Transcriber: heart o Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura
Teachers
Teach to be the sharpest Pencil in the box.
The sharpest pencil in the box
Is still in the box.
Teaching is more about facilitating
Instead of manipulating opportunities.
Fitting in
Doesn't suit me.
Too much rules about how and what's cool
And education should be.
We could look for
Other forms to inform And inspire students.
Move focus away from rules.
Start offering ways to teach By adding more tools,
By acknowledging more tools exist.
How can we wake up From a system that snoozes?
A system in which dropouts Are considered losers?
I'm a loser.
I lost interest in subjects That simply don't apply to me.
Lost my breath after being told in school
It's no time to dream.
Lost my cool the moment The inner fire ignited.
Finally enlightened, I was shown to be open-minded.
See,
Who am I?
I am the wealthy A+ student Who usually gets it.
I'm the street kid Whose parents have bad credit.
I'm a teenager
Not interested in life lessons.
Maybe all I need Is a way to unlock my passions.
We need to be remembered of the future, So stop bringing up the past.
We know plenty of examples
Of so-called uneducated people Being successful.
Extremely.
Bill Gates,
Steve Jobs,
Muhammad Ali,
Oprah Winfrey.
Maybe if we open up our bill gates,
We would have Steve's job.
(Laughter)
The Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
With Muhammad Ali's fighter mentality, We could, like Oprah, win free-ly.
(Laughter)
Maybe all that I have to know Is already in me.
And maybe it's less important To pass an exam
And more important to look past the exams.
Examine creative possibilities To motivate students,
To teach and to absorb knowledge.
As a student,
I would have loved To walk into my school building
Designed with elements of nature in it.
A high-vibrational environment To remind me of my essence, my nature.
Decorated with Fibonacci spiral Symbolising life cycle.
Hand me the key To the chamber of my existence.
Time to proceed to greater systems.
So yes, we can't change things From the inside out,
But we can change things From the outside in.
Why reinvent the wheel?
There might be a car Right around the corner.
Business models can drive The school system with the right degrees
To the highest order.
Because education taught The company's board to steer
And provides the big businesses With the right directors
So they can invest in their future staff By giving schools the right directions.
I'm not an expert in architecture
Or cultural subjects.
I'm not a doctor.
I've lost patience.
(Laughter)
I'm tired of waiting.
I speak of what I hear.
I speak of how I feel,
And I speak of what I see.
I'm not a psychologist.
Nor a scientist.
I'm a spoken word artist,
A writer,
A student,
A teacher who got inspired by stories Of those 'sharp pencil'-looking students
Trying to get out of the box
At the same time Being taught they are stuck.
I don't wanna be The sharpest pencil in the box.
I wanna draw outside of the box.
If we are taught to be students of life,
We will be students for life.
Thank you.
(Applause)