This sounded like a good idea, but it didn't turn out that way.
The problem with TED Talks is that they often elevate the speaker, along with the idea, to a place of power where we seldom get a chance to offer criticism. TED Talks are the megaphones in the midst of a conversation.
I am not opposed to platforms for sharing ideas. I am not opposed to experts offering advice. I'm not against someone offering a new idea and starting a dialogue. Yet, that's not how TED Talks work. They tend to be sales pitches, offering ideas that will fix humanity. Often, they offer simplistic solutions with glamorous stories.
Yet, that's not even the real issue. The bigger problem is in the way people react to them. TED Talks become a sort of Secular Scripture offering a script to fix humanity. It is as if the TED Talk itself is a text we need to use to validate our ideas. When I tweet about vulnerability, someone will be quick to send a link to a TED Talk. If I question whether students can truly be entirely self-directed (especially in the realm of reading), someone tweets me Mitra's TED Talk on minimally invasive learning. When I question the nature of creativity and the role of limitations in fostering it, the first response is nearly always Sir Ken Robinson's famous TED Talk.
But what happens when the TED Talks offer bad ideas? A few examples come to mind.
Gates offered his solutions to fix Africa with a heavy dose of White Man's Burden and a million mosquito nets. I talked with someone from Africa who said, "Malaria won't be fixed with nets. The solution is economic development, political stability and a view of Africa that doesn't marginalize the people."
Speaking of Africa, it turns out Negroponte was wrong as well. Dropping off two hundred dollar laptops and leaving kids alone didn't magically create the innovation needed to pull the continent out of poverty. It turns out education and community development are a little more complicated.
On the topic of education, people jumped at the Khan Academy after a TED Talk. Instantly, the Khan-style of flipped classroom became the next big thing in education. That's right. Badly recorded blackboard lessons were going to revolutionize schools forever.
Paul Romer's TED Talk on the first charter city sounded great, but talk to the people in Honduras experiencing the neo-colonialism and the absolute lack of growth that the city was supposed to offer. How well is it working out for them right now?
My point is not that TED Talks are bad, but that we need to watch them with a critical eye. Yes, there are some great ideas. True, many of the ideas are certainly worth sharing. The problem is that, while it is important to have ideas worth sharing, it is equally important that we analyze, criticize and contextualize those ideas.
The problem with being critical is that people see it as being negative. It's as if the ideas themselves, because they are presented in a nice way by nice people, don't deserve to be analyzed. It's a dangerous mindset that says, "Couldn't hurt to try" or "at least they've got ideas."
ReplyDeleteA couple of generations ago, we were told "Don't believe everything you read in the papers, or hear on the radio." Then television flooded the land, followed by the Internet information storm of the century.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking needs to be applied to the TED, nightly news, PBS, commercial television, the I'net and any other source of information.
This is one skill lacking in my middle school students, that I am sure is true for every young adult in the digital generation and many of the Television generation.
P.T. Barnum's famous "Sucker born every minute", is still true. They/we are being bombarded with bogus "information" 24*7.
Yep. That's ultimately it right there. Think critically. It's not a bad thing. It's not a negative thing.
Delete"I am not opposed to platforms for sharing ideas. I am not opposed to experts offering advice. I'm not against someone offering a new idea and starting a dialogue. Yet, that's not how TED Talks work. They tend to be sales pitches, offering ideas that will fix humanity."
ReplyDeleteWhy can't TED be what it is, Ideas Worth Sharing and we use twitter, blogs, etc. as the megaphone, podium, coffee house, water cooler, classroom to discuss those ideas? And, if we have better ideas, or at least more fully expressed ideas we have YouTube, iTunes U, blogs, wikis, etc. as mass communication tools ourselves.
I'm cool with that as long as we discuss the ideas with a critical eye.
DeleteThanks John. I had a slightly different take on this. I'm more concerned with our valuing of ideas over work. I wrote a little bit here: http://alwaysformative.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-idea-is-easy-part.html
ReplyDeleteSo true. I hadn't thought about that angle, but it's definitely true.
Delete"The Problem with Writing a Blog Called 'The Problem with TED Talks'"
ReplyDeleteObviously, I'm replying tongue-in-cheek. I appreciated the re-centering this blog entry suggested: a focus on healthy, critical examination of ideas and not wholesale buy-in just because something possesses the aura of authority.
But to add a small point, perhaps... The way we talk about ideas matters. The way we engage others in discussion and the way we urge others to reinvent their thinking and perceptions, matters. I like to quote Nikki Giovanni's "Beep Beep Poem" in which she ironically remarks on people's need to be "tricked into sensitivity." So, when I read the blog with a title that suggests that TED Talks have a "problem" when it seems the real problem discussed in the blog is how a culture digests those TED Talks, and what the watchers do with content that should be regarded with a more critical--even (at times) suspicious--lens, I wonder if the kind of "tricking" that needs to be done really is being done. I fear the people who will talk of TED Talks with the lens of "you know there's a 'problem with TED Talks,'" having missed the fact that the problem is more solidly with themselves.
Many will keep reading beyond the title so as to understand the fullness of your argument. Conversely, and sadly, too many won't. If the real problem "is the way we react to them," then let's come up with ways to trick them into reacting differently.
Start with a different title, perhaps?
How about "Start talking back to TED," or maybe "Can't TED listen, too?"
Something tricky like that.
(Sorry, I guess I need work on my titles...)
Respectfully,
Geoffrey
It might not be the best title. You might be right about that.
DeleteYou had me at megaphones.
ReplyDeleteThe breathless enthusiasm for TED Talks is a manifestation of the same sort of self-congratulation and link sharing circle of insularity that edu-Twitter can sometimes approach.
Here's to critical viewing.
Ah, what a relief to read your blog. I'm a former teacher who recently left classroom teaching to focus on making online educational materials (phone apps and YouTube videos). I've been stunned by my former teaching colleagues hailing the Khan Academy as "revolutionary." This line of yours made me smile!:
ReplyDelete'On the topic of education, people jumped at the Khan Academy after a TED Talk. Instantly, the Khan-style of flipped classroom became the next big thing in education. That's right. Badly recorded blackboard lessons were going to revolutionize schools forever.'
I can't get over how long and rambly the Khan lectures are. No attempt at editing whatsoever! My students were always looking for short, *to the point* videos. That's why I'm making short, modular videos with Socratica Studios. This will allow to teachers to use them for just a tiny part of their class, as needed - or string several of them together in the order they choose - and the students won't get impatient, waiting for the point.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SocraticaStudios
Looking forward to reading more of your ideas -
Kimberly Hatch Harrison
Head Writer and Producer,
Socratica Studios