Good evening, and welcome to ted talks education. We are so excited to have a packed theater here at town hall in new york city. Thats right. Yes. And a special welcome to those watching on pbs. I would say we wish you were here, but that would make it really uncomfortable, crowded, and new york city rents are high enough, so why dont we both enjoy from where we are. Tonight we will be examining how we teach, marveling at how we learn, and celebrating the timehonored tradition of educating the next generation. The speaker were about to bring to the stage used to work for a hedge fund. Then to help tutor his cousin, he started uploading math lessons to youtube. In true entrepreneurial spirit, he turned these oneonone lessons and grew them into the khan academy, delivering over 380 million lessons in over 36 languages all across the world. Ladies and gentlemen, please, put your hands together for sal khan. [cheering and applause] iim here today to talk about two ideas that, at least based on my observations at khan academy, areare kind of the core, thethe key leverage points forfor learning, and its the idea of mastery and the idea of mindset. And i saw this in the early days when i was working with my cousins. Uh, a lot of them were having trouble with math at first because they had all of these gaps accumulate in theirin their learning, and at some point they got to an algebra class, and they might have been a little bit shaky on some of the prealgebra, and, uh, because of that, uh, theythey thought they didnt have the math gene. I saw in the early days when i was uploading some of those those videos on youtube, andand i realized that people who were not my cousins were watching, and iyou know, at first thosethosethose comments were just simple thank yous, and i thought that was a pretty big deal, but then the comments got a little bit more intense. Uh, oh, you know, student after student saying that, uh, they had grown up not liking math, it was getting difficult as they got into more advanced math topics, and by the time they got to algebra, they had so many gaps in their knowledge that they just couldnt engage with it, but when they were a little bit older, they took a little bit of agency, they found resources like khan academy, and they were able to fill in those gaps. In a lot of ways, this is how you would master a lot of things in life. Its the way that you would learn a martial art. In a martial art, you would practice the white belt skills as long as necessary, and only when youve mastered it, you would move on to become a yellow belt. This is not the way that aa traditional academic model is structured, the type of academic model that most of us grew up in. In a traditional academic model, we Group Students together, usually by age, and around middle school age, andand perceived ability, and we shepherd them all together at the same pace, and what typically happens lets say were in a middle school prealgebra class, and the current unit is on exponents. Uh, the teacher will give a lecture on exponents, then well, uh, go home, do some homework. The next morning, well review the homework. Then well get another lecture, homework, lecture, homework, and then we get a test, and on that test, maybe i get a 75 , maybe you get a 90 , maybe you get a 95 , and even though that that test has identified gaps in our knowledge i didnt know 25 of the material even the a student, what was the 5 they didnt know . Even though weve identified those gaps, the whole class will then move on to the next subject, and that process continues, andand you immediately start to realize howhow strange this is. I didnt know 25 of the more foundational thing, and now im being pushed to the more advanced thing, and this will continue for months, and it will continue for years. Always at some point, i might be in algebra class or a trigonometry class, and i hit a wall, and then i start to disengage. So the idea of mastery learning is to do the exact opposite. Instead of artificially constraining when and how long you work on something, do it the other way around. Whats variable is when and how long a student actually has to work on something, and whats fixed is that they actually master the material, and its important to realize that not only will this make the student learn their exponents better, but it will reinforce the the right mindset muscles. It makes them realize that if you got 20 wrong on something, it doesnt mean that you have a c branded in your dna somehow. It means that you should just keep working on it. You should have grit, you should have perseverance, you should take agency over your learning. A lot of skeptics might say, well, hey, this is all great, philosophically, this whole idea of masterybased learning and its connection to mindset, but it seems impractical. To actually do it with students, it seems like every student would be on their own track. It would have to be personalized. You would have to have private tutors. But now today, its its no longer impractical. We have the tools to do it. If students need an explanation at their own time and pace, well, theres ondemand video for that. They need practice, they need to have feed they need feedback, well, therestheres theres adaptive exercises readily available for students. And when that happens, all sorts of neat things happen. One, the students can