There are many valuable TED Talks about education in America. Topics of these talks are far ranging but cover all things from educational quality, methodology, and outcomes. Either way, we stand plenty to gain from them. We look at five of the most compelling TED Talks about education in America.
Geoffrey Canada: Our Failing Schools. Enough Is Enough!
Geoffrey Canada is a specialist in educational reform and wants us all to know that our american public school system can do much better. Citing modern statistics of success and failure rates, Canada makes the valid assertion that the system is not operating optimally. Canada warns of the victims in this shortcoming being the children as well as the future of a country. Deep fixes are then proposed that would purportedly reshape the system and the eventual outcome of its endeavors.
Andreas Schleicher: Use Data To Build Better Schools
Sharing Geoffrey Canada’s vision for more effective school systems in the U.S is Andreas Schleicher. Schleicher, an education surveyor, touts the efficacy of the PISA Test; a test that measures schools’ performance levels and abilities as compared to other school systems around the globe. Using this test to compare successes and failures of American education systems to those of other education systems around the globe is the key to unlocking a greater preforming potential according to Schleicher.
Rita F. Pierson: Every Kid Needs A Champion
Having spent more than 40 years working in the classroom, Rita F. Pierson provides a strong voice of experience. In this most rousing of TED Talks about education in America, Pierson uses her voice to teach us about the connections children look for in school. Pierson tells a thought provoking story of how learning is done much easier and efficiently when the teacher and student share a connection or bond. This is as opposed to a colder, non-bonded experience with which children do not respond well to. Pierson shares her overall vision of how teachers can foster a better student-teacher relationship and thus achieve much better results in their profession.
Shai Reshef: An Ultra-Low-Cost College Degree
In this TED Talk, we hit a subject that most are very aware of: the high costs associated with obtaining a college degree. One look at rising tuition costs, and anyone can be disheartened in the possibility of attending. Here, Shai Reshef shines a spotlight on this hurdle that affects all seeking a higher education in the U.S. Reshef maintains that a higher education can be provided at much lower costs than what is commonly available today, and in fact, has actually gone on to found University of the People, a free university for anyone with a high school diploma. Reshef’s dream is college accessibility for all, despite individual financial status.
Patrick Awuah: How To Educate Leaders? Liberal Arts
Not all TED Talks about education in America are aimed at the education of the young. Patrick Awuah, university founder and esteemed education professional, highlights his theory on teaching our adult leaders. Whether they hold a position in finance, government, education, or elsewhere, Awuah argues that all those in positions of authority should first be educated in the schools of liberal arts. Only then, he insists, do they possess the valuable skills of decision-making and deep contemplation that leaders should all possess.
These are five of the most relevant and thought provoking TED Talks about education in America. From leaders in the industry and a passion for better, ideas for tomorrow are here today. We eagerly await what’s next.
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