Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson | TED

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: David J. Kreps Finnemann Reviewer: Morten Kelder Skouboe

Jeg har tilbragt hele mit liv

I have spent my entire life

either at the schoolhouse, on the way to the schoolhouse,

enten i skolebygningen, på vej til skolebygningen,

eller med at tale om, hvad der sker i skolebygningen.

or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse.

(Laughter)

Both my parents were educators,

Begge mine forældre var undervisere,

my maternal grandparents were educators,

min moderlige bedsteforældre var undervisere,

og i de sidste 40 år har jeg gjort det samme.

and for the past 40 years, I've done the same thing.

Så, det er unødigt at sige, at jeg i løbet af årene

And so, needless to say, over those years

I've had a chance to look at education reform

har fået chancen for at se på uddannelsesreformer

from a lot of perspectives.

fra mange sider.

Some of those reforms have been good.

Nogle af de reformer har været gode.

Some of them have been not so good.

Nogle af dem har ikke været så gode.

And we know why kids drop out.

Og vi ved, hvorfor ungerne dropper ud.

We know why kids don't learn.

Vi ved, hvorfor ungerne ikke lærer noget.

It's either poverty, low attendance,

Det er enten fattigdom, dårligt fremmøde,

negative peer influences...

negativ indflydelse fra jævnaldrende. Vi ved hvorfor.

We know why.

But one of the things that we never discuss

Men en af de ting, vi aldrig taler om,

or we rarely discuss

eller vi sjældent taler om,

is the value and importance of human connection.

er værdien og vigtigheden ved menneskelige forbindelser,

Relationships.

forhold.

James Comer says that no significant learning

James Comer siger, at der ikke kan foregå nogen betydelig

can occur without a significant relationship.

læring uden et betydeligt forhold.

George Washington Carver says all learning

George Washington Carver siger, at al læring

is understanding relationships.

er at forstå forhold.

Everyone in this room has been affected by a teacher or an adult.

Alle i dette lokale har været påvirket

af en lærer eller en voksen.

For years, I have watched people teach.

I flere år, har jeg set folk undervise.

I have looked at the best and I've looked at some of the worst.

Jeg har set de bedste, og jeg har set nogle af de dårligste.

A colleague said to me one time,

En kollega sagde engang til mig,

"They don't pay me to like the kids.

"De betaler mig ikke for at kunne lide børnene.

De betaler mig for at undervise.

They pay me to teach a lesson.

The kids should learn it.

Børnene burde lære det.

I should teach it, they should learn it,

Jeg burde undervise det. De burde lære det. Punktum."

Case closed."

Well, I said to her,

Jamen, sagde jeg til hende,

"Du ved, unger lærer ikke fra mennesker, de ikke kan lide."

"You know, kids don't learn from people they don't like."

(Laughter)

(Latter) (Bifald)

(Applause)

She said, "That's just a bunch of hooey."

Hun sagde, "Det er bare vrøvl."

And I said to her,

Og jeg sagde til hende, "Jamen, dine år bliver lange

"Well, your year is going to be long and arduous, dear."

og anstrengende, min ven."

Needless to say, it was.

Det blev de selvfølgelig. Nogle mennesker, tror

Some people think that you can either have it in you to build a relationship,

at man enten kan have det i sig at opbygge et forhold

or you don't.

eller ej.

Jeg mener, Stephen Covey havde den rigtige opfattelse.

I think Stephen Covey had the right idea.

He said you ought to just throw in a few simple things,

Han sagde, at man burde kaste et par simple ting ind i det,

like seeking first to understand,

som at søge for at forstå

as opposed to being understood.

i stedet for at blive forstået,

Simple things, like apologizing.

simple ting som at undskylde.

You ever thought about that?

Har I nogensinde tænkt på det?

Tell a kid you're sorry, they're in shock.

Fortæl et barn, at man er ked af det, og de går i chok.

(Laughter)

I taught a lesson once on ratios.

Jeg underviste engang om forholdstal.

I'm not real good with math, but I was working on it.

Jeg er ikke særlig god til matematik, men jeg arbejdede på det.

(Laughter)

And I got back and looked at that teacher edition.

Og jeg kom tilbage og jeg kiggede på lærerudgaven.

