Now, I want to start with a question: When was the last time you were called "childish"? For kids like me, being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior, or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish. Which really bothers me. After all, take a look at these events: Imperialism and colonization, world wars, George W. Bush. Ask yourself, who's responsible? Adults.
Quero comezar cunha pregunta: ¿Cando foi a última vez que vos chamaron "infantís"? Para os nenos coma min, que nos chamen infantís é algo frecuente. Cada vez que facemos esixencias irracionais, amosamos un comportamento irresponsábel ou manifestamos calquera outro indicio de que somos cidadáns estadounidenses normais chámannos infantís. E iso amólame moito. Despois de todo, botade un ollo a estes acontecementos: Imperialismo e colonización, guerras mundiais, George W. Bush. Preguntádevos: ¿quen son os responsables? Os adultos.
Now, what have kids done? Well, Anne Frank touched millions with her powerful account of the Holocaust. Ruby Bridges helped to end segregation in the United States. And, most recently, Charlie Simpson helped to raise 120,000 pounds for Haiti, on his little bike. So as you can see evidenced by such examples, age has absolutely nothing to do with it. The traits the word "childish" addresses are seen so often in adults, that we should abolish this age-discriminatory word, when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking.
¿E qué fixeron os nenos? Ben, Ana Frank emocionou a millóns de persoas coa súa impactante versión do Holocausto; Ruby Bridges axudou a poñer fin á segregación nos Estados Unidos; e, máis recentemente, Charlie Simpson axudou a recadar 120.000 libras para Haití coa súa pequena bicicleta. Entón, como queda demostrado con estes exemplos, a idade non ten nada que ver. O trazo que a palabra "infantil" implica está presente tan a cotío nos adultos que deberíamos suprimir esa palabra que discrimina pola idade cando criticamos comportamentos irracionais ou irresponsables.
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Thank you.
Grazas.
Then again, who's to say that certain types of irrational thinking aren't exactly what the world needs? Maybe you've had grand plans before, but stopped yourself, thinking, "That's impossible," or "That costs too much," or "That won't benefit me." For better or worse, we kids aren't hampered as much when it comes to thinking about reasons why not to do things. Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking, like my wish that no one went hungry, or that everything were free, a kind of utopia. How many of you still dream like that, and believe in the possibilities? Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of Utopian ideals can be a burden, because you know that if everything were free, then the food stocks would become depleted and scarce and lead to chaos. On the other hand, we kids still dream about perfection. And that's a good thing, because in order to make anything a reality, you have to dream about it first.
Pero, ¿quen pode dicir que algúns tipos de pensamentos irracionais non son exactamente o que o mundo precisa? Pode que tivesedes grandes plans no pasado, pero que os detiverades ó pensar: "É imposible", "custa de máis", ou "non me vai beneficiar". Para ben ou para mal, os nenos non poñemos tantos obstáculos á hora de pensar en razóns para non facer algo. Os nenos poden estar cheos de aspiracións inspiradoras e ideas esperanzadoras. Coma o meu desexo de que ninguén pase fame ou que todo fose coma unha utopía de balde. ¿Cantos de vostedes aínda soñades así e credes nas posibilidades? Ás veces o coñecemento da historia e os erros pasados de ideais utópicos poden ser unha carga porque sabedes que se todo fose de balde, as reservas de alimentos poderían reducirse e a escaseza levaría ó caos. Por outra parte, os nenos aínda soñamos coa perfección. E iso é bo porque para podermos facer algo realidade, primeiro temos que soñalo.
In many ways, our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of possibility. For instance, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, my home state -- yoohoo, Washington!
En moitos aspectos a nosa audacia imaxinativa axuda a estender os límites da posibilidade. Por exemplo, o Museo do Vidro en Tacoma (Washington), o meu estado natal. ¡Arriba Washington!
