TED Community » Gareth Armstrong

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• +1

  A reply on Talk: Afra Raymond: Three myths about corruption

  Feb 20 2013: Agreed. The controls thought was something i saw on Twitter associated with this talk...and perhaps I jumped the gun making the comment without watching the talk all the way through :) (The Twitter post was referring to a series of 8 "Anti-Corruption" talks)
  Sorry about any confusion Stew.

• A comment on Talk: Afra Raymond: Three myths about corruption

  Feb 20 2013: Stricter controls are not the solution. Controls only become necessary when the core, the foundation is crumbling. The foundation in so many cases is leadership. Where have all our leaders gone? http://bit.ly/T8GNuP
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Is population growth economically beneficial to a country and its people?

  Feb 5 2013: I believe it comes down to one simple question: Are these people coming into the system to be well educated? If yes, then of course there are going to be beneficial outcomes.
• +3

  A comment on Conversation: Do you learn the basics to make it in life at school or on your own?

  Jan 25 2013: This has been doing the rounds for a while now, and holds some truths that may answer, in part, your question:
  
  Bill Gates recently gave a Commencement speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.
  
  He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how
  this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
  
  Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
  
  Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
  
  Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
  
  Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
  
  Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
  
  Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes; learn from them.
  
  Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you think you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
  
  Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, failing grades are gone and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
  
  Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
  
  Rule 10: TV is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
  
  Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Survival of the smartest: Brains over brawn, why? (moral question)

  Jan 25 2013: I feel it is simple and captured by the quote: "...it is not the strongest of the species that survives, but the one that is the most responsive to change." Thebe Ikalafeng
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What can governments do to end poverty in their countries? Is a solution possible under capitalism?

  Jan 22 2013: Nelson Mandela said it best: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ...to educate and lift a person, whether they are rich or poor, creates within that person a desire, a need, to move towards more. Education awakens, in the midst of difficult challenges and circumstances, a person to the opportunity within the very difficulty that immobilised them prior to their increase in knowledge and understanding. And most of all, education brings with it a creation of self respect and dignity that most, if not all, people, once they have tasted it, do not want to lose.
  
  My opinion, education is the answer...and their are strong cases throughout history and the world that support this.

• A reply on Talk: Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery

  Oct 18 2012: ...she says in the third minute of the talk that she is associated with an NGO called "Free The Slaves" - perhaps supporting this NGO may be a good place to start: www.freetheslaves.net

• A reply on Talk: Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery

  Oct 18 2012: ...she says in the third minute of the talk that she is associated with an NGO called "Free The Slaves" - perhaps supporting this NGO may be a good place to start: www.freetheslaves.net

• A reply on Talk: Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery

  Oct 18 2012: ...she says in the third minute of the talk that she is associated with an NGO called "Free The Slaves" - perhaps supporting this NGO may be a good place to start: www.freetheslaves.net
• +3

  A comment on Talk: Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery

  Oct 18 2012: There are a lot of people who are asking how to help...she says in the third minute of the talk that she is associated with an NGO called "Free The Slaves" - perhaps supporting this NGO may be a good place to start: www.freetheslaves.net