I'd taught the whole lesson wrong.

Jeg havde undervist forkert hele semesteret. (Latter)

(Laughter)

So I came back to class the next day and I said,

Jeg kom tilbage til klassen dagen efter, og jeg sagde,

"Look, guys, I need to apologize.

"Hør engang unger, jeg bliver nødt til at undskylde.

I taught the whole lesson wrong. I'm so sorry."

Jeg har undervist hele lektionen forkert. Det er jeg virkelig ked af."

They said, "That's okay, Ms. Pierson.

De sagde, "Det er okay, Ms. Pierson.

You were so excited, we just let you go."

Du var så begejstret, at vi bare lod dig fortsætte."

(Latter) (Bifald)

I have had classes that were so low,

Jeg har haft klasser, der var så lave,

så akademisk mangelfulde, at jeg græd.

so academically deficient, that I cried.

I wondered, "How am I going to take this group,

Jeg undrede mig over, hvordan jeg skulle tage denne gruppe

in nine months,

og på ni måneder

from where they are to where they need to be?

tage dem fra, hvor de er, til hvor de skal være?

And it was difficult, it was awfully hard.

Og det var svært. Det var utroligt hårdt.

Hvordan øger jeg selvværdet hos et barn

How do I raise the self-esteem of a child

and his academic achievement at the same time?

og hans akademiske bedrifter på samme tid?

One year I came up with a bright idea.

Der var et år, hvor jeg fik en lys ide.

I told all my students,

Jeg sagde til alle mine studerende,

"You were chosen to be in my class

"I blev udvalgt til at være i min klasse,

because I am the best teacher

fordi jeg er den bedste lærer

and you are the best students,

og I er de bedste elever,

they put us all together

de satte os alle sammen,

so we could show everybody else how to do it."

så vi kunne vise alle andre, hvordan man skal gøre det."

En af eleverne sagde, "Er det rigtigt?"

One of the students said, "Really?"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I said, "Really. We have to show the other classes

Jeg sagde, "Det er rigtigt. Vi skal vise de andre klasser,

how to do it, so when we walk down the hall,

hvordan det skal gøres, så når vi går ned af gangen,

vil folk lægge mærke til os, så I må ikke larme.

people will notice us, so you can't make noise.

You just have to strut."

I skal bare bryste jer."

(Laughter)

And I gave them a saying to say:

Og jeg gav dem en talemåde de kunne bruge: "Jeg er noget.

"I am somebody.

I was somebody when I came.

Jeg var noget, da jeg kom.

I'll be a better somebody when I leave.

Jeg vil være en bedre person, når jeg går.

I am powerful, and I am strong.

Jeg er magtfuld, og jeg er stærk.

I deserve the education that I get here.

Jeg fortjener den uddannelse, jeg får her.

I have things to do, people to impress,

Jeg skal gøre ting, imponere folk,

and places to go."

og steder hen."

And they said, "Yeah!"

Og de sagde, "Ja!"

(Laughter)

You say it long enough,

Siger man det længe nok,

it starts to be a part of you.

begynder det at blive en del af en.

(Applause)

Så -- (Bifald)

Jeg gav en quiz, 20 spørgsmål.

I gave a quiz, 20 questions.

A student missed 18.

En elev kiksede 18.

I put a "+2" on his paper and a big smiley face.

Jeg satte et "+2" på hans opgave og en stor smiley.

(Laughter)

He said, "Ms. Pierson, is this an F?"

Han sagde, "Ms. Pierson, er det et -3?"

I said, "Yes."

Jeg sagde, "Ja."

(Laughter)

He said, "Then why'd you put a smiley face?"

Han sagde, "Hvorfor satte du så en smiley på opgaven?"

I said, "Because you're on a roll.

Jeg sagde, "Fordi det kører for dig.

You got two right. You didn't miss them all."

Du fik to rigtige. Du kiksede ikke dem alle."

(Laughter)

I said, "And when we review this, won't you do better?"

Jeg sagde, "Og når vi ser på dette,

vil du så ikke gøre det bedre?"

He said, "Yes, ma'am, I can do better."

Han sagde, "Jo, frøken, jeg kan gøre det bedre."

You see, "-18" sucks all the life out of you.