actually master the concepts, but theyre also building their growth mindset, theyre building their grit, their perseverance, thetheyre taking agency over their learning, and all sorts of beautiful things can start to happen in the actual classroom, and this isnt even just aanice to have. Ii think its a social imperative. Werewere exiting what you call the industrial age, and were going into this, whatever, information revolution. In the industrial age, society was a pyramid, and at the base of the pyramid, you had aa large pool of you needed human labor. In the middle of pyramid, you had kind of an information processing, aa bureaucracy class, and at the top of the pyramid you had youryour owners of capital andandand your entrepreneurs andand your creative class. But we know whats happening already as we go into this information revolution. Thethethe bottom of that of that pyramid, automation is going to take over. So as a society, we have a question. All this new productivitys happening because of this technology, but who participates in it . Is it just going to be the very top of the pyramid, in which case, what does everyone else do . Howhow do they operate . Or do we something thats more aspirational . Do we actually attempt to invert the pyramid, where you have a large creative class, where almost everyone can participate as an entrepreneur, an artist, as a researcher . And i dont think that this is utopia. I really think that this is all based on the idea if we let people tap into their potential by mastering concepts that that they can get there, when you think about the type of equity we can have and the rate at which civilization could even progress, and so im pretty optimistic about it, and i think its going to be aa pretty exciting time to be alive. Thank you. [cheering and applause] that was great, right . Yeah. Our first speaker. As we reimagine the future of schools, filmmaker Greg Whiteley asked the questions, what could a modern classroom look like . And what effect would that have on the childrens experience in the room . Lets take a look. [applause] narrator over 150 years ago, as jobs began moving from farms to factories, these fathers of the Industrial Revolution had a vision. To execute this vision, they stole an educational model from the prussian army. As a result, they took kids from oneroom schoolhouses and placed them in neat little factories of learning, and the results were actually pretty amazing. For the next 100 years, you could build an actual factory in any u. S. City, and youd have a young workforce already living there that could read, write, follow basic instructions, but as the world has radically changed since the early days of the Industrial Revolution, our schools have remained largely the same. Bock you learn how to take tests, you learn how to write reports, you learn how to do the things that are valued in school. Most of those things, you dont actually do in the real world. Narrator and as the skill set required by todays jobs continues to evolve, our nations young people are being left behind. If we were to reimagine schools today, what would those new classrooms need to look like . Would kids need to continue to sit neatly in rows with a teacher at the front . Or could we do Something Different . Instead of a lecture, could it be a studentled discussion . Hessince hes been outside, hes seen everything for, like, what they are. So it has tosorry it has to do with knowledge. Man a little bit. Because you Gain Knowledge from going to the outside world, and then you come back in, and then your beliefs change. Narrator instead of studying and taking tests in isolation, could kids work in groups . Could teachers also work in teams . Throughout history, different civilizations have come to be and then just as quickly gone away. Were going to take that very abstract concept, and were going to create a physical manifestation of it. Narrator what if instead of focusing on rote memorization, students focused on projects that combined multiple disciplines and helped foster a much deeper connection to the material. Maya so we started off by learning about the mayans, the romans, and the greeks, and their civilization and how they rose to power. What the projects really help is they dont just give you, ok, this is what you need to learn, learn it, memorize it. Its more, like, you really need to understand it, and you really need to understand why you need to know this. Narrator todays workplaces require an entirely new set of skills from even a few decades ago. If our kids can learn those skills in the modern classroom, theyll be ready to take on the jobs of the 21st century. If were willing to take a leap, a leap not unlike the one we took more than a century ago, and to challenge our kids in a fundamentally new way, what they produce might just surprise us. [applause] coming to the stage is the first ever dean of freshmen at stanford university, but she quickly learned her job title could have been dean of freshmen parents at stanford university. Shes the author of the bestselling book how to raise an adult, and we are so thrilled to have her here with us tonight. Please offer up a warm welcome to julie lythcotthaims. [applause] you know, i didnt set out to be a parenting expert. Its just that theres a certain style of parenting these days that is kind of messing up