TED Community » Briannin Gross

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I'm passionate about

Equal rights, reforming the education system, autism, the environment, art, fashion, and travel.

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• A reply on Conversation: The most efficient education

  Mar 13 2011: No they should still learn general education. Otherwise they would all be illiterate. In this idea there would be a primary school much like elementary where the children would learn all their general education except it would go on longer then elementary school. Then at some point it would break off into the specialized education and even then if would have core classes of general education. It would be like college except more immersed in regular schooling and funded by the government.

• A comment on Conversation: At what age could students abandon a general education and enter an immersion-type education in a field of their interest?

  Mar 13 2011: Well, alright. I think that it should be entirely in the students control to pick their specific education path, other wise they would be forced into one based on the skills they are shown to be proficient in. However the specific schools would still need to know if the student they are enrolling is talented or educated enough in what they wish to go into. So in that case the primary schooling before the specific schooling should track the students progress and the specific schools would except them based on that much like college.
  
  Or is that too narrow minded?
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  A reply on Conversation: The most efficient education

  Mar 13 2011: This is true, I think the education system should evolve into many branches that specialize in teaching what interests the students. Schools today are too generalized and spread thin.
  
  How can we accomplish that though? That would require an almost completely reworked education system. With the ability to acquire free eduction from new technologies its hard to imagine a single school facility being as necessary, but children still need direction from teachers don't they?

• A comment on Conversation: How can we redirect the media's fascination with the lives of worthless celebrities and focus more on real world issues?

  Mar 12 2011: Its a facet of human nature to look up to a leader in society, to admire and idolize them for their efforts and greatness. Ironically however, today our leaders have little to no societal worth. We have to ask the question "What are they giving to us then" it must be something that makes them this valuable to the masses. I think what that something is, is simply escapism. We live in times so exasperated and obtuse that people naturally fall into a addictive need for relief. I think this comes in many forms, including celebrities.
  
  Now there are people of minor fame who actually do contribute to society quite a bit. Who expose the current problems of the world and spring those who watch them to take action. These people are what if anything celebrities should be. My example is the online community of something called Nerdfighteria believe it or not. The sun that this community revolves around are two kids named John and Hank Green who are on youtube and call themselves the Vlogbrothers. One of them is currently in Haiti helping out. They but together a giant charity every year that's sole purpose is to spread awareness by people power of many charities and donate to them. Last year I believe over $150,000 was raised total. They do much more than this however. I would go check it out.

• A comment on Conversation: At what age could students abandon a general education and enter an immersion-type education in a field of their interest?

  Mar 12 2011: Hmm. I like this idea but of course the reason it is not already happening is because too much indecision at an early age.
  
  Perhaps some government funded facilities cloud spring up but how could they be sure of the students they are accepting and would they even get enough students in the first place.
  
  I love your idea and would love to see it happen but it needs much more planning. I actually know of a art high school in my own town if your interested. I do not know its its private or government however.
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  A reply on Conversation: Should Euthanasia be legalized in every Country?

  Mar 12 2011: Yes I also thought of this possibility. That is why I included that we need to understand every culture. Most likely India is not the only nation that could go in this direction. That is why we need to ease this in as smartly, respectfully, and as carefully as possible.
  
  In this particular instance it could create the possibility of a much stricter euthanasia law for India, which in itself could defeat the purpose of euthanasia by denying those who really need it.

• A comment on Conversation: The most efficient education

  Mar 12 2011: Yes I agree that schools do not teach enough from text books but there is a myriad of problems with textbooks in the first place. I'm sure that the reason we dont teach the entire text book in order today is because we lowered the standards at some point so that other students in lower preforming areas could have a better chance at eduction. On that note, it would be harder however for students in lower preforming areas to read and go over material before class because they have many other obligations or obstacles blocking them from doing so.
  
  Stepping outside of demographics however, you will see that children's minds have already been rewired. Visual learning is becoming much more effective in teaching. It is because of that that I strongly agree with your second point. The current format of textbooks is very out of date for todays visual learning student. We must keep textbooks without a doubt but we must reformat them and couple this with a supply educational videos that will give the lecture portion of class on whatever material is being presented that day. Then, we will leave the bulk of the class time to human contact. Teachers would then have time to be one on one with their students instead of lifelessly reading from a textbook that dose not click with the student in the first place. Students themselves can form somewhat of a class discussion during sometime after the video lecture
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  A comment on Conversation: Should Euthanasia be legalized in every Country?

  Mar 12 2011: I personally believe that euthanasia is a moral obligation. I would of course then like to say it should be legalized in every country. However, a common mistake of human nature is no matter how right or wrong something seems to one's own culture and way of thinking it is something entirely different for another culture and way of thinking. This dose not make the other person right or wrong. For a person in another country, their definition of great pain or dignity may be something completely different. For instance, it could be a matter of honor and not physical pain. It could also be mental pain instead of physical pain.
  
  Before we go anywhere near launching this idea and influencing its legalization on all nations, we must first be able to respect and understand their culture, perception of life and death, and way of thinking. This is critical because you absolutely cannot impose your own ideas no matter how right them seem upon another culture and expect things to work or go smoothly.

• A reply on Conversation: create a team within our TED community working on ideas that can became educational games.

  Mar 12 2011: I like Christian's idea and I like Marks expansion on it. Mark is right, XP would be too extraneous a reward. They need to see what they have actually done. In any case I think it should be more involved in reality than on a server.
  
  If its worldwide the participants in the game could connect with others throughout the world and come up with new ideas on how to save energy. They should be rewarded in some way for connecting with others and coming up with ideas. After all, real issues are not solved by one man alone. These kids should learn that early and have it built into them how to form communities.