邹奇奇(Adora Svitak) 成年人能从孩子那里学到什么

 

Now, I want to start with a question: When was the last time you were called childish? For kids like me, being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior, or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish, which really bothers me. After all, take a look at these events: Imperialism and colonization, world wars, George W. Bush. Ask yourself: Who's responsible? Adults.

首先，我想问个问题：您最后一次被评论作“幼稚”是什么时候?对于像我这样的孩子来说，被称作“幼稚”是家常便饭。每当我们作出不合理的要求，表现出不负责任的行为，或者显示出任何其他美国平民的迹象时，我们就被称作“幼稚”。真烦的说。总之，看看这些事情吧，帝国主义和殖民，世界大战——George W. Bush，扪心自问：是谁的责任?成年人的!

Now, what have kids done? Well, Anne Frank touched millions with her powerful account of the Holocaust, Ruby Bridges helped end segregation in the United States, and, most recently, Charlie Simpson helped to raise 120,000 pounds for Haition his little bike. So, as you can see evidenced by such examples, age has absolutely nothing to do with it. The traits the word childish addresses are seen so often in adults that we should abolish this age-discriminatory word when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking.

那么，孩子们都做了什么?Anne Frank 以对大屠杀的有力记述感动了数百万人;Ruby Bridges帮助了美国种族隔离的终止。此外，最近期的Charlie Simpson帮忙为海地筹集了120,000磅的捐款，在他小小的自行车上。于是，如您所见，这些例子证实了年龄与不负责任毫无关系。“幼稚”一词所称呼的特征，在成年人中如此常见，因此我们应当废除这个有年龄偏见色彩的词语。当批评与不负责任以及非理性思考相关的行为。

Thank you. Then again, who's to say that certain types of irrational thinking aren't exactly what the world needs? Maybe you've had grand plans before, but stopped yourself, thinking: That's impossible or that costs too much or that won't benefit me. For better or worse, we kids aren't hampered as muchwhen it comes to thinking about reasons why not to do things. Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking, like my wish that no one went hungry or that everything were free kind of utopia. How many of you still dream like that and believe in the possibilities? Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of utopian ideals can be a burden because you know that if everything were free, that the food stocks would become depleted, and scarce and lead to chaos. On the other hand, we kids still dream about perfection. And that's a good thing because in order to make anything a reality, you have to dream about it first.

谢谢!再说了，谁又能说怎样的非理性思考不是世界所需的?也许你曾想象大展宏图，又阻止了自己，又阻止了自己心想。“那不可能的”或“代价太高”或“于我无益”，与您不同我们孩子很少受到这样的牵制，当考虑为什么不做某事时孩子们充满了鼓舞人心的抱负以及抱有希望的考虑，就像我的愿望“没人挨饿”或者“一切都是自由的那种乌托邦”，你们当中有多少仍心存这样的梦想且相信它们有实现的可能?有时知晓乌托邦式理想的历史以及它们曾有的失败，可以是个重负。因为您知道如果一切都自由，食品储备耗尽、缺乏导致混乱。另一方面我们孩子仍然梦想着完美，这是好事。因为，要实现任何一件事您都得先构想才行。

In many ways, our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of possibility. For instance, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, my home state -- yoohoo Washington -- (Applause) has a program called Kids Design Glass, and kids draw their own ideas for glass art. Now, the resident artist said they got some of their best ideas through the program because kids don't think about the limitations of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes. They just think of good ideas. Now, when you think of glass, you might think of colorful Chihuly designs or maybe Italian vases, but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that into the realm of broken-hearted snakes and bacon boys, who you can see has meat vision. (Laughter)

我们的大胆想象正通过各种途径协助拓宽可能性的边界，例如，华盛顿塔科马的玻璃博物馆Yoo-hoo，华盛顿我的家乡。有个计划叫做“孩子设计的玻璃”孩子们画出他们玻璃工艺品的构思，于是驻留的艺术家说他们通过此计划想到了绝佳的点子，因为孩子不考虑将玻璃吹出特定形状的难度限制他们只想好构思，当您想到玻璃时您可能会想到色彩鲜艳的Chihuly设计或者可能会想到意大利花瓶，但孩子这样挑战玻璃艺术家(视频图片)超越他们进入《心碎小蛇》与《熏肉小孩》的境界——看呀，对肉的幻想!

Now, our inherent wisdom doesn't have to be insiders' knowledge. Kids already do a lot of learning from adults, and we have a lot to share. I think that adults should start learning from kids. Now, I do most of my speaking in front of an education crowd, teachers and students, and I like this analogy. It shouldn't just be a teacher at the head of the classroom telling students do this, do that. The students should teach their teachers. Learning between grown ups and kids should be reciprocal. The reality, unfortunately, is a little different, and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it. Now, if you don't trust someone, you place restrictions on them, right. If I doubt my older sister's ability to pay back the 10 percent interest I established on her last loan, I'm going to withhold her ability to get more money from me until she pays it back. (Laughter) True story, by the way. Now, adults seem to have a prevalently restrictive attitude towards kids from every "don't do that," "don't do this" in the school handbook, to restrictions on school internet use. As history points out, regimes become oppressive when they're fearful about keeping control. And, although adults may not be quite at the level of totalitarian regimes, kids have no, or very little, say in making the rules, when really the attitude should be reciprocal, meaning that the adult population should learn and take into account

the wishes of the younger population.

