What adults can learn from kids | Adora Svitak

Translator: Raquel Caamaño Reviewer: Adrián Levices Casal

Now, I want to start with a question:

Quero comezar cunha pregunta:

When was the last time you were called "childish"?

¿Cando foi a última vez que vos chamaron "infantís"?

For kids like me,

Para os nenos coma min,

being called childish can be a frequent occurrence.

que nos chamen infantís é algo frecuente.

Every time we make irrational demands,

Cada vez que facemos esixencias irracionais,

exhibit irresponsible behavior,

amosamos un comportamento irresponsábel

or display any other signs of being normal American citizens,

ou manifestamos calquera outro indicio

de que somos cidadáns estadounidenses normais

we are called childish.

chámannos infantís.

E iso amólame moito.

Which really bothers me.

After all, take a look at these events:

Despois de todo, botade un ollo a estes acontecementos:

Imperialism and colonization,

Imperialismo e colonización,

world wars, George W. Bush.

guerras mundiais, George W. Bush.

Ask yourself, who's responsible? Adults.

Preguntádevos: ¿quen son os responsables? Os adultos.

Now, what have kids done?

¿E qué fixeron os nenos?

Well, Anne Frank touched millions

Ben, Ana Frank emocionou a millóns de persoas

with her powerful account of the Holocaust.

coa súa impactante versión do Holocausto;

Ruby Bridges helped to end segregation in the United States.

Ruby Bridges axudou a poñer fin á segregación nos Estados Unidos;

And, most recently,

e, máis recentemente,

Charlie Simpson helped to raise 120,000 pounds for Haiti,

Charlie Simpson axudou a recadar

120.000 libras para Haití

on his little bike.

coa súa pequena bicicleta.

So as you can see evidenced by such examples,

Entón, como queda demostrado con estes exemplos,

age has absolutely nothing to do with it.

a idade non ten nada que ver.

The traits the word "childish" addresses are seen so often in adults,

O trazo que a palabra "infantil" implica

está presente tan a cotío nos adultos

that we should abolish this age-discriminatory word,

que deberíamos suprimir esa palabra que discrimina pola idade

when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility

cando criticamos comportamentos

irracionais ou irresponsables.

and irrational thinking.

(Aplausos)

(Applause)

Thank you.

Grazas.

Then again, who's to say that certain types of irrational thinking

Pero, ¿quen pode dicir

que algúns tipos de pensamentos irracionais

aren't exactly what the world needs?

non son exactamente o que o mundo precisa?

Maybe you've had grand plans before,

Pode que tivesedes grandes plans no pasado,

but stopped yourself, thinking,

pero que os detiverades ó pensar:

"That's impossible," or "That costs too much,"

"É imposible", "custa de máis",

or "That won't benefit me."

ou "non me vai beneficiar".

For better or worse, we kids aren't hampered as much

Para ben ou para mal, os nenos non poñemos tantos obstáculos

when it comes to thinking about reasons why not to do things.

á hora de pensar en razóns para non facer algo.

Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking,

Os nenos poden estar cheos de aspiracións inspiradoras

e ideas esperanzadoras.

like my wish that no one went hungry,

Coma o meu desexo de que ninguén pase fame

or that everything were free, a kind of utopia.

ou que todo fose coma unha utopía de balde.

How many of you still dream like that, and believe in the possibilities?

¿Cantos de vostedes aínda soñades así

e credes nas posibilidades?

Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of Utopian ideals

Ás veces o coñecemento da historia

e os erros pasados de ideais utópicos

poden ser unha carga

can be a burden,

because you know that if everything were free,

porque sabedes que se todo fose de balde,

then the food stocks would become depleted and scarce and lead to chaos.

as reservas de alimentos poderían reducirse

e a escaseza levaría ó caos.

On the other hand, we kids still dream about perfection.

Por outra parte,

os nenos aínda soñamos coa perfección.

And that's a good thing, because in order to make anything a reality,

E iso é bo porque para podermos

facer algo realidade,

you have to dream about it first.

primeiro temos que soñalo.

En moitos aspectos a nosa audacia imaxinativa

In many ways, our audacity to imagine

helps push the boundaries of possibility.

axuda a estender os límites da posibilidade.

For instance, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington,

Por exemplo, o Museo do Vidro en Tacoma (Washington),

my home state -- yoohoo, Washington!

o meu estado natal. ¡Arriba Washington!

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

has a program called Kids Design Glass,

ten un programa chamado "Os nenos deseñan vidro",

and kids draw their own ideas for glass art.

onde os nenos debuxan as súas propias ideas en vidro.

