How to Design a School for the Future | Punya Mishra | TED

翻译人员: Gentle Yang 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

This is a story about failure, my failure.

这是一个关于失败的故事， 我的失败。

And though the story has some kind of a happy ending,

虽然故事最后有了某种圆满的结局，

it's not your typical story where failure is a stepping stone to success.

但这并非那种老生常谈的 “失败是成功之母”故事。

It almost feels like failure is celebrated a lot these days.

如今感觉更像是都在庆祝失败。

For instance, you hear slogans like "Fail forward, fail better, fail faster."

比如，你会听到这样的口号： “勇于失败，更多失败，快速失败“。

And to be honest, these slogans drive me crazy.

坦白说，这些标语让我抓狂。

I mean, who wants to fail?

我是说，谁会想失败呢？

Failure is not fun.

失败并不好玩。

And I would know because, you know, I'm sort of a poster child for failure.

我之所以知道，是因为， 我就是一个典型的失败者。

In fact, when one of my friends was writing a book about the topic,

实际上，我有个朋友 在写作一本此话题的书时，

he reached out to me to write a chapter for his book.

他找我来为他的书写一个章节。

But I'm also an educational designer,

但我也是一名教育设计师，

so I see failure in terms of systems and values.

因此，我从体制和价值观的角度来看待失败。

That failure is often a misalignment of values or bad design.

这种失败往往是价值观不一致 或设计不当造成的。

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

我有些操之过急了，

Let me take you back to this point of my failure.

让我们回顾一下我的失败之处。

So I want to take you back to my undergraduate days,

所以，我想带大家回到我的大学时代，

my freshman year in engineering.

我读工程专业的第一年。

I'm sitting in a physics class.

我正在上物理课，

I'm looking forward to learning.

我很期待学习。

And in my notes I'm writing little limericks and poems

我在笔记本上写一些

关于量子态的打油诗和小诗歌。

about quantum states.

That tells you something about who I was when I was that age.

这说明了我在那个年纪的时候 是什么样的人。

I loved physics and math,

我喜欢物理和数学，

but I also loved art and literature and poetry and film.

但也喜欢艺术、文学、诗歌和电影。

And I was excited and engaged to be in this engineering school.

我很激动能就读这所工程学校， 并希望努力投身学习。

Sadly, that was not the case.

遗憾的是，情况并非如此。

Sadly, those next four years,

遗憾的是，接下来的四年，

were possibly the worst four years of my life.

可能是我生命中最糟糕的的四年。

Creativity and imagination was not encouraged.

创造力和想象力未受到鼓励。

All we had was lectures upon lectures and tests and tests and tests.

我们所得到的不过是不断的讲座 以及测试、测试、测试。

There was no scope for understanding.

没有理解的余地，

There was no space for having fun with the ideas.

没有任何空间可以让人尽情发挥创意。

And these poems I was writing, they were, I'm sure, not great poetry,

我写的这些诗， 我敢肯定，它们并不伟大，

but they were meaningful to me.

但它们对我来说意义非凡。

They were a way for me to explore and play with ideas,

我有一套探索和发挥创意的方式，

something that was squelched very early on.

虽然很早就被压制了。

And so this went on for four years, and I finally graduated.

就这样持续了四年，我终于毕业了。

But I never genuinely became an engineer.

但我从未真正成为一名工程师。

I felt I was worthless, that I had failed.

我觉得自己一无是处，我失败了。

And what was sad was it was not a one-shot failure.

可悲的是，这不只是一次失败，

It was every day, every month,

而是每天、每月都如此，

semester after semester for four long years.

一学期又一学期，长达四年之久。

And at this point, I saw a poster for a program in visual communications,

这时，我看到了一张视觉传播课程的海报，

and on a whim I decided to apply.

我一时兴起，决定报名。

Clearly, I was not going to be an engineer or a scientist,

显然，我不会成为工程师或科学家，

so maybe, maybe I could make educational film

所以，也许我可以制作教育片，

because I had grown up inspired by people like Carl Sagan and Jacob Bronowski.

因为我从小就受到卡尔·萨根（Carl Sagan）

和雅各布·布朗诺夫斯基 （Jacob Bronowski）等人的启发。

Long story short, I got into the program, and almost overnight my life changed.

长话短说，我参加了这个项目， 几乎一夜之间，我的生活就发生了改变。

The system and structure and culture of the institution were very different.

学院的制度、结构和文化非常不同，

Creativity was encouraged.

鼓励创造力，

Flexibility and playing with ideas was supported.

支持灵活运用各种想法。

So even these things that I --

所以，即使是这些事——

these haphazard things that I had been interested in,

这些杂乱无章的我一直感兴趣的事情，

dabbling with art and science and poetry,

涉猎艺术、科学和诗歌，

somehow were meaningful all of a sudden.