Ser I, "-18" suger alt livet ud af en.

"+2" said, "I ain't all bad."

"+2" sagde, "Jeg er ikke helt dårlig."

(Latter) (Bifald)

For years, I watched my mother take the time at recess to review,

I årevis så jeg på min mor,

der tog sig tid i frikvarteret til at rette opgaver,

tog på hjemmebesøg om eftermiddagen,

go on home visits in the afternoon,

buy combs and brushes and peanut butter and crackers

købte kamme og børster og jordnøddesmør og kiks

to put in her desk drawer for kids that needed to eat,

til at lægge i hendes skrivebordsskuffe til de børn, der skulle spise,

and a washcloth and some soap for the kids who didn't smell so good.

og en karklud og noget sæbe til de børn, der ikke lugtede så godt.

See, it's hard to teach kids who stink.

Ser I, det er svært at undervise børn, der stinker.

(Laughter)

And kids can be cruel.

Og børn kan være ondskabsfulde.

And so she kept those things in her desk,

Så hun gemte de ting i hendes skrivebordsskuffe,

and years later, after she retired,

og flere år senere, efter hun gik på pension,

I watched some of those same kids come through

så jeg nogle af de samme børn komme igennem

and say to her, "You know, Ms. Walker,

og sige til hende, "Ved du, Ms. Walker,

you made a difference in my life.

du gjorde en forskel i mit liv.

Du fik det til at fungere for mig.

You made it work for me.

You made me feel like I was somebody,

Du fik mig til at føle mig, som om jeg var noget,

when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't.

da jeg, på bunden, vidste, at jeg ikke var det.

And I want you to just see what I've become."

Og jeg ville have dig til at se, hvad jeg er blevet."

And when my mama died two years ago at 92,

Og da min mor døde for to år siden som 92 årig,

there were so many former students at her funeral,

var der så mange tidligere elever ved hendes begravelse,

at det gav mig tårer i øjnene, ikke fordi hun var væk,

it brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone,

but because she left a legacy of relationships

men fordi hun efterlod en arv om forhold,

that could never disappear.

der aldrig kunne forsvinde.

Can we stand to have more relationships?

Kan vi holde til at have flere forhold? Bestemt.

Absolutely.

Will you like all your children? Of course not.

Vil man holde af alle sine børn? Selvfølgelig ikke.

(Laughter)

Og man ved, at ens sejeste unger aldrig er væk.

And you know your toughest kids are never absent.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Never.

Aldrig. Man holder ikke af dem alle,

You won't like them all,

and the tough ones show up for a reason.

og de seje møder op af en årsag.

It's the connection. It's the relationships.

Det er forbindelsen. Det er forholdene.

Og mens man ikke kan lide dem alle,

er det afgørende, at de aldrig nogensinde må vide det.

So teachers become great actors and great actresses,

Så lærerne bliver fantastiske skuespillere og fantastiske skuespillerinder,

and we come to work when we don't feel like it,

og vi kommer på arbejde, selv når vi ikke har lyst til det,

and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense,

og vi hører på politik, der ikke giver mening,

and we teach anyway.

og vi underviser alligevel.

We teach anyway, because that's what we do.

Vi underviser alligevel, fordi det er det, vi gør.

Teaching and learning should bring joy.

At undervise og lære bør bringe glæde.

How powerful would our world be

Hvor magtfuld ville vores verden være,

if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks,

hvis vi havde unger, der ikke var bange for at tage chancer,

who were not afraid to think,

der ikke var bange for at tænke,

and who had a champion?

og som havde en forkæmper?

Every child deserves a champion,

Alle børn fortjener en forkæmper,

an adult who will never give up on them,

en voksen, der aldrig opgiver dem,

who understands the power of connection,

der forstår styrken ved forbindelser,

and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.

og insisterer på, at de bliver det bedste, de overhovedet kan blive.

Is this job tough? You betcha.

Er dette job hårdt? Det kan I bande på. Gud, det kan I bande på.

Oh God, you betcha.

But it is not impossible.

Men det er ikke umuligt.

We can do this. We're educators.

Vi kan gøre dette. Vi er undervisere.

We're born to make a difference.

Vi er født til at gøre en forskel.

Thank you so much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)