The resident artist said they got some of their best ideas

O artista encargado dixo que sacaron

algunhas das súas mellores ideas do programa

from the program, because kids don't think about the limitations

porque os nenos non pensan nas limitacións

of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes,

do difícil que pode ser soprar o vidro en certas formas:

só pensan en boas ideas.

they just think of good ideas.

Now, when you think of glass, you might think of colorful Chihuly designs,

Cando un pensa en vidro, pode pensar

en coloridos deseños de Chihuly

or maybe Italian vases,

ou pode que en floreiros italianos,

but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that,

pero os nenos desafían ós artistas do vidro para ir máis alá,

into the realm of brokenhearted snakes

a un reino de serpes co corazón roto

and bacon boys, who you can see has meat vision.

e nenos touciño, que como poden ver, teñen visión cárnica.

(Risos)

(Laughter)

Now, our inherent wisdom doesn't have to be insider's knowledge.

A nosa sabedoría inherente

non ten que ser coñecementos privilexiados.

Kids already do a lot of learning from adults,

Os nenos xa aprenden moito dos adultos,

e nós temos moito que partillar.

and we have a lot to share.

I think that adults should start learning from kids.

Creo que os adultos deberían comezar a aprender dos nenos.

Now, I do most of my speaking

Eu dou os máis dos meus discursos fronte a un público do mundo da educación,

in front of an education crowd -- teachers and students,

mestres e estudantes, e gústame esta analoxía:

and I like this analogy:

It shouldn't be a teacher at the head of the class,

Non debería ser só un mestre ó fronte da clase

dicindo ós estudantes "fai isto, fai aquilo".

telling students, "Do this, do that."

The students should teach their teachers.

Os estudantes deberían ensinar ós seus mestres.

A aprendizaxe entre adultos e nenos

Learning between grown-ups and kids should be reciprocal.

debería ser recíproca.

The reality, unfortunately, is a little different,

A realidade, desafortunadamente, é un pouco diferente,

and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it.

e ten moito que ver coa confianza, ou a falta dela.

Now, if you don't trust someone, you place restrictions on them, right?

Pero, se non confías en alguén, poslle restricións, ¿non si?

If I doubt my older sister's ability to pay back the 10 percent interest

Se dubido da capacidade da miña irmá maior

de devolverme o 10 por cento de interese

I established on her last loan,

que establecín sobre o seu último préstamo,

I'm going to withhold her ability to get more money from me,

voulle negar a capacidade de obter de min máis cartos

until she pays it back.

ata que mos devolva. (Risos)

(Laughter)

True story, by the way.

Historia real, por certo.

Now, adults seem to have

Os adultos parecen ter

a prevalently restrictive attitude towards kids,

unha actitude restritiva cara ós nenos,

from every "Don't do that, don't do this" in the school handbook,

dende o "non fagas iso",

"non fagas isto" no libro da escola,

to restrictions on school Internet use.

ata as restricións no uso de internet.

As history points out, regimes become oppressive

Como amosa a historia, os réximes vólvense opresivos

when they're fearful about keeping control.

cando se obsesionan con manter o control.

And although adults may not be quite at the level

E, aínda que os adultos non chegan ao nivel

of totalitarian regimes,

dos réximes totalitarios,

kids have no or very little say in making the rules,

os nenos teñen pouca ou ningunha voz na creación das regras,

when really, the attitude should be reciprocal,

cando a actitude debería ser recíproca,

meaning that the adult population should learn

é dicir, a poboación adulta debería aprender

a ter en conta os desexos

and take into account the wishes of the younger population.

da poboación máis nova.

Now, what's even worse than restriction,

Pero o que é aínda peor que a restrición

is that adults often underestimate kids' abilities.

é que os adultos a miúdo subestiman a capacidade dos nenos.

We love challenges, but when expectations are low,

Encántannos os desafíos, pero cando as expectativas son baixas,

afundimos con elas, crédeme.

trust me, we will sink to them.

My own parents had anything but low expectations

Os meus propios pais tiñan de todo menos baixas expectativas

for me and my sister.

para a miña irmá e máis eu.

Okay, so they didn't tell us to become doctors or lawyers or anything like that,

Vale, non nos dicían que fósemos médicos

ou avogados ou algo así,

but my dad did read to us about Aristotle and pioneer germ-fighters,

pero o meu pai líanos

sobor Aristóteles

e os pioneiros que loitaban contra os xermes

when lots of other kids were hearing

cando moitos dos outros nenos escoitaban

"The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round."

cancións infantís como "As rodas do autobús xiran e xiran".