突然之间就变得有意义了。

And it was also there that I was introduced to the idea of design,

也是在那里，我接触到了设计的理念，

something I didn't know much about, but I felt very much at home in.

一些我不太了解的事情， 但我感觉宾至如归。

For four years in engineering,

在工程领域学习了四年，

I had never felt that I had become an engineer.

我从未觉得自己成为了一名工程师，

I had never felt like I belonged.

我从未有过归属感。

But somehow this design seemed to give me a purpose and meaning.

但不知何故，设计似乎给了我目标和意义。

And what was amazing was how quick that change was.

令人惊叹的是，变化如此之快。

You know, in May of that year,

要知道，那年五月，

I was feeling worthless, as if I was a failure.

我还觉得自己一无是处， 好像一个失败者；

And by September of that same year, I had found a purpose.

而同年九月，我就找到了目标。

I had found a community.

我找到了一个社团。

I had found a field that I could live within.

我找到了一个可以活在其中的领域。

So even today, I call myself an educational designer.

所以即使在今天， 我也称自己为教育设计师。

And what that made me realize

这让我意识到，

is that my success or failure depended on a variety of systems and values

我的成功或失败取决于 不同的系统和价值观，

that were often hidden from me.

而这些往往是我所不知道的。

And this lens of design then allowed me at look at the world

还有这个镜头的设计 让我看到这个世界

as something that had been made up.

就像是被编造出来的一样。

And that made me question what are the other things that we have made up.

这让我质疑我们还编造了什么？

Well, one of the biggest things we have made up is this idea of school.

我们最大的编造就是学校这一概念。

There is nothing natural about schools and universities.

学校和大学并没什么自然而然的。

You know, there's nothing natural

要知道，没有什么是自然的，

about credit hours and multiple choice exams and so on.

学分和选择题考试等等都是如此。

But underlying them are certain key values

但它们背后是某些关于什么值得学习、

about what is worth learning and what is not.

什么不值得学习的关键价值观。

So this has led me to the work that I do today.

所以这引导我从事今天的工作。

To design learner-centered, just and equitable systems

设计以学习者为中心、公正和公平的系统，

that question these assumptions that we have made

质疑我们对学习应该和能够

about how learning should and can happen.

如何进行所做的假设。

Now, how does that work?

现在，这是如何运作的？

So let me give you a story.

我来讲个故事吧。

A few years back,

几年前，

a local school district reached out to us

当地的一个学区联系了我们，

to help them design a school for the future.

希望帮助他们设计一所未来的学校。

Now that's a tall order. What does that even mean?

这是一个很艰巨的任务。 这意味着什么？

How did we go about doing it?

我们是怎么做的呢？

Well, first we created a design team:

首先，我们成立了一个设计团队：

an eclectic collection of teachers, administrators,

一个兼收并蓄的教师、行政人员、

parents, members of the community.

家长及社区成员组成的团体。

And then we set out to listen.

然后，我们开始倾听。

So we talked to the chambers of commerce.

因此，我们与商会进行了沟通。

We created focus groups. We talked to parent groups.

我们成立了焦点小组， 我们与家长团体进行了交流。

And most importantly, all through this,

最重要的是，在整个过程中，

we kept asking ourselves: Who is at the table, and who is not?

我们不停地问自己： 谁有参与讨论，谁的声音没被听到？

And how could we bring those who were not into the conversation?

我们怎样才能让那些 没有参与对话的人参与进来？

For instance, one group that we never talk to

例如，我们从不交谈

or very rarely talk to are children,

或很少交谈的一个群体是儿童，

which is very strange given that they are the ones

这很奇怪，

who are going to actually be in these schools.

因为他们将真正进入这些学校。

So we talked to kids, lots of them.

所以我们和很多孩子交谈。

We in fact followed them for a day.

事实上我们跟了他们一整天。

You know, sitting in their classes, listening to lectures, doing worksheets,

你知道，坐在他们的课堂上， 听讲座，做作业，

eating cafeteria food and really enjoying the joy of recess.

吃自助餐厅的食物， 真的很享受课间休息的乐趣。

And while we were doing this and listening,

当我们这样做并倾听的时候，

we kept asking ourselves questions.

我们不断问自己问题。

What were we seeing? What does this mean?

我们看到了什么？这意味着什么？

And we began to question assumptions.

我们开始质疑各种假设。

Like why are things a certain way?

比如为什么事情会变成这样？

How might we create a school that actually connects with the community?

如何创建一所真正与社区联系在一起的学校？

How might we think of technology in ways that allow for expression and creativity?

