Even after 10 yrs nothing has changed much

Highly recommend Mr. Rose's book, *The End Of Average.* Very excellent & persuasive, it will flesh out everything he says here.

Not sure if he ever said it by name, but he is describing UDL - Universal Design for Learning. In case you were wondering...

'Average' made me feel that I am always insufficient because as Dr Rose says, all people have strengths and weaknesses, but the fact that I am 'below average' in certain capacities made me always hate myself. So relieving and happy to hear this talk. It makes me understand that I am normal and that I could be flexible and creative in approaching education etc

I watched this and thought "Yes! Maybe we'll finally do something" and then looked and saw this was uploaded like 8 years ago. Oh well

I just want to say thank you. I was searching for engaging staff videos as part of a principals qualification course that I am currently taking. I came across your video while searching for videos that support reaching all students. I found myself talking out loud to your video, yelling "yes, yes" often. Near the end though, I actually laughed in happiness. My son also was a high school drop out (identified as gifted with a communication learning disability). He is currently in his last year of college in Toronto (for technology), tutoring, working as a TA, and working in an internship program. His professors have personally spoken to him about greater things (creating a published paper about work he is doing, continuing his education in another field, possibly becoming a professor himself). Anyway..., thank you so very much for your video. It is the exact message I was looking for!

I teach a GED class at a prison and I see the end results of this. So many of these guys do just fine in one subject but terrible in another and as a result they got frustrated, dropped out, and in some cases that lead directly to them getting in trouble. Now I am trying to teach them but I am stuck in the same situation that got them there. 25 students, one teacher, not enough funding to even have textbooks for all my students. It's pretty depressing.

I was told i would not pass grade 5 and my parent had to hear from the teacher at the time that i would be a drop out. I struggled with changing schools in secondaries( High school) and barely made it out. I am now a Nurse with 2 specialties, being told I am the best Nurse to learn from and I am also an Instructor at a top university in Canada. Medicine and Nursing is my passion. I always loved studying biology but couldn't do it. The school i was in at the time had other subjects I had to pick by default (combination) with it and I was not good in them. I dropped and had to do math, physics and design where i was a below average student. After high school, I was able to rebuild and joined a Nursing school where I struggled at the beginning but started to excel and finished my studies as one of top performers.

Great talk ... read the book "End of Average" as well. Life changing it was. Thanks for this incredible piece of work Todd.

I am one of those kids as well... I will not rest until the idea discussed in this video comes to life and is institutionalized in different areas around the world. So many geniuses are lost due to our poorly designed educational system. We need to start creating a future for our children that allows people to think for themselves and learn in the environments that are best suited(customized) for them. I hope you are all as inspired as I am by this talk. Thank you Todd Rose, there is still hope.

I can so relate to the ideas presented in this talk. So good to know that science and technology can help us nurture so many more to success.

You are so right. Great comparisons.nice to hear someone talk about the situation with real concern and passion.

Pretty inspiring and touching. I'll play it for my kids. They need to know they're valuable diamonds in the world.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is the concept he is talking about.

This means a lot to anyone who ever felt like and oddball outlier in school knowing they had so much more to offer.

Very inspirational!!! Thank you for your revolution! I whole-heartedly want to support your journey to desgin to edges rather than design on average!

I completely understand where he is coming from. I did poorly in elementary and secondary school. College was a struggle as well. However, I had to learn for myself how I best mastered materials. I now have two masters degrees 3.89/4.0. I try to convey this to the teachers I work with and that they need to properly differentiate in the classroom.

Beautiful talk! UDL with the right technology. Have tears, we can't afford to lose one.

Wow! Thank you for this talk.

I quit high school since month ago and this Ted Talk is very inspiring, Thank You

I Truly believe this is the is the future of our world. We must create change in our education system. this is time to make a diffrence

It is refreshing to hear an effort to revamp our dated educational system. This presentation gives me hope for a future where students can embrace their strengths and their interests, ideally leading to a classroom where all learners feel empowered.