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has a program called Kids Design Glass, and kids draw their own ideas for glass art. The resident artist said they got some of their best ideas from the program, because kids don't think about the limitations of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes, they just think of good ideas. Now, when you think of glass, you might think of colorful Chihuly designs, or maybe Italian vases, but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that, into the realm of brokenhearted snakes and bacon boys, who you can see has meat vision.
ten un programa chamado "Os nenos deseñan vidro", onde os nenos debuxan as súas propias ideas en vidro. O artista encargado dixo que sacaron algunhas das súas mellores ideas do programa porque os nenos non pensan nas limitacións do difícil que pode ser soprar o vidro en certas formas: só pensan en boas ideas. Cando un pensa en vidro, pode pensar en coloridos deseños de Chihuly ou pode que en floreiros italianos, pero os nenos desafían ós artistas do vidro para ir máis alá, a un reino de serpes co corazón roto e nenos touciño, que como poden ver, teñen visión cárnica.
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Now, our inherent wisdom doesn't have to be insider's knowledge. Kids already do a lot of learning from adults, and we have a lot to share. I think that adults should start learning from kids. Now, I do most of my speaking in front of an education crowd -- teachers and students, and I like this analogy: It shouldn't be a teacher at the head of the class, telling students, "Do this, do that." The students should teach their teachers. Learning between grown-ups and kids should be reciprocal. The reality, unfortunately, is a little different, and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it.
A nosa sabedoría inherente non ten que ser coñecementos privilexiados. Os nenos xa aprenden moito dos adultos, e nós temos moito que partillar. Creo que os adultos deberían comezar a aprender dos nenos. Eu dou os máis dos meus discursos fronte a un público do mundo da educación, mestres e estudantes, e gústame esta analoxía: Non debería ser só un mestre ó fronte da clase dicindo ós estudantes "fai isto, fai aquilo". Os estudantes deberían ensinar ós seus mestres. A aprendizaxe entre adultos e nenos debería ser recíproca. A realidade, desafortunadamente, é un pouco diferente, e ten moito que ver coa confianza, ou a falta dela.
Now, if you don't trust someone, you place restrictions on them, right? If I doubt my older sister's ability to pay back the 10 percent interest I established on her last loan, I'm going to withhold her ability to get more money from me, until she pays it back.
Pero, se non confías en alguén, poslle restricións, ¿non si? Se dubido da capacidade da miña irmá maior de devolverme o 10 por cento de interese que establecín sobre o seu último préstamo, voulle negar a capacidade de obter de min máis cartos ata que mos devolva. (Risos)
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Historia real, por certo.
True story, by the way. Now, adults seem to have a prevalently restrictive attitude towards kids, from every "Don't do that, don't do this" in the school handbook, to restrictions on school Internet use. As history points out, regimes become oppressive when they're fearful about keeping control. And although adults may not be quite at the level of totalitarian regimes, kids have no or very little say in making the rules, when really, the attitude should be reciprocal, meaning that the adult population should learn and take into account the wishes of the younger population.
Os adultos parecen ter unha actitude restritiva cara ós nenos, dende o "non fagas iso", "non fagas isto" no libro da escola, ata as restricións no uso de internet. Como amosa a historia, os réximes vólvense opresivos cando se obsesionan con manter o control. E, aínda que os adultos non chegan ao nivel dos réximes totalitarios, os nenos teñen pouca ou ningunha voz na creación das regras, cando a actitude debería ser recíproca, é dicir, a poboación adulta debería aprender a ter en conta os desexos
Now, what's even worse than restriction, is that adults often underestimate kids' abilities. We love challenges, but when expectations are low, trust me, we will sink to them. My own parents had anything but low expectations for me and my sister. Okay, so they didn't tell us to become doctors or lawyers or anything like that, but my dad did read to us about Aristotle and pioneer germ-fighters, when lots of other kids were hearing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Well, we heard that one too, but "Pioneer Germ Fighters" totally rules.
da poboación máis nova. Pero o que é aínda peor que a restrición é que os adultos a miúdo subestiman a capacidade dos nenos. Encántannos os desafíos, pero cando as expectativas son baixas, afundimos con elas, crédeme. Os meus propios pais tiñan de todo menos baixas expectativas para a miña irmá e máis eu. Vale, non nos dicían que fósemos médicos ou avogados ou algo así, pero o meu pai líanos sobor Aristóteles e os pioneiros que loitaban contra os xermes cando moitos dos outros nenos escoitaban cancións infantís como "As rodas do autobús xiran e xiran". Tamén escoitábamos esa, pero os pioneiros molaban moito.
