TED Community » Casandra Minetor

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Education, communication, politics, relationships, psychology. Humans and human nature basically.

An idea worth spreading

Everything. Everything has a value that's worth spreading. Be it to show others the negative side of human nature, to make people smile, or, best of all, to open the minds of other's to ideas that can be discussed.

Talk to me about

Anything. Seriously anything. Share ideas, challenge my beliefs, make me think and I will try to do the same.

People don't know that I'm good at

People don't know that I'm good at making sense out of things that may seem illogical and random. I'm good at understanding the world around me and the people around me.

My TED Story

My TED story? Someone who knew my love of ideas and sharing ideas sent me a link, I took a look around and fell in love immediately. The wealth of ideas being shared with so many people everyday is incredible and moving and amazing. I share these ideas with others often. Emailing, linking, and "sharing" using social media outlets, and in doing so, I feel more connected to the world of thinking and communicating. I'm 19, at 19 I've realized what I want most in the world is to share ideas, hear ideas, think of my own ideas, and share the knowledge with everyone I possibly can.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A reply on Talk: Caroline Casey: Looking past limits

  Sep 15 2011: Personally, being someone with a disability myself, I can take quite a bit from this. Its one of my favorite talks and has helped me get out of a pretty big rut.
  So to the "how much does it apply to other people" question, I can say that it does apply to me and a few others in my situation.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What ingredients do you put into making a CHOICE / DECISION?

  Sep 15 2011: I, personally, have always had a very strong and reliable "gut instinct" though I don't ever act solely on that.
  
  I put time and thought into big choices, yes considering the end result as well as my moral compass. Often (though i don't think it should) I am influenced by the reactions of the people around me. Sometimes, even if its the right thing to do, I will with hold from doing something I know will make others upset if it only truly effects myself.

• A comment on Conversation: How Do We Teach Children Compassion and Empathy?

  Sep 15 2011: What worked best for me personally was experiencing these issues first hand. SEEING the pain poverty causes children who maybe don't live in the greatest of house holds, experiencing issues from my own disability, helping them dive into the problems and see first hand how it feels, what is happening, and what we can do to make it better or at least less awful.
  
  Bhuvanesh has a WONDERFUL point about judging others based on prejudices and even one step further, our lack of experience dealing with a particular situation. When we don't truly understand how bad things can be, we cannot have compassion for people in that situation.

• A comment on Conversation: Time based online volunteering portal.

  Sep 15 2011: I would love to be able to be involved in something like this. I have very few places near me to volunteer and those that are available it would cost me $100 a month just to drive there and back. Making as little as I do it's simply not possible. I would love a place with a community set up to volunteer at that is internet based.
  
  Another use of this I could see is (for example) people with disabilities being able to get the help they need to find funding for expensive medical equipment, or even just advice on how to pursue legal matters.

• A comment on Conversation: How do we reform education?

  Sep 15 2011: How do we reform education? If you have the time, I would love to tell you all of my ideas, as it is i will simply outline them.
  
  1) much more flexible learning environment, what times things are scheduled for (maybe classes available from 8am till 6pm and you simply have to take 6 hours in between that)
  
  2) No more of this fooling around. If you TRULY don't want to be there, then let those kids leave, but allow them to come back when the realize they finally want that education.
  
  3) More accessible. Online involvement. PDF files of work sheets and packets teachers want kids to do, if they forget theirs, or lose it, they can get a new one right online.
  Also books should be available with online copies
  And teachers should utilize the internet with postings on a calendar of when projects are due and what the assignments were.
  
  4) more individualized approach. I was a student where if you gave me my text book, work sheet/assignment, extra resources (packets and such) and sent me to the library for the hour rather then sitting i the class room for discussions, I would ace the test no problem, but sit me in a room for an hour with students getting off track, or even just learning too slow for my pace and I drifted off and couldn't focus. (too bad my school refused independent study)
  
  5) (and last) Get rid of the no child left behind act. I've seen classes destroyed by having to teach to the standardized tests. We learn less when teachers have to make sure we pass a test rather then simply learn so we can know the information.
  
  (and this was the quick version!)
• +2

  A reply on Conversation: What is the future of libraries?

  Sep 15 2011: I agree that books will become a novelty though it will be unpleasant for me and a few friends of mine. We love the feeling of finishing a book. Closing it and setting it down. SEEING how many pages were there, what we accomplished. Reading digital books simply isn't as satisfying. Sure we get the same information but the satisfaction and feelings of accomplishment are no longer there.

• A comment on Conversation: What is the future of libraries?

  Sep 15 2011: I grew up with a librarian very close to me, she instilled a fabulous and intense love of written words and appreciation for libraries. However I'm ashamed to admit I rarely go to my library. As wonderful as they are, I've found it harder to get the books I want or need from them, then to go find the information on the internet. Waiting two weeks for a book to be sent from one library to another takes so long that often it arrives too late to be useful in a project for a class.
  The selling of their "extra" copies of books breaks my heart, though I gladly buy them up. I find there is a lack of wanting to take advantage of the libraries we still have because the internet is so much faster when searching for information.
  I'm not sure how long it will be, but public libraries will shut down sometime soon.

• A comment on Conversation: What does it take to make the youth take charge and feel responsible for their own initiatives?

  Sep 15 2011: Youth are great at being passionate, it takes adults giving them the opportunity to do something they ARE passionate about, rather then what the adults might find useful. I think the greatest step is asking the kids what they wan to achieve and then showing them it IS possible and helping them find the means to accomplish it.
  Also youth grow up with adults basically telling them what they want to do isn't always the most important. Kids from my small town wanted to build a skate park and they tried to pursue it but I heard teachers and parents telling them not to bother. There needs to be encouragement about ALL ideas and particularly the ones the kids feel are important.