kids, impeding their chances to develop into their selves. I guess what im saying is, we spend a lot of time being very concerned about parents who arent involved enough in the lives of their kids and their education or their upbringing, and rightly so, but at the other end of the spectrum, theres a lot of harm going on there, as well, where parents feel a kid cant be successful unless the parent is protecting and preventing at every turn and hovering over every happening and micromanaging every moment and steering their kid towards some small subset of colleges and careers. Our kids end up leading a kind of checklisted childhood, and heres what the checklisted childhood looks like. We want to be sure they go to the right schools, but not just that, that theyre in the right classes at the right schools, and that they get the right grades in the right classes in the right schools. And when they get to high school, they dont say, well, what might i be interested in studying or doing as an activity . They go to counselors, and they say, what do i need to do to get into the right college . And then when the grades start to roll in in high school, and theyre getting some bs or, god forbid, some cs, they frantically text their friends and say, has anyone ever gotten into the right college with these grades . And theyre withering now under high rates of anxiety and depression, and some of them are wondering, will this life ever turn out to have been worth it . Well, we parents, we parents are pretty sure its all worth it. We seem to behave its, like, we literally think they will have no future if they dont get into one of these tiny set of colleges or careers we have in mind for them, or maybe, maybe were just afraid they wont have a future we can brag about to our friends and with stickers on the backs of our cars. Yeah. [applause] and so with our overhelp, our overprotection and overdirection and handholding, we deprive our kids of the chance to build selfefficacy, which is a really fundamental tenant of the human psyche, far more important than that selfesteem they get every time we applaud. Am i saying every kid is hardworking and motivated and doesnt need a parents involvement or interest in their lives, and we should just back off and let go . Hell, no. That is not what im saying. What im saying is we should be less concerned with a specific set of colleges they might be able to apply to or might get into and far more concerned that they have the habits, the mindset, the skill set, the wellness to be successful wherever they go. What im saying is our kids need us to be a little less obsessed with grades and scores and a whole lot more interested in childhood, providing a foundation for their success, built on things like love and chores. [laughter and applause] did i just say chores . Did i just say chores . I really did. But, really. Heres why. The longest longitudinal study of humans ever conducted, its called the harvard grant study. It found that professional success in life, which is what we want for our kids, that professional success in life comes from having done chores as a kid, and the earlier you started, the better, that a roll up your sleeves and pitch in mindset, a mindset that says, theres some unpleasant work. Someones got to do it. It might as well be me. A second very important finding from the harvard grant study said that happiness in life comes from love, not love of work, love of humans, our spouse, our partner, our friends, our family. So childhood needs to teach our kids how to love, and they cant love others if they dont first love themselves, and they wont love themselves if we cant offer them unconditional love. [applause] right. And so instead of being obsessed with grades and scores when they come home, we need to close our technology, put away our phones, and look them in the eye, and let them see the joy that fills our faces when we see our child for the first time in a few hours, and then we have to say, how was your day . What did you like about today . They need to know they matter to us as humans, not because of their gpa. All right, so youre thinking, chores and love, that sounds all well and good, but give me a break. The colleges want to see top scores and grades and accolades and awards, and im going to tell you, sort of. The very biggest brandname schools are asking that of our young adults, but heres the good news. Contrary to what the College Rankings racket would have us believe. [applause] you dont have to go to one of the biggest brandname schools to be happy and successful in life. Happy and successful people went to a state school, went to a Small College no one has heard of, went to community college, went to a college over here and flunked out. [cheering and applause] it is hardly the end of the world if our kids dont go to one of those big brandname schools, and more importantly, if their childhood has not been lived according to a tyrannical checklist, then when they get to college, whichever one it is, well, theyll have gone there on their own volition, fueled by their own desire, capable and ready to thrive there. I have to admit something to you. Ive got two kids, sawyer and avery. Theyre teenagers. And once upon a time, i think i was treating my sawyer and avery like little bonsai trees. [laughter] that i was going to carefully clip and prune and shape