Thank you so much. Thanks also to UKposts

Many thanks Rose, this is very impactful.

I love this speech, but to better espouse the virtues of UDL, it should have accurate closed-captioning.

A ted talk that brings home a reality. That we all know ones it is explained, presented to us. Our lives are filled with examples of this assumption that "average" should be the standard, while it works for none of us, as in no-one. Pass this on to those who continue to think or act as though teaching, learning, living, and looking for the "Average" is "best".

I wish we changed the overall Education system. A lot of facets of the Education system, mindsets, openness to the new and the uncertain and overall system needs to change. Will it ever happen? I would hope so. I'm glad someone's creating awareness about it.

Tod Rose nails it! We don't just squander talent by targeting the "average", we do incalculable harm to the psyche of millions of children. Tod's analogy of the adjustable seat, and his comparison of that to the ways that digital technology can make learning work better for countless learners is brilliant.

A story I know far too well. Sadly, I never really found my way. I have a happy life, I enjoy what I do, but I could have enjoyed it much sooner if I had had the opportunities presented to me. I've shared this with a couple friends who are teachers, I hope they get something out of it, and I hope their students do too. Thank you for your story.

This is an amazing video!!! These insights are applicable to not only education but to broader society. And it was beautifully delivered!

That's it! We need adjustable desk sizes!

I have just finished the first 100 pages of his book and then came here . I am still in awe of what I discovered. all the standards and methodology are designed for average people , not for me. I have struggled my whole my life following the standards and practices set for the average guys.

This was a great thank you for telling this to the world. I have classmates who are like this

They could not teach me trigonometry in one year, in high school. One year later, in electronics school, in the army, they taught it to me in 3 DAYS. I kid you not.

whoah, one of the first Ted talks I actually was really enjoying

Motivating!

As a techie, I've always felt computers would accelerate learning. But it was never clear how this would or could come to fruition. Drill and kill, repetition, automatic marking? Feedback via computerized measurement of the learning process? The allegory in the talk is that the computer might compensate for weaknesses, reinforcing strengths, and adjusting difficulties in the course materials, and doing this in the background for each user. The computational abilities of the computer become the training wheels for the brain. To be useful we would need to create a list of adjustable criteria, making the text longer or shorter, making the math harder or easier, changing the number of steps in the problem.Then as the student works on the problems, adjustments are made - sort of how a perceptive human instructor will ask leading questions, trying to coax the next bit of progress from the interactive mind.

The dude speaks with his heart.

Great talk! Shakespeare "deigned" his plays to the edges of the human experience and that's why he continues to have nearly universal appeal. Jonas Salk curing polio is a myth, which is a blatant reminder that we must teach our children HOW to think, not WHAT to think, but the point is still well taken.

Love this. How do we design for the edges in a US public education system where the student teacher ratio is 30:1 and teachers have a hard time just getting by on such low wages?

Excellent presentation.

This is an excellent video and shows the need for UDL: Universal Design for Learning. It should be presented at the start of the new school year at all faculty meetings.

Thank you

That would be so brilliant!

From a language and science buff who never got to go to university because i couldn't get any help with math, thank you. "Well, that's unfortunate. Good luck with your factory job" My parents even went as far as letting me work summers in a chicken slaughter house to 'show me what will happen to people who don't pick themselves up by the bootstraps, yadda yadda' instead of actually helping me get help. I almost ended school with 3 highest possible end grades on 3 seperate subjects, the rest was good to average... but that didn't matter to anyone. All they could say is "you spoiled your chances because you failed math!" In this world, you get one chance only to reach for the highest.... in your darn teens. Really? This is the best society can come up with?

Wonderful Thanks

really inspirational

This was a very good example that no human being can be "average." When we teach to the average we are not really catering to anyone's needs.

Loved! Just watched as part of my requirements at EGCC… appreciate this classical approach. Ad respected manner in which the message came full circle to advance truth! Much better than the Canadian rainbow cupcake theory !!