于是，我们内在的智慧没必要为内行人所认可，孩子已经从成年人那里学到了很多，我们有很多共同之处。我认为成年人应该开始向孩子们学习，现在我的演讲主要是针对受过教育的群众教师与学生，我想这样打比方不应该只是老师站在教师前面告诉学生干这样干那样，学生应该教他们的老师成年人与孩子之间的学习应该调换。而现实呢?很不幸，有所不同，这与信任或者说缺乏信任有很大关系。如果你不信任谁，您就对他施加约束对吗?如果我怀疑我姐姐偿还10%利息的能力，我会根据她上次借钱的情况不给她再从我这个拿钱的机会，除非她还钱，顺便说下这是真事。在成年人中似乎盛行对孩子的约束姿态，从学生守则上的每一句“别这样干”、“别那样干”到学校internet的使用限制。如历史所证，政权往往会在担心难以实施控制时变得暴虐，尽管成年人不完全处于极权主义政权的水平，制定规则时孩子们没有或者只有很少的发言权当态度真的该调换时意味着成人应该了解并考虑年轻人的意愿。

Now, what's even worse than restriction is that adults often underestimate kids abilities. We love challenges, but when expectations are low, trust me, we will sink to them. My own parents had anything but low expectations for me and my sister. Okay, so they didn't tell us to become doctors or lawyers or anything like that, but my dad did read to us about Aristotle and pioneer germ fighters when lots of other kids were hearing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Well, we heard that one too, but "Pioneer Germ Fighters" totally rules. (Laughter)

但比限制更糟糕的是成年人经常低估孩子的能力，我们喜欢挑战，但当期望值很低时，相信我，我们会感到失望的。我父母对我和我姐姐除了低期望外什么都有。嗯，所以他们没有让我们从事医生或律师或者类似的职业。但我爸爸确实给我们度过亚里士多德和《微生物先驱勇士》(儿童文学，1962年出版)，当其他很多孩子还在听“巴士的轮儿转呀转”的时候。嗯，我们也听过那首儿歌，但我们完全被《微生物先去勇士》统治了。

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word. Thank you Bill Gates and thank you Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until you're older, my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One large children's publisher ironically saying that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there. (Laughter) Now, one publisher, Action Publishing, was willing to take that leap and trust me, and to listen to what I had to say. They published my first book, "Flying Fingers," -- you see it here -- and from there on, it's gone to speaking at hundreds of schools, keynoting to thousands of educators, and finally, today, speaking to you.

我自四岁起喜欢上写作，当我六岁时我妈妈给我购置了配备有Microsoft Word的笔记本，感谢Bill Gates 感谢妈。我在那台小笔记本上写了三百多篇短篇小说，然后我就想发表这些小说，我的父母没有嘲笑这个异端也没有说“等你长大些”他们非常支持。很多出版社可不这么鼓舞人心，一家大的儿童出版社很讽刺的说：“他们不和儿童共事”。儿童出版社不和儿童共事?我不知道，您可是在孤立一个很大的客户群呀!然后一家出版社Action Publishing愿意摒除偏见信任我并聆听我的告白，他们出版了我的第一本书《飞舞的手指》(Flying Fingers)，从那以后它在数百学校风靡为数千教育家定调。最终，今天给您做演讲。

I appreciate your attention today, because to show that you truly care, you listen. But there's a problem with this rosy picture of kids being so much better than adults. Kids grow up and become adults just like you. (Laughter) Or just like you, really? The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult, but rather better adults than you have been, which may be a little challenging considering your guys credentials, but the way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones. It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position of place in life, it is imperative to create opportunities for children so that we can grow up to blow you away. (Laughter)

非常感谢您今天的关注，因为为了显示出您真的关心您在听。但“孩子比成年人好这么多”这样乐观的心态也有个问题，孩子也会长大变成你们这样的成年人。像你们这样，真的?目的在于不把孩子变成你们这样的成年人而是比你们更好的成年人，他们可能会富于挑战性，考虑您的资历，但进步就是这样发生。因为，一浪更比一浪强，因为我们不再处于黑暗时代，不论您在实际生活中地位如何为孩子创造把你们拍在沙滩上的机会很重要。

Adults and fellow TEDsters, you need to listen and learn from kids and trust us and expect more from us. You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow, which means we're going to be taking care of you when you're old and senile. No, just kidding. No, really, we are going to be the next generation, the ones who will bring this world forward. And, in case you don't think that this really has meaning for you, remember that cloning is possible, and that involves going through childhood again, in which case, you'll want to be heard just like my generation. Now, the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed. Are you ready to make the match? Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you.

Thank you.

成年人还有同样从事TED的人们，你们需要倾听并向孩子学习，信任我们队我们有更多的期待。现在您必须弯下腰听听我们的话，因为我们是未来的领导者(you must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow)我们将在你们年迈力衰时照顾你们。不，只是开玩笑。不，真的，我们将成为下一代，将要推动世界发展的一代。为防止你们想这对你们没有意义，记住克隆是可能的也就意味着重度童年，这样您就会希望有人倾听您的话就像我们这一代。世界需要新的领袖和新想法的机会，孩子也需要引领和成功的机会，你们准备好“作媒”了吗?因为世界上现在的问题不应该像传家宝那样在人类家族中流传下去。谢谢!