into some perfect form of a human that might just be perfect enough to warrant them admission to one of the most highly selective colleges, but ive come to realize after working with thousands of other peoples kids. [laughter] my kids arent bonsai trees. Theyre wildflowers of an unknown genus and species. [laughter] and its my job to provide a nourishing environment to strengthen them through chores and to love them so they can love others and receive love, and the college, the major, the career, thats up to them. My job is not to make them become what i would have them become, but to support them in becoming their glorious selves. Thank you. [cheering and applause] thank you. Our next performer is an accomplished singersongwriter, musician and producer, and shes one of my favorite musicians. I am thrilled to introduce to you tonight meshell ndegeocello. [music playing] said, baby, do you understand me now . Sometimes you see im mad no one can always be an angel sometimes you see some bad cause im just a soul whose intentions are good oh, lord, please dont let me be misunderstood sometimes i feel so carefree with a joy thats hard to hide sometimes all i know is worry and then youre bound to see my other side cause im just a soul whose intentions are good oh, lord, please dont let me be misunderstood so if i seem edgy i want you to know i never mean to take it out on you so life has its problems i got more than my share but thats one thing i never mean to do cause im just a soul whose intentions are good oh, lord, please dont let me be misunderstood oh, lord [applause] please thank otto hauser and mr. Jebin bruni. Thank you. I just finished reading our next speakers book punished policing the lives of black and latino boys, and i am so thrilled that ted has invited him to speak here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to awardwinning professor victor rios. [applause] for over a decade, i have studied young people that have been pushed out of school, socalled dropouts. As they end up failed by the Education System, theyre on the streets, where theyre vulnerable to violence, police harassment, police brutality, and incarceration. I see these young peoples through a perspective that looks at the assets that they bring to the Education System. How do i know that these young people have the potential and the promise to change . I know this because i am one of them. You see, i grew up in dire poverty in the inner city. We were on welfare, sometimes homeless, many times hungry. By the time i was 15 years old, i had been incarcerated in juvie 3 times for 3 felonies. The reason im here today is because a teacher that cared reached out and managed to tap into my soul. This teacher, mrs. Russ, she was the kind of teacher that was always in your business. I told her a story about my uncle ruben. He would take me to work with him because i was broke, and he knew i needed some money. He collected glass bottles for a living. 4 00 in the morning on a school day, wed throw the glass bottles in the back of his van, and the bottles would break, and my hands and arms would start to bleed, and i was terrified and in pain, and i would stop working, and my uncle, he would look at me in the eyes, and he would say to me, mijo, Estamos Buscando vida, were searching for a better life, were trying to make something out of nothing. Mrs. Russ listened to my story, welcomed it into the classroom, and said, victor, this is your power. This is your potential. Your family, your culture, your community have taught you a hardwork ethic, and you will use it to empower yourself in the academic world so you can come back and empower your community. With mrs. Russ help, i ended up returning to school. I even finished my credits on time and graduated with my class. [applause] but mrs. Russ said to me right before graduation, victor, im so proud of you. Now its time to go to college. College, me . Man, what is this teacher smoking, thinking im going to college . I applied, got a letter of acceptance, and one of the paragraphs read, youve been admitted under probationary status. I said, probation . Im already on probation. That dont matter. But what do teachers like mrs. Russ do to succeed with young people like the ones i study . I propose 3 strategies. The first lets get rid of our deficit perspective in education. These people come from a culture of violence, a culture of poverty; these people are at risk; these people are truant; these people are empty containers for us to fill with knowledge. Number two lets value the stories that young people bring to the schoolhouse. Their stories of overcoming unsurmountable odds are so powerful, and i know you know some of these stories. These very same stories and experiences already have grit, character, and resilience in them, so lets help young people refine those stories. And, of course, the third strategy, being the most important resources. We have to provide adequate resources to young people. Grit alone isnt going to cut it. You could sit there and tell me all you want, hey, man, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, but if i was born without any straps on my boots, how am i supposed to pick myself up . [applause] job training, mentoring, counseling, teaching young people to learn from their mistakes instead of criminalizing them and dragging them out of their