"What adults can learn from children"

http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html

This video is beyond commendable. If you watch the video, you will see that Adora Svitak was twelve years old at the time of this presentation on "Ted Talks." Yes she was twelve on "Ted Talks". Adora was convincing her audience that adults should not underestimate the immense knowledge they can gain from children. Prior to her appearance on "Ted Talks" she was writing short stories since she was four and publishing her work at the age of seven. Adora also spoke at hundreds of schools and was the key note speaker at many educational programs.

This presentation is specifically hinting on the fact that adults can learn a great deal from children contrary to the stereotype of a typical learning setting: the adult teaching the lesson to their students. But if you look up the definition of a teacher from the Marriam-Webster Dictionary, a teacher is one that teaches; especially one whose occupation is to instruct. An occupation is simply a job or profession. In either of those definitions, neither of them express age limitations nor state "child" or "adult." This is simply the point that Adora Svitak is trying to make. She is even insinuating that, if you look in history, many children have made some of the most impacting changes that have helped the world progress or be at some type of advantage today. She uses a lot of thoughtful tactics to persuade her audience that, in fact, adults can learn from kids.

To capture her audience, she uses humor, irony, and satire. Humor comes in to play as she says things like, "We are the next generation who will bring this world forward...in case you don't think this has meaning for you, remember that cloning is possible and that involves going through childhood again in which case you will want to be heard just like my generation." This humor implies action. She hints that adults can learn from kids and that we need to consider this concept because we are the next generation. That is how she establishes need and why this matter should be taken seriously. She uses a lot of visuals with quotes on the screen, visuals of crafts that children have done and have won awards for, and even pictures of children who have made American history. She establishes her credibility by speaking on how long she has been writing and teaching adults by stating the statistics: "speaking at hundreds of schools and being the key note speaker at educational programs." The irony comes in when she was first trying to publish her short stories at seven years of age and the publisher had said they did not work with children. Adora responded, "really, a children's publisher not working with children, I don't know you're kind of alienating large client there."

I absolutely loved watching this entertaining presentation. She kind of makes my public speaking skills look amateur. But I will give her credit. After all, I learned something very valuable from her and I am legally an adult. Sometimes, age is literally ONLY a number.