Awesome! Let's nurture our children's talents, they are the future. :) I had an awesome maths teacher at school, he let the kids work at their own pace. The kids with talent could move through the years work and were allowed to go on the next years work. I did 2 years of math in 1 year. That could be a way to nurture them, letting them work at their own pace. And also not condemning them for the subjects they fail at, but praising them for the ones they are good at.

I wish they'd had specialized learning like this when I was in school. I was so bored with the "average" lessons, then after some testing, they bumped me up to the "gifted" program, where I couldn't keep up.

the Educational system was built to take people from being creative, and making a system that makes the prepared for a Industrial community, so when they are of age to work. They can be placed into a manufacturing plant. Be a machine and do a job. I am a late bloomer, when the internet allows me to learn WHAT I LOVE, and Nothing more... Finding again that I CAN LEARN WHAT I LOVE, How can you not love to learn...

This should have way more views

not only will kids benefit, those making the educational materials will also be challenged to create better tools for kids these days because some of the adults will realize that they could also have had better schooling experiences had they been taught with their individuality in mind! thankyou, awesome person/teacher =]

Excellent point! We create average in educational system because it physically impossible for one teacher to attend wide range of abilities and deficiencies of multiple individuals. Technology IS the answer. There is an iPad ( or whatever brand you prefer) for every child out there. Technology could and should be teaching aid, co-educator. So, please write the programs designing to edges.

I'm the average student and because of the importance that's given to grades, more often than not I feel like I'm not good at anything. This TED talk really means a lot to me, I think it's helped me resolve an inner conflict I'd been having for a few months. Thank you.

Yeah, I do agree the comparison is indeed not that valid. But I guess it does make sense that customized learning environments and schools would improve education. I'd like more depth on this talk. About the cockpits, well, I think the presentation shows that the designers finally opted for versatile cockpits instead of multiple monolithic ones. P.S.: TYT Too Strong!

outstanding

I could only say thank you for this talk, my 8 year old son is suffering from this miss-designed educational system.

Simplicity is the optimal form of function.

Thank you for all your insight. My son is struggling with school though he is "gifted" and passes all PSATs with extremely high scores. He is depressed and anxious and might become a drop-out. Any advice? I have some extreme edge talents and weaknesses and managed to have graduate degrees. However, I am at a loss on how to support him.

You and Sal Khan need to get together. He also despises the one-pace-fits-all approach, as do I.

Fundamentally re-imagine the foundations of our institutions of Opportunity like Education, in ways that it nurtures the potentials of every single individuals; therefore expand our talent pool, makes us far competitive in the world . Let learning methods be flexible to accommodate all learners .

Interesting TED talk.

Rose makes some valid points during his Ted Talk. I particularly like his emphasis on not focusing on the average. I feel as educators we worry so much about the average students that many times we forget about students at the top and the bottom. That is why educators have started to focus more on differentiating the lesson to reach all students. I must disagree that the responsibility of teaching the students relies on the companies that supply the texts. Educators have the ability to adjust the text or technology accordingly to reach every student in their classroom. Could some of the text in our schools be designed better? Yes, but it is our job as educators to create a lesson for all of our students.

Design for the margins...Universal Design for Learning represent!!

The idea of individualized education sounds great, but I would like to see more on the methodology to implement it in all classrooms. Also, I wonder could technology have helped the student in reading class so that he could have learned to read on level and not had reading problems in science in the first place?

The problem is not "just" on one level (the material), it is also the responsibility of people on all levels (education directors, teachers, parents) to allow for this change to occur, and not to sideline students who don't necessarily conform to an education system which is dysfunctional and unable to allow each student to reach their own potential, instead things such as the "No Child Left Behind Act" end up disadvantaging others while extracting the potential of the very bottom, what a shame.

in the future when Luke Pecard says to those of the 21st Century "we have evolved without the need for money and position, we are interested in the personal growth of the individual"..... I look forward to the 24th Century coming sooner.

anybody here from class lol

Дякую за цікаві матеріали

Agreed. education system needs a change for improvement. Perhaps the best solution is the aid of technology. or a better teacher student ratio instead to meet the individual needs of the students. Also, perhaps we also need to change how we evaluate our students' performance in a subject like science... But I believe that there is a need to set a an AVERAGE STANDARD when it comes to READING it's a very important skill everybody should master.