classrooms like animals. How about this . I propose that we implement Restorative Justice in every high school in america. [applause] so we went out to test these ideas in the community of watts in l. A. With 40 young people that had been pushed out of school. William was one of them. William was the kind of kid that had been given every label. He had been dropped out, he was a gang member, a criminal, and when we met him, he was very resistant, but i remember what mrs. Russ used to say. Hey, im here for you whenever youre ready. Over time, he began to open up, and i remember the day that he made the switch. We were in a large group, and a young lady in our program was crying because she told us a powerful story of her dad being killed, and as shes crying, i dont know what to do, so i give her her space, and william had enough. He got up from his deskdesk, he slammed his hands on the desk, and he said, hey Everybody Group hug group hug [applause] this young ladys tears and pain turned into joy and laughter, knowing that her community had her back, and william had now learned that he did have a purpose in life, to help to heal the souls of people in his own community. He told us his story, we refined his story to go from being the story of a victim to being the story of a survivor that has overcome adversity. William went on to finish high school, get his Security Guard certificate, and is now working at a local School District. [applause] mrs. Russ mantra was always, when you teach to the heart, the mind will follow. I believe that in this Education Revolution that we are talking about, we need to invite the souls of the young people that we work with, and once theyre able to refine, identify their grit, resilience, and character that theyve already developed, their academic performance will improve. Ill tell you what my teacher did for me. She believed in me so much that she tricked me into believing in myself. Thank you. [cheering and applause] georgia is one of 3 u. S. States that bans undocumented students from attending state colleges, so what happens to immigrants who still have the hunger to learn . Filmmakers Heather Courtney and Anayansi Prado put together this story to answer that question. [applause] arizbeth, voiceover i grew up most of my life in georgia. I arrived here when i was 6. I barely have memories of mexico, and all my life has been here. I remember i started thinking about college when i was in ninth grade in high school. I kind of knew it would be hard here as an undocumented person. It feels like georgia doesnt want me, and thats its heartbreaking because its my home, its all ive ever known. I feel like i have american values. Like, you went to kindergarten with these people, all through high school, you were equal, you were the same, and then all of a sudden, youre not, and its just because i wasnt born here. I want to study Computer Software engineering, and i want to be a part of the people who just advance our world. Hola. Hola. Como estas . So my dad found out about Freedom University in, like, a tiny newspaper clipping. It talked about this organization that helped undocumented students go to college. Like, it helped them find, um, financial aid, find colleges that will actually accept them, and we learn, which is what we want to do. In georgia, for undocumented students, its just not something easy to achieve. Voekel you want to apply to a place called tougaloo, a historically black college in jackson, mississippi. Tougaloo has scholarships for undocumented students. Voekel, voiceover i got involved from the getgo as soon as they decided to ban students from the university of georgia and the top 5 research colleges. Um, we were contacted and got in touch with a couple of undocumented students. We asked, what can we do . And they said, what you can do is offer classes, and so thats what we did. Male student Freedom University is like a second home. People that go there, they really want to to learn, and theyi mean, i leave that place pumped, you know. Like, i learn so many things every class that i go there. Female professor were going to go through College Admissions 101. Were going to talk about the college application. Were going to talk about college funding. Arizbeth, voiceover freedom u completely changed me. I wenti came out of my shell, the shell that i was forced to be in by my undocumented status, and i found my voice. [applause] and now i get to introduce to you someone ive actually had the honor and the pleasure of working with, and i truly admire her work so much. Please welcome to the stage actor, playwright, and professor anna deavere smith. [cheering and applause] [trumpet playing] [applause] thank you, sara. Thank you, scrapper. So, um, ive been going across the country since 2013, uh, trying to learn what i can about why, uh, so many poor kids cant make it through school and very often end up in the criminal justice system, and so when trying to think about what i might like to share with you, i decided i would share with you two young people who i met in baltimore, maryland. Now, my process is that i interview people, and then i represent them word for word, so thats what youre going to see. And, uh, this first, uh, person is a young lady named india sledge. I call this no music. I like to give titles to the things that people have said to me. Ohh. When