Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED

Translator: Shadia Ramsahye Reviewer: Ameerah Arjanee

Bonzour. Ki manier?

Good morning. How are you?

(Audience) Good.

(Riye)

Tousala extra, non?

It's been great, hasn't it?

I've been blown away by the whole thing.

Mo mem mo sou lemosion.

In fact, I'm leaving.

Ofet, mo bizin ale.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

There have been three themes running through the conference,

Trwa tem finn revini dan sa konferans la

which are relevant to what I want to talk about.

ki an rapor avek saki mo anvi koze.

One is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity

Premie, se sa prev extraordiner de kreativite

in all of the presentations that we've had

dan tou bann prezantasion ki nounn gete

and in all of the people here;

ek dan tou bann dimounn ki isi.

just the variety of it and the range of it.

Nek get sa kalite variete la.

The second is that it's put us in a place

Deziem zafer, sa met nou dan enn sitiasion

where we have no idea what's going to happen

kot nou pa kone ki kapav arive

in terms of the future.

dan lefitir.

No idea how this may play out.

Aukenn lide kouma tousala kapav deroule.

I have an interest in education.

Mo interese dan ledikasion.

Actually, what I find is, everybody has an interest in education.

Ofet, mo trouve ki tou dimounn interese ek ledikasion.

Don't you?

Pa ou?

I find this very interesting.

Mo trouv sa bien interesan.

Kan ou dan enn dine,

If you're at a dinner party, and you say you work in education --

ek ou dir ki ou travay dan ledikasion --

ofet, ou pa tro souvan invite a bann dine.

actually, you're not often at dinner parties, frankly.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

If you work in education, you're not asked.

Si ou travay dan ledikasion, personn napa invit ou.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

And you're never asked back, curiously. That's strange to me.

Ousua personn pa reinvit ou. Mo trouv sa bien etranz.

But if you are, and you say to somebody,

Si samem ou ka, ek ou dir sa kikenn, ou kone,

you know, they say, "What do you do?"

zot dimande, "Ki ou fer dan lavi?",

and you say you work in education,

ek ou reponn ki ou dan ledikasion,

you can see the blood run from their face.

ou trouv disan desann depi zot figir.

They're like, "Oh my God. Why me?"

Zot pense, "Ayo bondie, kifer mwa?"

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"My one night out all week."

"Sel zour mo sorti sa semenn la."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

But if you ask about their education, they pin you to the wall,

Si ou poz zot kestion lor ledikasion, zot irite.

because it's one of those things that goes deep with people, am I right?

Parski se enn size bien sansib pou dimounn, pa vre?

Like religion and money and other things.

Kouma relizion ek larzan.

So I have a big interest in education, and I think we all do.

Alor mo bien interese ek ledikasion, ek mo panse ki nou tou interese.

Nou ena enn gran lintere ladan

We have a huge vested interest in it,

partly because it's education that's meant to take us into this future

an parti parski se ledikasion ki sipoze gid nou dan sa fitir

that we can't grasp.

ki nou pa ankor konpran la.

If you think of it,

Si ou reflesi, bann zanfan ki pe koumans lekol sa lane la

children starting school this year will be retiring in 2065.

pou pran zot retret an 2065.

Nobody has a clue,

Personn pa kone,

despite all the expertise that's been on parade for the past four days,

malgre tou sa lexpertiz ki nounn finn trouve sa kat dernie zour la,

what the world will look like in five years' time.

ki lemond pou resanble dan sink an.

And yet, we're meant to be educating them for it.

Me nou sipoze edik zot pu fer fas sa lemond la.

So the unpredictability, I think, is extraordinary.

Sa inprediktabilite la, li extraordiner.

And the third part of this is that we've all agreed, nonetheless,

Troiziem zafer

lor ki nou tou dakor

on the really extraordinary capacities that children have --

seki bann zanfan ena bann kapasite extraordiner --

their capacities for innovation.

bann kapasite pou inove.

I mean, Sirena last night was a marvel, wasn't she?

Yer, Sirena ti extra, pa vre?

Just seeing what she could do.

Dan nek gete ki li kapav fer.

