TED Talk #7: Adora Svitak

When the video first started, I was very surprised to see a kid standing on the stage starting to deliver her message. I have to admit that there was some prejudice in me at first in tems of me thinking that this video was going to be unprofessional.  The message that was impressed upon me was quite the oppoite, though.

The first thing that Svitak did was very clever.  She used ugly-seeming things and events (sometimes humerous i.e. George Bush) that adults are responsible for and the good things (Anne Frank and other good actions by children) that children are responsible for to prove the word childish can be obscelete.  With this, Svitak makes the point that the word childish, a word associated with age discrimination and irrational thinking, should be abolished. After this, she did something that I thought was interesting.  She brought up the point some of the irrational thinking that children can produce could be important for the world.  To put this in context, she explains that the same grand ideas in children and adults are easier for children to see happening because they are not hampered by the idea that "it's impossible" or "it costs too much".  She also brought up another point of how education can hamper ones dreams for the future.  For example, a child might have the aspiration that no one go hungry but an adult may see how this has failed in the past and dismiss the idea.  A major point that Svitak brought up after this is how she thinks that learning should be reciprical through teacher and student but the reality is that, right now, it doesn't work due to a lack of trust.  An example given is that she thinks that some rules could be made by both kids and adults if the trust is there.  To finish off her speech, Svitak makes the point that progress happens through generations building upon eachother.  For this reason, she says, it is imperative that adults give children the opportunities to make new strives and "blow them away".  Throughout the video, Svitak was very organized and precise with her speaking.  This let her drive her point home with efficiency.  Another thing that I noticed was that she built in time for the audience to react to statements.  I was blown away by that aspect because  that tactic is used by the best of speakers (Star Jones) and she completed it to perfection.  Overall, this video was very impacting upon me.  I don't know whether it was the comfortablity of a child giving the speech or the way it was given that did such a good job on making an impact upon me.