that freddie gray thing happened, and a lot of stuff was going on, my boyfriend jake was literally just walking to the store. The police jacked him up and threw him against the wall for no reason, checked him for no reason. After that his mom was like, i gots to get out of here because the only thing around this area is just drug dealers, drug dealers, drug dealers. And i think that the police be messing with the men instead of females. I think thats probably because of how the boys dress. They dress inappropriate outside, Walking Around with their pants sagging, instead of wearing your pants how youre supposed to wear them, on your behind. Um, men, boys, they wear their pants low, like down here. Down here, yes. They dont care. Instead of wearing a belt. They dont wear a belt. Just Walking Around with their pants sagging, standing on the same corner. Police riding past. I think thats really why the police be messing with the mens instead of the females. I like a male thats doing something with his self, instead of just standing on a corner. Why you just standing on the corner . What you going to get out of that . You could be looking for a job, trying to get your high school diploma, because some of them probably didnt even graduate. A lot of boys, when i was in middle school, a lot of boys was doing their work and things. Now i see them, and i go, like, ooh, he just got out of jail. Oh, you selling drugs, and you was doing so good in school. What happened . I dont know what it is. Sometimes i be walking down the street with my earphones on. They think i be listening to music, but i be hearing everything, because thats one thing my mother told me. She said, dont be walking down the street just with your earphones in your ear, and your music is loud, and i cannot hear my surroundings, so sometimes i be walking down the street in my earphones and no music. I just be walking. I dont like to be bothered when im walking. And thats india sledge from baltimore, maryland. [applause] and, um, this young man is named allen bullock. Uh, he made the newspapers because he was said to have demolished a police car during the riots, uh, and his bail was 500,000, which is what, uh, got him in the news, and he is here referring to an idea that freddie gray was killed because he made eye contact with the police officers, and this is called big stick. I dont even look the police way, to tell you the truth. Thats not even me. I dont even pay the police no mind. If they look at me, i just turn my head. If i look back, if i look back at you, im not going to mug you, im just going to look the other way, you feel me . Thats all there is to it, because if you look at the police so hard or so straight, like, see how he was, freddie gray, in a way. Like, around this neighborhood, if the police, the Neighborhood Police know you in the neighborhood, theyre going to do something to you. It could be a quiet neighborhood, anything. If they know you from being bad, or not even being bad, hanging in the area, hanging with somebody that they know thats bad, theyre going to harass you. I done had the police ask me, why i am walking in the street . Why am i crossing the street . What you mean why am i crossing the street . I Say Something back, they jump out the car, so i get back up on the curb, you feel me . Theres no need for you to get out of your car, and, you feel me, and talk to me. You can see why im walking across the street. They dont even say, excuse me, sir or come here, none of that, but you just ask me, why am i walking across the street . Dont even draw no attention. And even if you dont got nothing on you, i still dont expect for you to draw no attention to the police. The police, they dont care, even if you dont got nothing on you. Why look at the police if you aint got no problem with the police . Why mug the police, you feel me . No reason at all. I dont pay the police out here no mind. I dont pay the police no mind. They mug me all day. I dont care about none of that theyre doing. I see them, like, you feel me, like, but i dont have too much to say to the police and all that. Oh, they beat me like 4 times, i remember, 4 times, only 4 times. Uh, they used a whats the name . A stick. Sometimes they use their hands. Theres nothing you can say to protect yourself from the police, except running your mouth, and if you really run your mouth, theyre going to do something to you, and if they chase you, and they catch you, and you aint got nothing on you, theyre really going to make it worth their while. Theyre going to beat you straight. It dont matter if theyre black or white. This aint no black or white situation. I aint trying to hear that. Ive seen plenty of black officers do itand im black to black people. Ive seen white officers do it. I see them do it together. This aint no race thing. This is a hatred thing. Whats the point of you locking me up and beating me if you cant find nothing on me . Why . Because i made you run . Come on, now. You train for that. I dont know, the hood police be hating, just [indistinct] they could see you have a couple dollars in your hand, no drugs, no nothing, just a couple dollars, and they think youre doing wrong. What is it with you . You dont know me, i work, and yet you pull me over asking me wheres this money come from. You aint got no right to ask me where my money come from. You aint