And she's exceptional, but I think she's not, so to speak,

Li li exsepsionel, me mo pa panse

ki li exsepsionel parmi tou bann zanfan.

exceptional in the whole of childhood.

Se zis enn dimounn avek enn dedikasion extraordiner

What you have there is a person of extraordinary dedication

who found a talent.

ki finn trouv so talan.

And my contention is, all kids have tremendous talents,

Ek mwa mo dir ki tou zanfan ena bann gran talan,

and we squander them, pretty ruthlessly.

me nou gaspiy sa san aukenn pitie.

Alor, mo anvi koz lor ledikasion

So I want to talk about education,

and I want to talk about creativity.

ek mo anvi koz lor kreativite.

My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy,

Mo konba se ki kreativite zordizour bizin osi inportan ki alfabetism

ek ki nou bizin tret li avek mem linportans.

and we should treat it with the same status.

(Applause)

(Aplodisman) Mersi.

Thank you.

(Aplodisman)

(Applause)

That was it, by the way. Thank you very much.

Bon, samem tou.

Mersi bokou.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

So, 15 minutes left.

Mo res 15 minit.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"Well, I was born ... "

Alor, monn ne -- non.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Monn fek tann enn zoli zistwar ek mo kontan rerakont li.

I heard a great story recently -- I love telling it --

of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson.

Li lor enn tifi dan enn klas desin.

She was six, and she was at the back, drawing,

Li ena sizan ek pe asiz derier, pe desine.

and the teacher said this girl hardly ever paid attention,

So profeser dir ki zame li atentiv

and in this drawing lesson, she did.

sof dan klas desin.

The teacher was fascinated.

Profeser la inn fasine.

She went over to her, and she said, "What are you drawing?"

Alor linn al dimann li, "Ki to pe desine?"

And the girl said, "I'm drawing a picture of God."

Tifi la reponn, "Mo pe desinn bondie."

And the teacher said, "But nobody knows what God looks like."

Profeser dir, "Me personn napa kone bondie kouma resanble."

And the girl said, "They will in a minute."

Li reponn, "Zot pou kone dan enn ti moman."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

When my son was four in England --

Kan mo garson ti ena katran dan Langleter --

actually, he was four everywhere, to be honest.

ofet, li ti ena katran partou.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

If we're being strict about it, wherever he went, he was four that year.

Bon, nimport kotsa li ti ete, li ti ena katran sa lane la.

He was in the Nativity play. Do you remember the story?

Li ti pe zwe dan spektak Nativite. Zot rapel so zistwar?

(Laughter)

(Riye)

No, it was big, it was a big story.

Se enn gran zistwar.

Mel Gibson did the sequel, you may have seen it.

Mel Gibson inn fer so laswit, kapav zot inn gete.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"Nativity II."

"Nativite 2".

But James got the part of Joseph, which we were thrilled about.

James tinn gagn rol Zozef: nou ti bien kontan.

We considered this to be one of the lead parts.

Nou ti konsider sa kouma enn bann rol prinsipal.

We had the place crammed full of agents in T-shirts:

Lasal ti rampli ar bann azan ar bann t-shirt ki dir

"James Robinson LIMEM Zozef!" (Riye)

"James Robinson IS Joseph!"

(Laughter)

He didn't have to speak, but you know the bit where the three kings come in?

Li pa ti ena pou koze,

me zot konn sa parti kot trwa lerwa vini la?

They come in bearing gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Zot vini avek kado, lor ek lobann.

This really happened.

Sa inn vremem arive.

A enn moman mo panse ki zot inn bliye enn sekans

We were sitting there, and I think they just went out of sequence,

because we talked to the little boy afterward and said,

parski kan nounn dimann ti garson la apre,

"You OK with that?" They said, "Yeah, why? Was that wrong?"

"Tou korek?", linn reponn, "Wi, kifer? Sa pa ti bon?"

They just switched.

Zot inn zis fer melanz.

The three boys came in, four-year-olds with tea towels on their heads.

Trwa garson ti rantre.

Zot ena katran, ar zot ti serviet lor latet.

They put these boxes down, and the first boy said, "I bring you gold."

Zot poz bann bwat anba,

ek premie la dir, "Monn amenn lor."

And the second boy said, "I bring you myrrh."