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I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six, my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word. Thank you, Bill Gates, and thank you, Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until you're older, my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One large children's publisher ironically said that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there.
Gústame escribir desde que tiña catro anos e cando tiña seis anos a miña nai mercoume a miña propia computadora con con Microsoft Word. Grazas Bill Gates e grazas mamá. Escribín máis de 300 historias curtas nesa computadora, e quería que mas publicaran. No canto de mofarse da herexía de que una nena quixera ser publicada ou dicir que agardara ata que fose máis vella, os meus pais apoiáronme moito. Moitos editores non foron tan alentadores. Ironicamente un dos editores de libros infantís máis importantes dixo que eles non traballaban con nenos... ¿Editores para nenos que non traballan con nenos? Non sei, creo que estades alienando moita clientela.
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One publisher, Action Publishing, was willing to take that leap and trust me, and to listen to what I had to say. They published my first book, "Flying Fingers," you see it here. And from there on, it's gone to speaking at hundreds of schools, keynoting to thousands of educators, and finally, today, speaking to you.
Porén, un editor, Action Publishing, estaba disposto a dar ese paso, confiar en min e escoitar o que tiña que dicir. Publicaron o meu primeiro libro, "Flying Fingers", podedes velo aquí, e desde entón fun falar a centos de escolas, dei congresos a centos de educadores e finalmente estouvos a falar a vós hoxe.
I appreciate your attention today, because to show that you truly care, you listen. But there's a problem with this rosy picture of kids being so much better than adults. Kids grow up and become adults just like you.
Agradezo a vosa atención porque para amosar que vos importa de verdade, escoitades. Pero hai un problema coa optimista imaxe de que os nenos son moito mellores cós adultos. Os nenos medran e convértense en adultos coma vós.
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Or just like you? Really? The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult, but rather, better adults than you have been, which may be a little challenging, considering your guys' credentials.
¿Coma vós? ¿En serio? O obxectivo non é converter ós nenos no voso tipo de adulto, se non en mellores adultos do que fostes, o que pode ser un gran desafío
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tendo en conta os vosos credenciais. (Risos)
But the way progress happens, is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones. It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position or place in life, it is imperative to create opportunities for children, so that we can grow up to blow you away.
Pero o progreso sucede porque as novas xeracións e as novas eras crecen, desenvólvense e son mellores cás anteriores. É a razón pola que xa non estamos na Idade Escura. Sen importar a túa posición ou lugar na vida é imperativo crear oportunidades para os nenos para que poidan crecer e vos poidan liquidar.
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Adults and fellow TEDsters, you need to listen and learn from kids, and trust us and expect more from us. You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow, which means we're going to take care of you when you're old and senile. No, just kidding.
Adultos e achegados TEDeiros, precisades escoitar e aprender dos nenos confiar neles e agardar máis deles. Debedes prestarlles oídos hoxe porque son os líderes do mañá, o que significa que van coidar de vós cando sexades vellos e senís. Non, é broma:
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En serio, imos ser a próxima xeración,
No, really, we are going to be the next generation, the ones who will bring this world forward. And in case you don't think that this really has meaning for you, remember that cloning is possible, and that involves going through childhood again, in which case you'll want to be heard, just like my generation. Now, the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed. Are you ready to make the match? Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom.
os que van sacar o mundo adiante. E en caso de que pensedes que isto non vos afecta, lembrade que a clonación é posible, e que implica volver pasar pola infancia outra vez, e nese caso quereredes ser escoitados igual cá miña xeración. O mundo precisa oportunidades para os novos líderes e novas ideas. Os nenos precisan oportunidades de liderar e ter éxito. ¿Estades preparados para corresponderlles? Porque os problemas do mundo non deberían ser unha reliquia familiar dos humanos.
Thank you.
Grazas.
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Thank you. Thank you.
Grazas. Grazas.