Blog Post #13

What can we learn from these TED talks?



Kakenya Ntaiya: A girl who demanded school




Kakenya Ntaiya made a deal with her father: She would undergo the traditional Maasai rite of passage of female circumcision if he would let her go to high school. Ntaiya tells the fearless story of continuing on to college, and of working with her village elders to build a school for girls in her community. It’s the educational journey of one that altered the destiny of 125 young women. Even from adverse circumstances, unlikely & disadvantaged people can, through bravery & will, create revolutionary victories. The effect she has on those kids will spread to hundreds more through them, then thousands, then millions, because that's how positive human change begins. Liberation of women is what can raise an entire society up a level. As soon as 50% of the population isn't treated like property, amazing things happen. Thank human goodness for people like Kakenya.



Mae Jemison: Teach arts and sciences together




Mae Jemison is an astronaut, a doctor, an art collector, a dancer ... Telling stories from her own education and from her time in space, she calls on educators to teach both the arts and sciences, both intuition and logic, as one -- to create bold thinkers. People often consider the arts and sciences electives, they do not consider that the curriculum itself IS both art and science, a text book is a work of art and a work of science. At ANY age learning is GREATLY enhanced by singing, dancing, rhyming, acting, gaming and discussing, why are these all banned in the classroom? SCIENCE is the art of OBJECTIVE expression, ART is the science of SUBJECTIVE expression. I love how Dr. Jemisen gets it. Art and science are the foundation to building a functional society to progress. Art is one of the first disaplines cut in the schools. Abstract, creativity, science, art, is problem solving - new solutions.



Shane Koyczan: To This Day ... for the bullied and beautiful




By turn hilarious and haunting, poet Shane Koyczan puts his finger on the pulse of what it's like to be young and … different. "To This Day," his spoken-word poem about bullying, captivated millions as a viral video (created, crowd-source style, by 80 animators). Here, he gives a glorious, live reprise with backstory and violin accompaniment by Hannah Epperson. He's a spoke word artist, he writes from his soul. He was bullied when he was young, impressionable & needed support, not to be brought down by those around him. Words are powerful, affecting the psyche in subtle ways.