Deziem la dir, "Monn amenn lobann."

And the third boy said, "Frank sent this."

Trwaziem la dir, "Frank inn avoy sa."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

What these things have in common is that kids will take a chance.

Saki bann zanfan la ena an komun, seki zot oze.

If they don't know, they'll have a go.

Si zot pa kone, zot nek seye.

Pa vre? Zot pa per tansion zot pena rezon.

Am I right? They're not frightened of being wrong.

I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative.

Mo pa pe dir ki pena rezon se mem zafer ki et kreatif.

What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong,

Saki nou kone se ki si ou pa pre pou pena rezon,

you'll never come up with anything original --

zame ou pa pou fer kitsoz orizinal.

if you're not prepared to be wrong.

Si ou pa pre pou fer erer.

And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity.

Letan grandi vinn adilt, laplipar zanfan perdi sa kapasite la.

They have become frightened of being wrong.

Zot per tansion zot fer "fot".

And we run our companies like this.

Koumsa mem ki nou diriz konpani.

We stigmatize mistakes.

Nou stigmatiz erer.

And we're now running national education systems

Ek aster nou diriz nou sistem ledikasion nasional

where mistakes are the worst thing you can make.

avek lide ki erer se pir zafer ki ou kapav fer.

And the result is that we are educating people

Rezilta, se ki nou pe edik dimounn

out of their creative capacities.

pou pa servi zot kapasite kreatif.

Picasso once said this, he said that all children are born artists.

Picasso ti dir ki tou zanfan ne artis.

The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.

Saki difisil se res enn artis letan nou grandi.

I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity,

Mo vremem krwar sa, ki nou pa aprann me blie

we grow out of it.

kouma vinn kreatif.

Or rather, we get educated out of it.

Ou plito nou ledikasion fer nou bliye.

So why is this?

Kifer sa?

Ena sink an, mo ti pe viv Stratford-on-Avon.

I lived in Stratford-on-Avon until about five years ago.

In fact, we moved from Stratford to Los Angeles.

Ofet nounn bouze al Los Angeles depi Stratford.

So you can imagine what a seamless transition this was.

Zot kav imazine kouma sa tranzision la ti fasil.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Actually, we lived in a place called Snitterfield,

Ofet, ou ti dan enn landrwa apel Snitterfield

just outside Stratford,

zis andeor Stratford,

which is where Shakespeare's father was born.

kot Shakespeare so papa ti ne.

Are you struck by a new thought? I was.

Aster la zot pe realize? Ek mwasi ti parey.

You don't think of Shakespeare having a father, do you?

Ki Shakespeare ti ena enn papa?

Do you?

Parski zame zot inn panse ki Shakespeare ti enn zanfan, non?

Because you don't think of Shakespeare being a child, do you?

Shakespeare being seven?

Mazinn Shakespeare a set an?

I never thought of it.

Zame monn pans sa.

I mean, he was seven at some point.

Anfin, li ti ena 7 an a enn moman.

He was in somebody's English class, wasn't he?

Li ti dan kikenn so klas angle, pa vre?

(Laughter)

(Riye)

How annoying would that be?

Sa ti bizin amerdan, non?

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"Must try harder."

"Fer plis zefor."

(Riye)

(Laughter)

So papa dir li al dormi, "William, al dormi aster la mem!

Being sent to bed by his dad, to Shakespeare, "Go to bed, now!"

To William Shakespeare.

Poz sa kreyon la."

"And put the pencil down!"

(Riye)

(Laughter)

"Ek aret koz koumsa."

"And stop speaking like that."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"It's confusing everybody."

"Personn napa pe konpran."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Anyway, we moved from Stratford to Los Angeles,

Bon, nounn bouz depi Stratford pu al Los Angeles,

and I just want to say a word about the transition.

ek mo zis anvi dir kitsoz lor sa tranzision la.

Actually, my son didn't want to come.

Mo garson pa ti anvi vini.

I've got two kids; he's 21 now, my daughter's 16.

Mo ena de zanfan: mo garson ena 21 an, mo tifi ena 16 an.

He didn't want to come to Los Angeles.

Li pa ti anvi vinn Los Angeles.

