TED Community » Seán Defoe

More About Me

I'm passionate about

The direction the world is taking. The foolish distribution of wealth. The role of youth in building a better future.

An idea worth spreading

Don't hold yourself to goals or aims, they are restricting and ultimately when you fail you are hit by negative feelings. Rather hold yourself to standards. The retention of these standards will give you far more reward and far less stress!

Talk to me about

Anything and everything.

Comments

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• A comment on Conversation: How would you redesign the current high school program?

  Dec 8 2011: I'd just like to come back to the points system in gameification for a second. I agree completely with the positive message that you are trying to send with it as in you are earning by learning rather than losing marks for not knowing things. In Ireland the secondary education system is run on a points system basis. You spend 5-6 years in school, the first three of which are all built up to one big exam called the Junior Certificate. The idea is that you get an idea of what you want to do during these years and then narrow down. So after the JC you take 3 mandatory classes (English, Maths and The Irish Language) and 4 optional subjects from a list of 20, then study these for 2 years and sit the Leaving Certificate exam. The LC is points based ie. an A plus=100 points an A=90 etc. Then college courses here have entry requirements eg. Journalism=440 points. You are graded on your top 6 subjects and those points essentially decide if you go to college. On paper it is a good system but the arts and creativity are very undernourished. I just said I would use this as an example of where a gameification points system could go wrong!
  
  Zach I like your idea quite a lot. Giving them three years of experiencing many different subjectsand then having them focus further in their final year is a very sensible way to go I think. However I would suggest that you not limit them to one subject or even one area in their final year. Perhaps allow them to take two options and focus in on them. It will give them a broader view on things in my opinion. As well at that age I dont think anyone is sure of what they want to do for the rest of their lives! A student may pick one thing to focus on and by the end of that year find they have no long term interest and are left high and dry. Have a look at work placement with local businesses too. We run that here and it works very well. Hope this is of some help!

• A comment on Conversation: Changing education into a more accurate form of learning

  Dec 8 2011: Totally agree with you Tomas! Some teachers seem to have a great knack for getting a class involved in the subject whereas others completely fall down and as a student myself I can tell you its much nicer to feel involved! I reckon they should focus on student involvement a little bit more in college. Who knows, the teachers might even learn something from the students this way!

• A comment on Conversation: Its time for a new type of university

  Dec 8 2011: Thats a very good idea and a very valid point. We have gotten to the stage in society where the entire world is at our fingertips and we invariably want to access it. However unfortunetly the entire system was designed as a means to an end. Using Ireland again as an example, you sit your Junior Cert exams so that you can sit your Leaving Cert. You sit your Leaving Cert so that you can get points to go to college. You spend years in college to get a degree. You use a degree to get work. Nowhere in that system are they teaching you to truly think, to be analytical. Yet all the while they are charging you for it.
  As for your boring lecturers, the fact that someone has all the knowledge you need to be able to lechture in a subject is there reading off a projector word for word just proves how the system is flawed. We all know people who are considered brilliant because they can learn things off and regurgitate them come exam time. However they have next to no social skills, which I think is essential in public speaking/lecturing. They were never taught it and your ears pay the price!

• A comment on Conversation: Is a one world government just around the corner?

  Dec 8 2011: It is a very interesting question Rob. There are many advantages and disadvantages to a one world goverment. I think that Tim makes a very good point about the way multiple goverments = multiple approaches but I think that many leading goverments are now looking for universal approaches to problems.
  
  Lets look at the summit of EU member states taking place as I type for an example. Germany and France want all Eurozone countries to adopt a common tax rate and other measures, in an effort to save the Euro. However many smaller eurozone countries are against this. Ireland for example would lose more business if there was a common industrial tax rate as we rely heavily on our low rate as a draw for international companies to set up here. So would a world goverment with fixed tax rates for every continent or province or however it would divide land, be beneficial for everyone? Human nature is to look after your own and that would be a great obstacle to an International goverment.
  
  Were it to happen I think its set up would be the hardest part. Would we be ruled by a select council of people or would there be a very Matt Groening-esqe 'President of Earth'. You only have to look at the fierce opposition some Eurozone citizens have towards Merkel and Sarcowzi to see that elections would'nt be easy! Maybe in a post-racism world they could work but I reckon that each country would simply vote for their own, with the biggest majority winning and leaving about 6 billion people unhappy with the goverment. And even for politicians that is a lot of opposition to deal with!
  
  I dont see it working in my lifetime and it is anything but just around the corner. But one alien invasion could change it all....