got no right to check me, you feel me . You aint go no warrant, no nothing, to put your hands on me, period, but, hey, they do it, and im not going to sit here and fuss with you about none of that, because i know you the police, and youre going to do what you want regardless, and you got a big stick, so, so, hey. [applause] filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir has won two emmys and 3 peabodys for her work. Perri peltz is a distinguished journalist, and shes a Public Health advocate. And they worked together on this next film that examines how unconscious bias can sometimes sneak up on us. Lets take a look. [applause] [telephone rings] boy hi, mom, its me. I got in trouble again at school today. Jones hi, this is miss jones again. Im finding your son very disruptive in class, more so than other students. Boy i feel like the teacher doesnt like me. Other kids do bad things, but they dont get in trouble. Jones hes defiant and shows a real lack of respect for any structure or authority. Boy i hate school because the teachers are always mean to me, and i dont feel like im learning anything. Jones im really concerned about his behavior. It doesnt bode well for his future. Boy im always getting in trouble for what i didnt do. Were going to have to adopt a zerotolerance policy, young man. Boy school keeps calling my mother, and she gets really, really mad at me. What is going on . You better explain yourself. Boy i feel like the whole world is just turned up against me and doesnt like me anymore. There are days i get up, and i just decide im not going to school. Girl if you go to the park, like, everybodys always telling me im not worth anything, so whats the point of trying . [police sirens] boy i know the cops are watching us, but we just hope we dont get caught. [telephone rings] female teacher your sons absences are a problem. They will definitely affect his grade point average. Boy i dont feel safe in my class anymore. Should i assume youre unprepared again today . Boy i would always eventually get picked on by the teacher, and he makes examples of me. Girl i feel really singled out, and i just try to avoid people because every time i look, somebodys always talking about me, oh, shes always getting in trouble. Boy but i started fighting more because nobody wants to hang out around a troublemaker. The only time i have real friends is when im on the block, so. Thats where ill stay. [telephone rings] man im sure you understand we take our discipline policies very seriously here at the school. We need to ensure a Safe Learning environment for all students. What are we going to do about your son . [telephone rings] [applause] one of the toughest jobs in america has got to be school principle, so in 2010, when our next speaker founded the mott hall Bridges Academy in brownsville, brooklyn. [cheering and applause] one of the rowdiest neighborhoods in new york city. [laughter] she created for herself a very difficult job. We are so fortunate to have her here with us tonight, a very incredible principle here, to share a story of success. Please put your hands together for nadia lopez. [applause] when i opened mott hall Bridges Academy in 2010, my goal was simple open a school to close a prison. Now, to some, this was an audacious goal, because our school is located in the brownsville section of brooklyn, one of the most underserved and violent neighborhoods in all of new york city. Like many urban schools with high poverty rates, we face numerous challenges, like finding teachers who can empathize with the complexities of a Disadvantaged Community, lack of funding for technology, low parental involvement, and neighborhood gangs that recruit children as early as fourth grade. So here i was, the founding principle of a middle school that was a district public school, and i only had 45 kids to start. 30 of them had special needs, 86 of them were below grade level in english and in math, and 100 living below the poverty level. If our children are not in our classrooms, how will they learn . And if theyre not learning, where will they end up . It was evident when i would ask my 13yearold, young man, where do you see yourself in 5 years . And his response, i dont know if im going to live that long. Or to have a young woman say to me that she had a lifelong goal of working in a fast food restaurant. To me, this was unacceptable. It was also evident that they had no idea that there was a landscape of opportunity that existed beyond their neighborhood. We call our students scholars because theyre lifelong learners, and the skills that they learn today will prepare them for college and career readiness. I chose the royal colors of purple and black because i want them to be reminded that they are descendants of greatness, and that through education, they are future engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and even leaders who can and will take over this world. To date, we have had 3 graduating classes. [applause] at a 98 graduation rate, this is nearly 200 children who are now going to some of the most competitive high schools in new york city. [applause] it was a cold day in january when my scholar Vidal Chastanet met brandon stanten, the founder of the popular blog humans of new york. Brandon shared the story of a young man from brownsville who had witnessed violence firsthand by witnessing a man being thrown off of a roof, yet he could still be influenced by a principal who had opened up a school that believes in all children. Vidal embodies the story of so many of our underprivileged children who are struggling to survive, which is why we must make education a priority. Brandons post created a global sensation that touched the lives of millions. This resulted in 1. 