成年人能从孩子身上学到什么

邹奇奇：成年人能从孩子身上学到什么 开始之前，我想问个问题：你上次被评价为“幼稚”是什么时候？像我这样的孩子， 被称作“幼稚”是件常有的事。每一次我们提出无理的要求，做出不负责任的行为， 又或者是做出异于常人的表现时，我们便被称作为“幼稚” ，这真的很让我为之烦 恼。总之，来看看这些大事件吧。帝国主义和殖民化统治，世界大战，乔治W 布什。问问自己，谁来为这一切负责？成年人。 现在来看看，孩子们都做了些什么。安妮法兰克写的作品（安妮日记 ） ，以对 二战时期大屠杀的有力记述感动千百万人；卢比布里奇斯帮助了美国种族隔离的 终止；此外，近期的查理辛普森骑着自己的自行车，为海地灾区筹募了十二万英 镑的善款。所以，正如你们所见，年龄和“幼稚”一词并无任何的关系。很多时候， 成年人也会做出幼稚的行为。所以，对于在批评他人不负责表现与非理性思考之时， 我们应该废除这个对年龄差别歧视的词语。 非常感谢。 其次，又是谁说那样的非理性思考，不是这个世界所真正需要的呢？也许你曾经胸 怀大志，但告诉自己说，这不可能，或者这样代价太大，又或者我并不从中受益。 不管怎样，我们孩子并不像你们大人一样，在自己想做的事情面前畏畏缩缩。孩子 们心里有着激励人心的抱负和希望美好的想法，就像我希望世界上没有人挨饿，或 者一切都是免费的，有点乌托邦。在座的还有多少人依旧心怀梦想，并相信其实现 的可能？有时候了解乌托邦历史，以及其曾有的失败，并不是什么好事。比如当你 知道一切都是免费的时候，储存的食物将匮乏耗尽，以至于社会混乱。但另一方面， 孩子们依然梦想着完美，这是一件好事情。因为任何情况下，你要先怀有梦想，才 能再把它付诸于实际。 在很多的方方面面，我们大胆想象，帮助我们在幻想与现实之间又拉近一步。例如， 华盛顿塔克马的玻璃博物馆。我的家乡，华盛顿！在那儿有个叫“孩子们设计的玻 璃”计划，孩子们画出自己心中的玻璃艺术。现在，一些在那儿常驻的艺术家说， 正是这些想法激发了他们有史以来最棒的点子。因为孩子们的思想不受局限，他们 不会考虑设计后玻璃如何加工，他们只是将最好的创意展现出来。现在当你想到玻 璃的时候，你也许会想到奇休利（世界知名玻璃工艺大师）色彩鲜艳的设计，又或 想到意大利式的花瓶。但孩子们的想法使工艺师们超越固有的思想，并进入像心 碎小蛇 、对熏肉充满幻想的培根男孩的世界里。 所以说，我们智慧是生来的，并不取决于专业的知识。孩子已经从成年人那儿学到 很多了，而我们身上也有很多可取之处，我认为成年人应该开始向孩子们学习。现 在我做的演讲，主要针对受过教育的群众，就像是老师和学生。我喜欢这个来比喻， 不应该只有老师站在教室里告诉学生做这做那，学生也应该教他们的老师。成年和 孩子之间的学习应该是相互的。但不幸的是，现实与理想背道而驰，这与信任或又 是缺乏信任有着很大的关系。 要是你不信任某人，你就会对他有所限制。我若是怀疑我姐姐还百分之十的贷款利 息的能力，我就会根据她上次的贷款记录酌情考虑。要是她不把上次借的钱还回来， 我是不会再借给她一毛一分的。顺便一提，这是真实的事情。现在，成年人似乎对 孩子普遍持有这种约束性的态度。从学生守则里每一句的不准这样、不准那样，在 学校里有限制上网。同时历史为证，政治策略往往会因为担心无法实施而变得具有 约束性。尽管成年人并未达到这种极端政权的程度，但在制定规则时，孩子没有或 只有很少的发言权。既然看法是相互的，那么成年人应该了解并考虑年轻人想要的 究竟是什么。 但现在，比限制更糟糕的是，成年人常常低估孩子们的能力。我们喜欢挑战，但他 人给予的期望值很低的时候，相信我，我们的意志会消沉。我父母对我和我的姐姐 不会期望值过低，他们没有让我们从事医生或者是律师这些行业，但当我爸爸为我 们读关于亚里士多德的著作和细菌斗士的时候，其他的孩子也许还听着车轮 转啊转的童谣。我们当然也听过这个，但细菌斗士要好看的多。 我从四岁开始爱上了写作，当我还是六岁的时候，妈妈帮我买了笔记本电脑，配有 微软文字处理软件。谢谢比尔盖茨，谢谢妈妈。我在那台电脑上写了三百多个小 故事，我当时还想将它们出版。我的父母非但没有嘲笑这个怪诞的想法，又或者说， 等你长大以后再这么做。相反，他们十分支持我。但许多出版社可不这么给面子， 一家大的儿童读物出版商讽刺地说，他们不为儿童作者出书。儿童出版商不与儿童 作家共事，我不明白了，你们可是孤立了一个很大的客户群体啊。然而有一家出版 商，Action 出版公司，愿意作出突破并信任我，聆听我的想法。他们出版了我第一 本书飞舞的手指 ，就在大屏幕上。从此以后，这本书被上百所学校借鉴，作为 上千教育家的教育方针。最终，今天很荣幸能在这演讲。 我十分感谢各位今天到场聆听，因为这表明各位是真的关心孩子，聆听孩子心声。 但是，如果孩子比成年人好那么多，这便又成了一个问题。当孩子们长大后，就变 成了成年人。但真的像吗？我们的目标不是让孩子变为像你们一样的成年人，而是 比你们这代更强的。这可能会具有挑战性，考虑到在座各位的资历。但是发展与进 步就是这样发生的，因为长江后浪推前浪，一浪更比一浪强。正是因此，我们现在 的社会是文明和发达的。无论你们在生活中扮演什么角色，为孩子们创造条件与机 遇都是无可或缺的，这样我们长大以后就可以超越你们。 在座的成年人和 TED 的观众们，你们需要倾听孩子并向孩子学习，信任我们，并对 我们抱有更高的期望。你得听听我们的想法，因为我们将是未来的领袖。也就意味 着，我们会照顾你们，不然你们老了咋办。我开玩笑的。我们是灿烂美好的下一代， 我们将推动这个世界进步。如果万一你们觉得，你们没有从中受益，想想克隆技术 能让你们返老还童，你也会希望自己的意见被长辈们倾听，就像我们现在一样。总 而言之，这个世界需要新的领袖、新的想法，孩子需要机会来引领世界并获得成功。 你们是否准备好促成这一切了呢？因为这个世界的各种问题，不该是人类留给后代 的唯一遗产。 谢谢。谢谢，非常感谢。 Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids Now, I want to start with a question: When was the last time you were called childish? For kids like me, being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior, or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish, which really bothers me. After all, take a look at these events: Imperialism and colonization, world wars, George W. Bush. Ask yourself: Whos responsible? Adults. Now, what have kids done? Well, Anne Frank touched millions with her powerful account of the Holocaust, Ruby Bridges helped end segregation in the United States, and, most recently, Charlie Simpson helped to raise 120,000 pounds for Haiti on his little bike. So, as you can see evidenced by such examples, age has absolutely nothing to do with it. The traits the word childish addresses are seen so often in adults that we should abolish this age-discriminatory word when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking. (Applause) Thank you. Then again, whos to say that certain types of irrational thinking arent exactly what the world needs? Maybe youve had grand plans before, but stopped yourself, thinking: Thats impossible or that costs too much or that wont benefit me. For better or worse, we kids arent hampered as much when it comes to thinking about reasons why not to do things. Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking, like my wish that no one went hungry or that everything were free kind of utopia. How many of you still dream like that and believe in the possibilities? Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of utopian ideals can be a burden because you know that if everything were free, that the food stocks would become depleted, and scarce and lead to chaos. On the other hand, we kids still dream about perfection. And thats a good thing because in order to make anything a reality, you have to dream about it first. In many ways, our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of possibility. For instance, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, my home state - yoohoo Washington - (Applause) has a program called Kids Design Glass, and kids draw their own ideas for glass art. Now, the resident artist said they got some of their best ideas through the program because kids dont think about the limitations of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes. They just think of good ideas. Now, when you think of glass, you might think of colorful Chihuly designs or maybe Italian vases, but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that into the realm of broken-hearted snakes and bacon boys, who you can see has meat vision. (Laughter) Now, our inherent wisdom doesnt have to be insiders knowledge. Kids already do a lot of learning from adults, and we have a lot to share. I think that adults should start learning from kids. Now, I do most of my speaking in front of an education crowd, teachers and students, and I like this analogy. It shouldnt just be a teacher at the head of the classroom telling students do this, do that. The students should teach their teachers. Learning between grown ups and kids should be reciprocal. The reality, unfortunately, is a little different, and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it. Now, if you dont trust someone, you place restrictions on them, right. If I doubt my older sisters ability to pay back the 10 percent interest I established on her last loan, Im going to withhold her ability to get more money from me until she pays it back. (Laughter) True story, by the way. Now, adults seem to have a prevalently restrictive attitude towards kids from every “dont do that,“ “dont do this“ in the school handbook, to restrictions on school internet use. As history points out, regimes become oppressive when theyre fearful about keeping control. And, although adults may not be quite at the level of totalitarian regimes, kids have no, or very little, say in making the rules, when really the attitude should be reciprocal, meaning that the adult population should learn and take into account the wishes of the younger population. Now, whats even worse than restriction is that adults often underestimate kids abilities. We love challenges, but when expectations are low, trust me, we will sink to them. My own parents had anything but low expectations for me and my sister. Okay, so they didnt tell us to become doctors or lawyers or anything like that, but my dad did read to us about Aristotle and pioneer germ fighters when lots of other kids were hearing “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.“ Well, we heard that one too, but “Pioneer Germ Fighters“ totally rules. (Laughter) I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word. Thank you Bill Gates and thank you Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until youre older, my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One large childrens publisher ironically saying that they didnt work with children. Childrens publisher not working with children? I dont know, youre kind of alienating a large client there. (Laughter) Now, one publisher, Action Publishing, was willing to take that leap and trust me, and to listen to what I had to say. They published my first book, “Flying Fingers,“ - you see it here - and from there on, its gone to speaking at hundreds of schools, keynoting to thousands of educators, and finally, today, speaking to you. I appreciate your attention today, because to show that you truly care, you listen. But theres a problem with this rosy picture of kids being so much better than adults. Kids grow up and become adults just like you. (Laughter) Or just like you, really? The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult, but rather better adults than you have been, which may be a little challenging considering your guys credentials, but the way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones. Its the reason were not in the Dark Ages anymore