Talk is very realistic

Love the premise, but do we have enough applied research to support this at University level? Or is technology leading, because as an entity Education moves slow as a large organization?

True. Now the quarantine is ongoing, most teachers did teach trough online classes, but they just read through the text book or giving us slides to understanding. And lets be true, its overwhelming and boring just to hear one person saying.

I agree 105% with this, let's destroy averages, they are unreal

There is a pretty major error in the transcript / closed captioning at the 1:20 mark. Can it be changed the to correct wording?

Wow that dropout rate is astounding!

could you make some korean Subtitle? please~~

they aim at being 'average', & average is sub-par. Everyone should strive for excellence and nothing less.

An applicable answer was developed over 100 years ago. Look up Montessori.

remember that education is now a business and that even though we need change and not be normal its up to politicians and multimillion book companies to allow for this to happen.

Think of the talented people out there who could be thriving if we knew how to find and nurture them. This goes beyond education - it's the core of the American Dream.

Text to speech and speech to text for the win. Now if we can get the curriculum to be developmentally appropriate and get rid of standardized testing & report cards, our kids might stand a chance.

He's assuming that skill with using a machine (iPad, etc.) is a given. But students need to be trained in how to use the technology they are presented with, and there is a variance in ease by which students grasp those skills, just as there is a variance in the ease by which students are able to read. High tech doesn't have to be the answer. It always sounds so good, but it is always much more of a nightmare to implement than you'd think. (Things breaking, compatibility issues, teachers and students need training, support staff must be hired, etc. etc.) We have several decades now, of a time-honored tradition of educational technology promising to radically improve education, and then ending up collecting dust in a storage closet. ;) I work in a technology-heavy field; I love bells and whistles just as much as the next person. But it really needs to be used VERY judiciously and wisely - at the K-12 level especially. Here's the thing: even in a screen-free classroom, you can still make sure that content is presented to students in a variety of ways, to meet them where they are. You can still differentiate instruction without an iPad. In fact, certified teachers are trained in this. Let's let them do what they know how to do.

the one thing that i believe weakens his vital message [and countless others] is the often throwaway line 'be competitive in the world' 'on the world stage' et al. how about 'CONTRIBUTORS TO THE WORLD'

What is the research study he cites? Anyone know?

I'd like to see an/some average in global income though =)

"one size fits no-one" we call it.

Great concept. This has been my life's dream to do something that revolves around my idea. I have a thing or two to contribute. Would love to get in touch.

1) of course we're spending more money on education than ever before - that's how inflation and population growth works. 2) When kids dropout we do NOT "loose" them - school is not the end-all of a human's potential. Love the basic premise here but I can't finish the video because those two issues made me mad lol

I think that the average is good! Average size is a good size!

Brilliant video - average is not a human concept - it is a mathematical concept. You can have an 'average' hat size' or be of 'average' weight but you cannot have an 'average' human being. In standardised scoring only 7% of children score 100!

...High school drop out rates are actually declining ...on average

as much as i love what this guy is saying, its never gonna happen, schools have been the same for decades with minor changes, and their gonna be the same for decades to come maybe with minor changes aswell

I agree that we have to change something but what if the changes proposed in this talk help some kids while other kids struggle with it and fall behind? You can't only look at who benefits from such measure but also who might have a disadvantage.

Actually, we do in fact have a dropout crisis. If anything, 1.2 million is a conservative estimate -- credible sources report the number to be even greater than that each year (PBS's recent report estimates the number to be over 1.3 million dropouts annually)

In 3rd grade they branded me as slow because I was bored with school. That affected my ENTIRE life. Literally.

Please filter out the high pitch whine

aka build a better lightbulb #filliment