Well, we heard that one too, but "Pioneer Germ Fighters" totally rules.

Tamén escoitábamos esa, pero os pioneiros molaban moito.

(Risos)

(Laughter)

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six,

Gústame escribir desde que tiña catro anos

e cando tiña seis anos

my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word.

a miña nai mercoume a miña propia computadora con con Microsoft Word.

Thank you, Bill Gates, and thank you, Ma.

Grazas Bill Gates e grazas mamá.

I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop,

Escribín máis de 300 historias curtas

nesa computadora,

and I wanted to get published.

e quería que mas publicaran.

Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published,

No canto de mofarse da herexía

de que una nena quixera ser publicada

or saying wait until you're older,

ou dicir que agardara ata que fose máis vella,

my parents were really supportive.

os meus pais apoiáronme moito.

Many publishers were not quite so encouraging.

Moitos editores non foron tan alentadores.

One large children's publisher ironically said

Ironicamente un dos editores de libros infantís máis importantes dixo

that they didn't work with children.

que eles non traballaban con nenos...

Children's publisher not working with children?

¿Editores para nenos que non traballan con nenos?

I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there.

Non sei, creo que estades alienando moita clientela.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

One publisher, Action Publishing, was willing to take that leap and trust me,

Porén, un editor, Action Publishing,

estaba disposto a dar ese paso, confiar en min

and to listen to what I had to say.

e escoitar o que tiña que dicir.

They published my first book, "Flying Fingers," you see it here.

Publicaron o meu primeiro libro, "Flying Fingers", podedes velo aquí,

And from there on, it's gone to speaking at hundreds of schools,

e desde entón fun falar a centos de escolas,

keynoting to thousands of educators,

dei congresos a centos de educadores

and finally, today, speaking to you.

e finalmente estouvos a falar a vós hoxe.

I appreciate your attention today,

Agradezo a vosa atención

because to show that you truly care, you listen.

porque para amosar que vos importa de verdade,

escoitades.

But there's a problem with this rosy picture

Pero hai un problema coa optimista imaxe

of kids being so much better than adults.

de que os nenos son moito mellores cós adultos.

Kids grow up and become adults just like you.

Os nenos medran e convértense en adultos coma vós.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Or just like you? Really?

¿Coma vós? ¿En serio?

The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult,

O obxectivo non é converter ós nenos no voso tipo de adulto,

se non en mellores adultos do que fostes,

but rather, better adults than you have been,

which may be a little challenging, considering your guys' credentials.

o que pode ser un gran desafío

tendo en conta os vosos credenciais. (Risos)

(Laughter)

But the way progress happens,

Pero o progreso sucede

is because new generations and new eras

porque as novas xeracións e as novas eras

grow and develop and become better than the previous ones.

crecen, desenvólvense e son mellores cás anteriores.

It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore.

É a razón pola que xa non estamos na Idade Escura.

No matter your position or place in life,

Sen importar a túa posición ou lugar na vida

it is imperative to create opportunities for children,

é imperativo crear oportunidades para os nenos

so that we can grow up to blow you away.

para que poidan crecer e vos poidan liquidar.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Adults and fellow TEDsters,

Adultos e achegados TEDeiros,

you need to listen and learn from kids,

precisades escoitar e aprender dos nenos

and trust us and expect more from us.

confiar neles e agardar máis deles.

You must lend an ear today,

Debedes prestarlles oídos hoxe

because we are the leaders of tomorrow, which means

porque son os líderes do mañá,

o que significa que van coidar de vós

we're going to take care of you when you're old and senile.

cando sexades vellos e senís. Non, é broma:

No, just kidding.

(Laughter)

En serio, imos ser a próxima xeración,

No, really, we are going to be the next generation,

os que van sacar o mundo adiante.

the ones who will bring this world forward.

And in case you don't think that this really has meaning for you,

E en caso de que pensedes que isto non vos afecta,

remember that cloning is possible,

lembrade que a clonación é posible,

and that involves going through childhood again,

e que implica volver pasar pola infancia outra vez,

in which case you'll want to be heard, just like my generation.

e nese caso quereredes ser escoitados

igual cá miña xeración.

Now, the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas.

O mundo precisa oportunidades

para os novos líderes e novas ideas.

Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed.

Os nenos precisan oportunidades de liderar e ter éxito.

Are you ready to make the match?

¿Estades preparados para corresponderlles?

Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom.

Porque os problemas do mundo

non deberían ser unha reliquia familiar dos humanos.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

Thank you. Thank you.

Grazas. Grazas.