He loved it, but he had a girlfriend in England.

Li ti pou kontan, me li ti ena enn kopinn Langleter.

This was the love of his life, Sarah.

Ti lamour so lavi, Sarah.

He'd known her for a month.

Li ti konn li depi enn mwa.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Mind you, they'd had their fourth anniversary,

Tansion, zot ti fek fet zot katriem laniverser,

ek se boukou kan ou ena 16 an.

because it's a long time when you're 16.

He was really upset on the plane.

Anfin, li ti bien boude dan avion.

He said, "I'll never find another girl like Sarah."

Li dir, "Zame pou trouv enn lot tifi kouma Sarah."

And we were rather pleased about that, frankly --

Ek sa ti fer nou ase kontan, onetman --

(Laughter)

(Riye)

because she was the main reason we were leaving the country.

Parski li ti prinsipal rezon kifer nou ti pe kit pei.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

But something strikes you when you move to America

Enn zafer frap ou kan ou vinn Lamerik

and travel around the world:

ek kan ou voyaze dan lemond:

every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects.

tou sistem ledikasion ena mem yerarsi dan bann size.

Every one. Doesn't matter where you go.

Tou sistem. Nimport kotsa dan lemond.

You'd think it would be otherwise, but it isn't.

Ou panse lekontrer vre, me ofet non.

At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities.

Lao ou trouv matematik ek langaz,

answit sians imenn, ek enba net bann size artistik.

At the bottom are the arts. Everywhere on earth.

Partou lor later.

And in pretty much every system, too, there's a hierarchy within the arts.

Ek dan sak sistem ena mem enn lot yerasi ant sak size artistik.

Art and music are normally given a higher status in schools

Desin ek lamizik ena plis prestiz

than drama and dance.

ki teat ek danse.

There isn't an education system on the planet

Pena enn sistem ledikasion dan lemond

that teaches dance every day to children

ki ansegn danse toulezour

the way we teach them mathematics.

kouma li ansegn matematik. Kifer?

Why?

Why not?

Kifer non? Mo panse ki li ase inportan.

I think this is rather important.

I think math is very important, but so is dance.

Mo panse matematik bien inportan, me danse osi.

Children dance all the time if they're allowed to, we all do.

Zanfan danse toultan si nou les zot, nousi parey.

We all have bodies, don't we? Did I miss a meeting?

Nou tou ena enn lekor, non? Ou eski monn rat kitsoz?

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Truthfully, what happens is, as children grow up,

Anverite, saki arive, se ki kan nou edik zanfan,

we start to educate them progressively from the waist up.

nou koumans depi zot lipie nou mont ziska zot latet.

And then we focus on their heads.

Apre nou nek konsantre lor latet.

And slightly to one side.

Ek impe zis lor kote gos la.

Si ou enn alienn ek ou vizit sistem la

If you were to visit education as an alien

and say "What's it for, public education?"

ek ou dimande, "Ledikasion piblik ki servi?",

I think you'd have to conclude, if you look at the output,

mo panse ou konklizion, si ou get rezilta,

who really succeeds by this,

get bann ki resi dan sistem,

who does everything they should,

bann ki fer tou kouma bizin,

who gets all the brownie points, who are the winners --

bann ki gagn tou bon pwin, bann gagnan --

I think you'd have to conclude the whole purpose of public education

mo panse konklizion se ki rol ledikasion piblik,

throughout the world

a traver lemond,

is to produce university professors.

se prodir bann profeser liniversite.

Isn't it?

Pa vre?

They're the people who come out the top.

Zot mem ki ariv lao net.

And I used to be one, so there.

Mo mem mo ti profeser.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Mo kontan bann profeser liniversite, me ou kone,

And I like university professors,

but, you know, we shouldn't hold them up

nou pa oblize pran zot

as the high-water mark of all human achievement.

kouma meyer mezir pou reysit.

They're just a form of life.

Zot zis enn form lavi,

Another form of life.

enn lot kalite form lavi.

But they're rather curious.

Me zot ase etranz, ek mo pe dir sa parski mo bien kontan zot.

And I say this out of affection for them:

there's something curious about professors.

