It’s a familiar problem. You’ve been eyeing up that cute blouse online for a while now, but you can’t decide whether or not to click ‘buy’. You’ve reached the checkout page a couple of times, but you just can’t seem to commit. What if that shade of green makes you look like a humanoid iguana? Will those sleeves make your shoulder blades look like giant wings sawn off at the nub? Third grader Shayla came up with a solution: she devised a site that creates a personal avatar customized to body shape and size, so you can try clothes on…
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“I didn’t want to just wait. I wanted to do something.” These are the words of 18-year-old Bernie Zak. In April, the high school senior discovered that he will be attending his dream university – University of California, Los Angeles – this coming fall. Bernie set his sights on attending UCLA after taking a campus tour, but after learning that he had been waitlisted, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Bernie devised a Twitter campaign (#AcceptBernieUCLA) to persuade the university to accept him. The campaign tweeted different reason each day why UCLA should be clamouring to enroll…
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India, 2004. Two World Bank economists conduct a social experiment. They observe a group of boys from opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum: one half of the group are members of a low rank of India’s hierarchical caste system, the other half born into a high caste.The economists ask the boys to complete a set of puzzles, twice. The first time, the boys are told to keep their backgrounds secret. The kids from the lower caste do just as well as the others, and in fact fare slightly better. The second time, each member of the group is asked to…
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I failed my first year of college. There, I said it. It didn’t even twinge too much to get the words out this time. For several years, however, that fact was shrouded in dark feelings of shame and guilt. I realized early on in my first freshman semester that, partly due to the idiosyncrasies of the European university system (but mainly down to my own pig-headed decision to ride roughshod over gut instinct), I was all but trapped in a four year degree course for which I had no passion that was leading me down a career path I didn’t…
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“We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.” I love this quote because it encapsulates the interconnectedness of humankind. Even if the pockets of war and civil unrest that exist today attest that perhaps we’re still getting the hang of this human community thing, we are nonetheless all connected in one way or another. And all the more so since the onset of the social media phenomenon. When Franklin D Roosevelt uttered these words during his fourth inaugural address, little did he know that the concepts of “citizen” and “human community” would evolve over…
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The biggest compliment I’ve ever received was from my fourth grade teacher. In a serious, conspiratorial tone, signalling that I should keep this information on the down-low, he told me that when he collected creative writing assignments from the class, he would always put my paper at the bottom of the pile. Why? So that he knew he would always have a really good piece of writing to look forward to as he worked his way through correcting the other papers. Now, as an adult, I realize that this may have been more of a complimentary metaphor than an actual…
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When I was 16, my mother had a parent-teacher meeting with my favourite teacher, who taught English – we’ll call her Miss Apple. I held Miss Apple in high esteem and valued her opinion of me. I adored literature and creative writing and I found her quirky take on the curriculum challenging and exhilarating. She pushed me hard, routinely denying me top marks, tacitly urging me to work that little bit harder, and I excelled under her tutelage. When Miss Apple instigated class discussions, however, I often hung back, intellectually invigorated by the exchange of ideas going on around me…
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Public speaking. My Achilles heel. Most of the time, I manage (somewhat) successfully to convince the world I am cool, calm, collected, confident, competent… Well, you get the idea. But occasionally, when presented with the prospect of making a professional presentation or delivering a speech, my crippling fear of public speaking conspires to shatter my serene facade and turn me into a quivering bucket of nerves and stammered sentences. How I wish I had been taught public speaking in school. My innate shyness might ultimately be at the root of my babbling delivery, but I often feel envious of friends…
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“I love learning, and when I get the opportunity to learn I’m stimulated and I’m happy…Curiosity is my prime mover, not an effect of something that happens to me.” Wouldn’t your heart leap if you heard a 12-year-old describe their love of learning in this way? Sure, it might take an exceptionally articulate 12-year-old to use a sophisticated term like “prime mover”, but the invigorating thrill of curiosity and simple unadulterated delight in learning are clear. This is how Astro Teller describes his innate curiosity about the world, and how it infuses his perception of learning. The ‘Flow’ in The…
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I feel strongly about education. On a personal level, I relish the thrill of learning, that invigorating rush I get when I feel my mind expanding, and I desire others, particularly kids, to experience this too. On a global scale, I feel passionate about education’s ability to effect social change, lifting people out of poverty and enabling gender equality. I’m not a teacher, but both my parents are, as are numerous members of my extended family. Education is in my blood, along with a fervent wish to see teaching continue to evolve in order to give children the best learning…
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