- Kids are born scientists.
They're always turning over rocks
and plucking petals off of flowers.
They're always doing things
that by and large are destructive.
(laughs with audience)
That's what exploration kind of is.
You take stuff apart, whether or not
you know how to put it back together.
This is what kids do.
An adult scientist is a kid who never grew up.
That's what an adult scientist does.
So what happens at home is the kid
reaches in the refrigerator and pulls out an egg
and starts juggling it,
what's the first thing you do as a parent?
"Stop playing with the egg, it could break, put it back."
Excuse me, this is an experiment in
the material strength of
(laughs with audience)
let the kid find out that when it drops, it breaks.
This is a physics experiment
rapidly turned into a biology experiment, okay?
(audience laughs)
The yolk oozes out, you say,
"Hey, that becomes a chickie one day," okay?
Wait how does this gooey yolk become a chicken?
Well that's biology, check that out.
And what did the egg cost you, 20 cents?
The president of Harvard once said
if you think education is expensive,
you should try the cost of ignorance.
So we don't have enough parents who understand
or know how to value the inquisitive nature
of their own kids, because they want to keep
order in their household.
Kids go into the kitchen and pull out
all the pots and pans and start banging on them,
what's the first thing you say as a parent?
"Stop making all that noise,
"stop the racket, you're getting the pots and pans dirty."
You just squashed an entire experiment in acoustics.
So, I'm not worried about kids, people say,
"What can I do to get my kids interested in science?"
They're already interested in science,
you're the one who's the problem.
Almost my entire professional energy
is focused on adults because they outnumber kids,
they vote, they run the world, the wield opportunities.
Kid will be fine.
(dramatic music)