Ena kitsoz etranz ar bann profeser, dapre mwa --

In my experience -- not all of them, but typically -- they live in their heads.

pa zot tou, me boukou, viv dan zot latet.

They live up there and slightly to one side.

Zot viv lao isi, ek inpe lor kote gos la.

They're disembodied, you know, in a kind of literal way.

Zot pena lekor, ou kone, ase literalman.

They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads.

Pou zot, zot lekor li enn form transpor pou zot latet.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Don't they?

Pa vre?

It's a way of getting their head to meetings.

Se enn fason amenn zot latet dan bann reunion.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

If you want real evidence of out-of-body experiences, by the way,

Si ou le kit prev lor bann lexperians andeor lekor,

get yourself along to a residential conference of senior academics

nek al dan enn konferans avek bann akademik senior,

and pop into the discotheque on the final night.

ek al dan enn diskotek dernie zour.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

And there, you will see it.

Lerla zot pou trouve.

Grown men and women writhing uncontrollably, off the beat.

Bann misie ek madam ki pe zigile san aukenn ritm.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Waiting until it ends, so they can go home and write a paper about it.

Nek atann, kouma zot al lakaz zot pou ekrir enn lartik lor la.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability.

Nou sistem ledikasion baze lor capasite akademik.

And there's a reason.

Ena enn rezon pou sa.

Around the world, there were no public systems of education,

Dan lemond, pa ti ena okenn sistem ledikasion piblik

really, before the 19th century.

avan dizneviem siek.

They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism.

Tousala finn arive akoz lindistrializasion ti bizin sa.

So the hierarchy is rooted on two ideas.

Alor sa yerarsi la baze lor de lide.

Number one, that the most useful subjects for work are at the top.

Premie, se ki bann size pli itil pu lao net.

So you were probably steered benignly away from things at school

Akoz samem kapav ou finn detourne depi

bann zafer ki ou ti kontan kan ou ti zanfan,

when you were a kid,

things you liked,

on the grounds you would never get a job doing that.

parski sanse pa pou gagn travay ou lavi avek sa, pa vre?

Is that right?

Pa pran lamizik, to pa pou vinn mizisien;

"Don't do music, you're not going to be a musician;

pa pran art, to pa pou vinn artis.

don't do art, you won't be an artist."

Bann konsey ki bien kouran me ki prondeman antor.

Benign advice -- now, profoundly mistaken.

The whole world is engulfed in a revolution.

Lemond antie pe pas dan enn revolision.

And the second is academic ability,

Deziem lide, se ki capasite akademik

which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence,

finn vinn definir saki nou apel lintelizans,

because the universities design the system in their image.

parski linversite finn kre sa sistem la dapre zot mem.

If you think of it,

Kan ou panse, tou sistem ledikasion piblik dan lemond,

the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process

se enn long prosesis pou rant dan liniversite.

of university entrance.

And the consequence is that many highly talented,

So konsekans se ki boukou dimounn ki ena talan,

brilliant, creative people think they're not,

ki briyan ek kreatif, napa panse ki zot koumsa

because the thing they were good at at school

akoz sel zafer dan ki zot ti bon dan lekol

wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized.

pa ti ena valer ou ti stigmatize.

And I think we can't afford to go on that way.

Mo pa panse nou kapav kontinie koumsa.

In the next 30 years, according to UNESCO,

UNESCO dir ki dan 30 an,

more people worldwide will be graduating through education

pli boukou dimounn pou gradwe

than since the beginning of history.

depi ledikasion piblik ki depi koumansman listwar.

More people.

Plis dimounn, ek se sa melanz de tou saki nounn koze --

And it's the combination of all the things we've talked about:

technology and its transformational effect on work,

teknolozi ek kouma li pe transform travay, ek demografi

and demography and the huge explosion in population.

avek so lexplozion popilasion.

Suddenly, degrees aren't worth anything.

Enn sel kout, diplom pa pou vo nanye.

Isn't that true?

Pa vre?

When I was a student, if you had a degree, you had a job.

Kan mo ti etidian, si ou ti ena diplom, ou ti ena travay.

If you didn't have a job, it's because you didn't want one.

Si ou pa ti ena travay, se parski ou pa ti anvi travay.

