talk in 2006 explaining why he thinks that the education systems and boundaries placed on children around the world need to be changed. His main concern with education today is that we are forcing children to be a certain way and not allowing them to express themselves through their own creative ways. As Sir Ken Robinson puts it, “If they don’t know, they’ll have a go. They aren’t frightened of being wrong.”  What he means by this is that if kids do not know what people want them to do, they will make something up, and if they are incorrect, they don’t always mind. However, eventually they will limit their creative abilities to a certain level in order to receive praise from those around them. Later he makes the point that because of this, “Children do not grow into their creativity, they grow out of it.” By this he means, that everyone is born with their own special talents and abilities, but frequently people will not progress in certain talents of theirs in order to please society. Sir Ken Robinson is trying to get education to bring out the creativity in the youth rather than demolish it.

                Sir Ken Robinson makes his points in a variety of ways. His most effective technique is through laughter. He often times makes a joke that correlates to his topic in order to prove a point to the audience.  Another effective method of his is to connect his main ideas to a personal story or interesting story in order to keep the audience interested in his speech. Through laughter and stories, Robinson is able to connect with the listeners and then make an important point. By associating his main points with stories and jokes, the audience is more likely to remember his points and understand them better. His tone of voice is mellow and relaxed which makes his presentation seem more like a conversation rather than a speech.  Through all these techniques, Sir Ken Robinson leaves a lasting impression on his audience.

                Robinson’s presentation style was basic and relaxed. He had no slides, videos, diagrams, charts, pictures, or any other form of visual aide in his talk. Robinson made all of his points verbally which in my opinion made his ideas more important. When he spoke, he spoke with a passion so deep that the audience could understand and picture what he meant without any visual help.

                This particular TED talk solidifies the concept that the education system needs to be broken down and reconstructed.  Sir Ken Robinson makes it very clear that children are the hope for the future, and that children are the creative ones in this world. I think that this TED talk especially matters because it clearly explains why the education system needs to allow children to be more free and creative in their schoolwork, starting immediately. Robinson points out that in every country in the world, math and literacy are considered the most important subjects in school which I think is a very accurate statement. His idea for better a better system is to treat creativity and literacy with the same status of importance. I think that since his talk in 2006, the world has improved upon these ideas slightly. At the school I attend, Arapahoe High School, some of my classes allow me to explore my creative ideas, and some do not.   In my personal opinion, I think that the world is more likely to succeed greatly in the future if kids today are more interested in their education. This can be accomplished by allowing students the freedom in all aspects of their life.

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