我们该如何思考技术， 才能让它发挥表达力和创造力？

How might we create a school

如何创建一所

which is driven by the impulses of the learner?

由学习者自我激励所驱动的学校？

How might we create a school

我们如何创建一所

where we break the "one teacher, one classroom" model?

打破“一个老师，一个教室”模式的学校？

And in these conversations we developed a set of design principles,

在这些对话中，我们制定了一套设计原则，

a set of values that would guide our discussions and our design.

一套指导我们讨论和设计的价值观。

These were things that as a community, we believed in.

作为一个社区会有很多事情， 我们相信这一点。

And it was at this point in time where things seemed to go a little slow,

就在这个时候， 事情的进展似乎有点缓慢，

where we had so many possibilities, but yet they seemed like very few.

我们有如此多的可能性， 但似乎又很少。

And we wondered what the next step forward would be.

我们想知道下一步是什么。

And there were all kinds of the usual hassles of internet failures

有网络故障带来的各种麻烦

and scheduling problems.

和调度问题。

But then chance happened.

但后来机会发生了。

We learned about this building,

我们了解了这座建筑，

which was somewhat unused in the school district

它在校区内有点儿闲置，

that they said we could play with,

他们说我们可以使用，

and suddenly the whole design team was energized.

突然间整个设计团队充满活力。

And if there's a lesson here, it is that you need to be prepared.

如果说我们从中吸取了什么教训的话， 那就是你需要做好准备。

And if an opportunity comes your way,

如果你有机会，

you grab it with both hands and don't let go.

你应当用双手抓住它，不要放手。

And that's exactly what we did.

这正是我们所做的。

All the work we had done

我们与焦点小组按照设计原则等

with the focus groups and the design principles and so on

所做的所有工作

came together in this school

都汇集在这所学校里，

and over two years of work later,

经过两年多的工作，

this school exists today.

这所学校今天成立了。

It is a school that reflects the values of the community.

这是一所反映社区价值观的学校。

It's a school that's very different from the ones that you see around you.

这所学校与你周围的学校截然不同。

We had to break down, both literally and figuratively,

我们不得不拆除一整堵墙， 无论是从字面上还是形象上，

a whole bunch of walls to create this space

才能创造出这样一个空间，

where 100-plus kids would learn and work together.

让 100 多名孩子在这里共同学习和工作。

It is a space where they're surrounded by an array of responsible adults

在这个空间里， 他们周围都是一群负责任的成年人，

who work in teams, working in small groups and large,

他们分成小组或大小组工作，

to meet the needs of these learners.

以满足这些学习者的需求。

It is a school which is open to the community,

这是一所向社区开放的学校，

both in its demographics,

无论是在人口统计方面，

as well as allowing parents and community members

还是在让家长和社区成员

to go in and out as and when needed.

在需要时可以进进出出。

This is truly a special place.

这确实是一个特别之处。

And that doesn’t mean that we have figured everything out.

这并不表示我们已经弄清楚了一切。

But I’m proud to say that that school is expanded.

但我可以自豪地说 这所学校已经扩建了。

It went in the next year to another studio space,

隔年，它扩建至另一个工作室空间，

and then now it goes all the way from K through eight.

然后现在它包括了幼儿园到八年级。

And for my team, this is truly one of our greatest successes.

对于我的团队来说， 这确实是我们最大的成功之一。

To circle back to the beginning.

回到开头。

You know, one could argue that it was that failure that led to this success,

你知道，有人会说 是那次失败促成了这次的成功，

but I think that would be missing the point.

但我认为没有抓住要点。

It would be missing the point

它失去了重点，

because it ignores the pain and hurt that failure causes.

因为它忽略了痛苦和失败所造成的伤害，

It ignores the agony that I went through for four long years.

它忽略了我所经历的 长达四年的痛苦。

At that point, when I graduated from my undergraduate degree,

那时，当我本科毕业的时候，

I felt I had failed, I did not blame the system.

我感觉自己很失败， 我没有责怪制度。

But now, when I look at it,

但现在，当我看到它时，

I realize maybe it was a system that had failed me.

我意识到，也许是系统辜负了我。

A system that fails a lot of our children.

这个系统辜负了很多孩子。

Focusing on the individual prevents us from looking deeper.

关注个人使我们无法深入思考。

It prevents us from questioning the systems that led to the failure.

它让我们无法质疑导致失败的体制，

It prevents us from questioning the values that underlie these systems.

让我们无法质疑这些体制背后的价值观。

We can and must do better.

我们能够、也必须做得更好。

I think our children deserve better.

我认为孩子们理应得到更好的教育。

That 18-year-old me writing poetry in physics class deserved better.

那个在物理课上写诗的 18 岁的我， 值得更好的教育。

Thank you.

谢谢。