And I didn't want one, frankly.

Ek mwa mo pa ti anvi. (Riye)

(Laughter)

Me aster bann zanfan diplome

But now kids with degrees are often heading home

souvan pe retourn kot paran pou kontign zwe video game,

to carry on playing video games,

because you need an MA where the previous job required a BA,

akoz ou bizin enn MA kot avan ti bizin enn BA,

and now you need a PhD for the other.

ek aster pe bizin PhD.

It's a process of academic inflation.

Se enn prosesis inflasion akademik.

And it indicates the whole structure of education is shifting beneath our feet.

Ek sa montre kouma striktir ledikasion

pe bouze anba nou prop lipie.

We need to radically rethink our view of intelligence.

Nou bizin sanz nou definision lintelizans.

We know three things about intelligence.

Nou konn trwa kitsoz lor lintelizans.

One, it's diverse.

Premie, se ki li divers.

We think about the world in all the ways that we experience it.

Nou persepsion lemond depann lor tou kalite lexperians.

We think visually, we think in sound, we think kinesthetically.

Nou reflesi vizwelman, avek son, avek nou sans touse.

We think in abstract terms, we think in movement.

Nou reflesi de fason abstre ou an mouvman.

Secondly, intelligence is dynamic.

Deziem, lintelizans li dinamik.

If you look at the interactions of a human brain,

Si ou get bann interaksion dan servo,

as we heard yesterday from a number of presentations,

kouma nounn tande yer depi ennta prezantasion,

intelligence is wonderfully interactive.

lintelizans extra interaktif.

The brain isn't divided into compartments.

Nou servo pa divize an konpartiman.

In fact, creativity --

Anfet, kreativite -- ki mo defini kouma prosesis

which I define as the process of having original ideas that have value --

gagn bann lide orizinal ki ena valer --

more often than not comes about

pli souvan arive atraver interaksion

through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.

ant diferan fason get bann zafer.

By the way, there's a shaft of nerves that joins the two halves of the brain,

An pasan, ena enn colonn ner ki relie de lemisfer nou servo.

called the corpus callosum.

Li apel "corpus callosum".

It's thicker in women.

Li pli epe kot bann madam.

Following off from Helen yesterday,

Yer, dapre Helen,

se kitfwa akoz sa mem bann madam pli bon dan multi-tasking.

this is probably why women are better at multitasking.

Because you are, aren't you?

Parski zot kapav, pa vre?

Boukou resers lor la, me mo konn sa depi lexperians personel.

There's a raft of research, but I know it from my personal life.

If my wife is cooking a meal at home, which is not often ...

Si mo madam pe kwi lakaz -- ki pa ariv souvan, erezman.

thankfully.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Non, ena zafer ki li fer bien -- me kan li pe kwi,

No, she's good at some things.

But if she's cooking, she's dealing with people on the phone,

an mem tan li kav lor telefonn,

she's talking to the kids, she's painting the ceiling --

li kav pe koz ek zanfan, li kav pe penn plafon,

li kav pe fer enn loperasion leker.

(Laughter)

she's doing open-heart surgery over here.

If I'm cooking, the door is shut, the kids are out,

Si mwa mo pe kwi ... laport ferme, zanfan deor,

the phone's on the hook,

telefonn debranse, ek si li rantre mo agase.

if she comes in, I get annoyed.

I say, "Terry, please, I'm trying to fry an egg in here."

Mo dir, "Terry, enn servis, mo pe sey frir enn dizef la."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

"Give me a break."

"Les mwa trankil."

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Actually, do you know that old philosophical thing,

Ofet, ou konn sa vie koze ki dir si

"If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody hears it, did it happen?"

enn pie tombe dan bwa ek personn pa tande, eski linn vremem arive?

Remember that old chestnut?

Ou rapel sa zistwar la?

I saw a great T-shirt recently, which said,

Monn trouv enn zoli t-shirt resaman ki dir

"If a man speaks his mind in a forest, and no woman hears him,

"Si enn misie dir so laverite dan enn bwa ek okenn madam pa tann li,

is he still wrong?"

eski li ena kan mem tor?"