4 million being raised for our scholars to attend field trips to colleges and universities, [indistinct] programs, as well as college scholarships. When 200 young people from brownsville visited harvard, they now understood that a college of their choice was a real possibility, and the impossibilities that had been imposed upon them by a Disadvantaged Community was replaced by hope and purpose. The revolution in education is happening in our schools with adults who provide love, structure, support, and knowledge. These are the things that inspire children, but it is not an easy task, and there are high demands within an Education System that is not perfect, but i have a Dynamic Group of educators. They take time beyond their school day and come in on weekends and even use their own money to often provide resources when we do not have it, and as the principal, i have to inspect what i expect, so i show up in classes, and i conduct observations to give feedback, because i want my teachers to be just as successful as the name mott hall Bridges Academy. And i give them access to me every single day, which is why they all have my personal cell number, including my scholars and those who graduated, which is probably why i get phone calls and Text Messages at 3 00 in the morning, but we are all connected to succeed, and good leaders do this. Tomorrows future is sitting in our classrooms, and they are our responsibilities. That means everyone in here and those who are watching the screen, we must believe in their brilliance and remind them by teaching them that there indeed is power in education. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much. And i just want to say to my mott hall scholars who are here and my staff and my parents, thank you so much. [applause] so right now i have the pleasure of introducing my cohost in a whole new role. She is a multitalented, multihyphenated, tv awardwinning superstar who can add singer to the top of that list, and youre about to be blessed to hear the amazing voice singing rollercoaster, miss sara ramirez. [cheering and applause] rollercoaster carousel where the highs are heaven but the lows, oh, they can be hell you can grab the ring you can ring that bell but when the ride is over you can never tell people tell you this one thing will make your life complete so you, you give it everything youve got and you wind up on the street then one day you wake up and they tell you youre a queen but then you find that someone else is pulling all the strings rollercoaster carousel where the highs are heaven but the lows, oh, they can be hell you can grab the ring you can ring that bell when the ride is over you can never tell carousel rollercoaster, yeah, yeah, yeah carousel carousel carousel carousel carousel [cheering and applause] thank you. Michael pemberton. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thurston keep it going for sara ramirez so good. Thank you. What a great way to close out the show, and i want to thank all of you for letting me be a part of this journey. I feel smarter and more aware. Thank you all very much. Thank you to the filmmakers, thank you, yes. To the organizers, yes, thank you so much. To public television, and to all of you. Thank you. Take this with you. Thank you. Thank you so much, everybody. Bye. [music begins] im surprised every sunrise the earth would have me back surprised my knees hold me up and that its not all gone black announcer to learn more about this program and for links to more ted talks, visit pbs. Org tedtalks. My only friends my flask i wish i knew my mama i wish i could forgive my dad i shouldve known better i wish i had seen more good than bad done more good than bad for stories from the v. Oworld around us. On pbs stories of the fearless. Man these human towers give us a glimpse into what it takes to defy gravity. V. O. . And the new world. Woman our kids are going to have to work with knowledge that hasnt been discovered yet. V. O. for stories that get you closer. To life think wednesday tomorrow starting at 8, 7 central. Think pbs announcer ted talks Education Revolution was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. reporter if you pick up a newspaper, if you watch tv you hear that the american Education System is in crisis, its broken, its failing. Is that really true . ms. Mahn today were taking the map test, and the information that we get helps us determine where we need to go. Now how many of yall are going to work . How many of yall are going to make yourselves proud . And if your best is going up 5 points, then thats fine. If your best is going up 20 points, ill take it. Third grade, you know your goal. 203 is exemplary, thats out the door, on the way to that little store, with money. female we have 80 of the children that theoretically do need food bags, so, with 10,000 students in the School District were only doing 425. Carlita Davis the schools do have high poverty, and it is a factor that cant be ignored,