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Trwaziem zafer lor lintelizans se ki

And the third thing about intelligence is,

it's distinct.

li ena plizir form.

Mo pe ekrir enn liv ki apel "Epifani"

I'm doing a new book at the moment called "Epiphany,"

which is based on a series of interviews with people

lor enn seri interview avek bann dimounn

lor kouma zot finn dekouver zot talan.

about how they discovered their talent.

I'm fascinated by how people got to be there.

Mo fasine par kouma zot inn arive dan lavi.

Lide la inn ne apre enn konversasion avek enn madam extraordiner

It's really prompted by a conversation I had with a wonderful woman

who maybe most people have never heard of, Gillian Lynne.

ki bokou dimounn pa kone, Gillian Lyne.

Ounn deza tande? Ena wi.

Have you heard of her? Some have.

She's a choreographer, and everybody knows her work.

Dan domenn koregrafi, zot tou konn so travay.

She did "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera."

Linn fer "Cats" ek "Phantom of the Opera".

She's wonderful.

Li extraordiner.

I used to be on the board of The Royal Ballet, as you can see.

Avan, mo ti lor bord Royal Ballet,

kouma ou kav trouve.

(Laughter)

Pandan enn dezene avek Gillian, monn dimann li,

Gillian and I had lunch one day. I said, "How did you get to be a dancer?"

"Kouma tonn al vinn enn danser?"

Ti bien interesan.

It was interesting.

Kan li ti lekol, pa ti ena okenn lespwar pou li.

When she was at school, she was really hopeless.

So lekol dan bann lane 30 ti finn ekrir so paran pou dir ki

And the school, in the '30s, wrote to her parents and said,

"We think Gillian has a learning disorder."

Gillian bizin ena enn problem aprantisaz.

She couldn't concentrate; she was fidgeting.

Li pa ti pe kav konsantre: nek li bouzbouze.

I think now they'd say she had ADHD.

Zordizour zot ti pou dir ki li ena ADHD, non?

Wouldn't you?

But this was the 1930s, and ADHD hadn't been invented at this point.

Me sa ti dan bann lane 30, ek ADHD pa ti ankor invante.

It wasn't an available condition.

Pa ti enn condision disponib.

(Laughter)

(Riye)

Dimounn pa ti kone ki zot kapav ena sa.

People weren't aware they could have that.

(Riye)

(Laughter)

Anyway, she went to see this specialist.

Bon, linn al get enn spesialis.

So, this oak-paneled room, and she was there with her mother,

Linn al ek so mama dan enn pies kouver ar dibwa senn,

and she was led and sat on this chair at the end,

kot zot inn fer li asiz lor enn sez dan fon lasal

and she sat on her hands for 20 minutes,

pou vin minit pandan ki so mama koz ar dokter la

while this man talked to her mother

about all the problems Gillian was having at school,

lor tou bann problem ki li gagne lekol.

because she was disturbing people, her homework was always late, and so on.

Li ti pe deranz dimounn, li ti pe rann devwar an retar, etc.

Little kid of eight.

Ti enn zanfan 8 an sa.

In the end, the doctor went and sat next to Gillian and said,

A la fin, dokter la leve, al asiz akot Gillian ek dir li,

"I've listened to all these things your mother's told me.

"Monn ekout tou saki to mama finn dir,

I need to speak to her privately.

mo bizin koz ar li an prive.

Atann isi, nou pou revini dan enn ti moman."

Wait here. We'll be back. We won't be very long,"

and they went and left her.

Ek zot inn kit li.

Me avan li sorti,

But as they went out of the room,

he turned on the radio that was sitting on his desk.

dokter la inn alim radio ki ti lor so latab.

And when they got out of the room,

Ek kan zot inn sorti, li dir mama la, "Nek deboute gete."

he said to her mother, "Just stand and watch her."

And the minute they left the room,

Nek kouma zot sorti,

she was on her feet, moving to the music.

tifi la dibout, li koumans danse.

And they watched for a few minutes, and he turned to her mother and said,

Zot obzerv li pandan impe minit, lerla dokter la dir so mama,

"Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick.

"Madam Lynne, Gillian pa malad, li zis enn danser.

She's a dancer.

Amenn li lekol de dans."

Take her to a dance school."

I said, "What happened?"

Mo dimann Gillian, "Lerla kinn arive?"

She said, "She did. I can't tell you how wonderful it was.

"Samem linn fer. Mo pa kav dir twa kouma sa ti merveye.

We walked in this room, and it was full of people like me --

Nounn rant dan enn lasal kot zot tou ti kouma mwa.

people who couldn't sit still,

Bann dimounn ki pa kav asiz trankil,

people who had to move to think."

dimounn ki bizin bouze pou reflesi." Ki bizin bouze pou reflesi.

Who had to move to think.

They did ballet, they did tap, jazz; they did modern; they did contemporary.

Zot inn aprann bale, tap, jazz, dans modern, dans kontanporenn.

She was eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School.

Linn al odision pou Royal Ballet School,

She became a soloist; she had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet.

linn vinn enn danser solo, linn fer enn bel karyer kot Royal Ballet.

She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School,

Finalman linn kit Royal Ballet School

founded the Gillian Lynne Dance Company,

ek finn fond Gillian Lynne Dance Company,

met Andrew Lloyd Webber.

zwenn Andrew Lloyd Webber.

She's been responsible for

Li mem deryer

some of the most successful musical theater productions in history,

bokou bann prodiksion teat mizikal kinn ena plis sikse.

she's given pleasure to millions,

Linn fer boukou dimounn kontan ek li enn multimilioner.

and she's a multimillionaire.

Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.

Enn lot dokter ti kav nek donn li medsinn ek dir li kalme.

(Applause)

(Aplodisman)

What I think it comes to is this:

Ala saki mo panse:

Al Gore spoke the other night

lot zour la Al Gore ti koz

about ecology and the revolution that was triggered by Rachel Carson.

lor ekolozi ek sa revolision ki finn deklanse par Rachel Carson.

I believe our only hope for the future

Mo panse ki nou sel lespwar pou lefitir

is to adopt a new conception of human ecology,

se adopte enn nouvo konsepsion "ekolozi imenn",

one in which we start to reconstitute our conception

kot nou rekonstrir nou konsepsion

of the richness of human capacity.

de larises kapasite imenn.

Our education system has mined our minds

Nou sistem ledikasion inn minn nou lespri

in the way that we strip-mine the earth for a particular commodity.

dan mem fason ki nounn explwat later: pou enn komodite an partikilie.

And for the future, it won't serve us.

Dan lefitir, sa pa pou servi nou.

We have to rethink the fundamental principles

Nou bizin repans bann prinsip fondamantal

on which we're educating our children.

ki nou servi pou edik nou bann zanfan.

There was a wonderful quote by Jonas Salk, who said,

Ena enn zoli sitasion de Jonas Salk,

"If all the insects were to disappear from the Earth,

"Si tou bann insek disparet depi later,

within 50 years, all life on Earth would end.

an mwins ki 50 an, tou lavi lor later pou disparet.

If all human beings disappeared from the Earth,

Si tou dimounn disparet depi later,

within 50 years, all forms of life would flourish."

an mwins ki 50 an, tou lavi lor later pou epannwi."

And he's right.

Ek li ena rezon.

What TED celebrates is the gift of the human imagination.

Saki TED selebre se kado limazinasion imenn.

We have to be careful now that we use this gift wisely,

Nou bizin fer atansion

ki nou servi sa kado la avek sazes

and that we avert some of the scenarios that we've talked about.

ek ki nou evit bann senario ki nounn koze talerla.

And the only way we'll do it is by seeing our creative capacities

Sel fason nou kav fer sa se a traver rekonesans la rises

for the richness they are

de nou bann kapasite kreatif

and seeing our children for the hope that they are.

ek rekonesan nou bann zanfan kouma nou sours lespwar.

And our task is to educate their whole being,

Nou devwar se edik zot de fason olistik

so they can face this future.

pou ki zot kav afront lefitir.

By the way -- we may not see this future,

Kapav nou nou pa pou trouv sa fitir la,

but they will.

me zot wi.

And our job is to help them make something of it.

Nou devwar se ed zot fer kitsoz ar li.

Thank you very much.

Mersi boukou.

(Applause)

(Aplodisman)