Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto
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0:19 - 0:21Many people complain
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0:22 - 0:24that our current education system
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0:24 - 0:26is not preparing our children
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0:26 - 0:29for the real needs of society.
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0:30 - 0:34For instance, with Japan's aging
and shrinking population, -
0:34 - 0:36our children will have to learn
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0:36 - 0:39how to embrace diversity
and appreciate difference -
0:39 - 0:42in order to be able to live and work
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0:42 - 0:44with people from outside of Japan.
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0:44 - 0:49Also, in today's very complex,
ever-changing world, -
0:51 - 0:54it is critical
that our children learn -
0:55 - 0:58they're not just solving
the problems that they're facing, -
0:59 - 1:02but that they're able
to identify the issues -
1:02 - 1:05and set an agenda themselves.
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1:06 - 1:10Our children can no longer follow
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1:10 - 1:12what has been the status quo.
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1:12 - 1:14And for the next generation
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1:15 - 1:18not taking risks IS a risk.
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1:18 - 1:23It is essential that they learn
how to take risks -
1:23 - 1:27and learn how to overcome
difficult situations. -
1:28 - 1:32These are some
of the very obvious challenges. -
1:33 - 1:36There have been a lot of papers,
presentations and discussions -
1:37 - 1:39urging us to change the way
-
1:39 - 1:42our children are
educated in this country. -
1:43 - 1:48And yet, there's been
very little concrete action taken. -
1:50 - 1:52We're trying to change that,
-
1:52 - 1:57through founding Japan's
first international boarding school. -
1:57 - 2:00International School of Asia, Karuizawa,
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2:00 - 2:02or ISAK for short.
-
2:03 - 2:07The first phase of the construction
of our campus is completed, -
2:08 - 2:10and we're scheduled to open our doors
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2:10 - 2:14to the first class
of students in 2014, -
2:14 - 2:16which is next year.
-
2:16 - 2:20We are receiving a large number
of inquiries from all over the world -
2:21 - 2:24way before our admission season.
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2:24 - 2:29Over 1,000 inquiries
for only fifty seats. -
2:30 - 2:33Now:
How did I come up with -
2:33 - 2:36this crazy idea
of starting a school from scratch? -
2:37 - 2:39There were two incidents
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2:39 - 2:44that led me to get here
to set up this project. -
2:45 - 2:48The first turning point in my life
-
2:48 - 2:50goes all the way back
to my high school days, -
2:50 - 2:54when I became a little suspicious
about the purpose of education -
2:55 - 2:58soon after I entered
-
2:58 - 3:03into one of the most reputable
government high schools in Tokyo. -
3:03 - 3:06After one year, I quit.
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3:06 - 3:09And I was lucky to get a full scholarship
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3:09 - 3:14to study at an international
boarding school in Canada. -
3:14 - 3:18Not only was
that classroom experience -
3:18 - 3:22very different, engaging
and student-centered, -
3:22 - 3:26but I also learned so much
from my classmates, -
3:26 - 3:29who came from very diverse backgrounds.
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3:29 - 3:34One summer I ended up visiting
one of them in Mexico. -
3:34 - 3:36This was 20 years ago.
-
3:36 - 3:38You can tell my age!
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3:39 - 3:43Her family took me
to a large slum area -
3:43 - 3:46just outside of Mexico City.
-
3:46 - 3:52I saw a number of children
who did not have access -
3:52 - 3:57to basic education
or even to clean water. -
3:57 - 4:02I still remember that smell,
the heat and the sweat -
4:02 - 4:05from that afternoon in Mexico.
-
4:05 - 4:09I realized, perhaps
for the first time in my life, -
4:09 - 4:13how fortunate I was
just to be able to go to school -
4:13 - 4:17or to be able to live
in a decent house. -
4:19 - 4:22And that experience led me
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4:23 - 4:27to the second turning point in my life,
which was my previous job -
4:27 - 4:33at the United Nations Children's Fund
--UNICEF-- in the Philippines. -
4:33 - 4:36As a Program Officer,
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4:36 - 4:39I was assisting
over 8,000 street children -
4:39 - 4:42to receive basic literacy education
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4:42 - 4:44or vocational training.
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4:44 - 4:47This itself was
a truly rewarding job to have. -
4:47 - 4:51I saw a lot of children
whose lives were transformed -
4:51 - 4:56because of the very basic education
that we provided for them. -
4:56 - 4:58At the same time, though,
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4:58 - 5:01living in a developing country,
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5:01 - 5:06I encountered such a huge
disparity in the society -
5:06 - 5:08and immense corruption.
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5:08 - 5:13You know, in my profession I was serving
a child who could not go to school -
5:14 - 5:17because she could not pay
ten dollars to buy a school uniform. -
5:17 - 5:21In my private life,
I was dining with my friends, -
5:21 - 5:24whose houses were twenty times
as big as mine -
5:24 - 5:28and who had three drivers,
four nannies, and five gardeners. -
5:30 - 5:35Educating the poor
is critically important, -
5:36 - 5:41but unless we educate leaders
who are socially aware -
5:42 - 5:47and are poised to take action
to improve the state of the world, -
5:47 - 5:50this inequality shall persist.
-
5:51 - 5:56That's when I started to become
seriously interested -
5:56 - 6:00in educating the next generation
of transformational leaders. -
6:02 - 6:04The journey was not at all smooth.
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6:06 - 6:08One month after I came back to Japan
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6:08 - 6:12to work on this project, in August 2008,
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6:12 - 6:17financial crisis hit the world and Japan,
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6:17 - 6:22and it became extremely difficult
to raise any funds for any projects. -
6:22 - 6:25And after two years of struggle,
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6:25 - 6:28we thought we had started
to see some light. -
6:28 - 6:32And then, the Tohoku Earthquake happened
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6:32 - 6:35on March 11, 2011.
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6:35 - 6:37This project is over, I thought.
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6:38 - 6:42But the outcome was the opposite.
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6:42 - 6:44More and more people
started to claim -
6:44 - 6:49that we need to prepare our children
to be able to live anywhere on the planet, -
6:49 - 6:53stand on their feet,
and think outside the box. -
6:53 - 6:58The majority of our funding
was actually donated after March 11. -
6:59 - 7:03From nothing, we were able
to raise enough funds -
7:03 - 7:06to start up a school
from scratch, -
7:06 - 7:09which was 15 million US dollars,
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7:09 - 7:13or 15 Oku Yen in Japanese.
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7:14 - 7:16Looking back,
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7:16 - 7:202010 was another big year for our project;
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7:20 - 7:23we had no money,
no people back then. -
7:24 - 7:28The only thing we could do was to offer
a little summer school in Karuizawa, -
7:29 - 7:32but it made a huge difference.
-
7:32 - 7:35Talking about ideal education is easy,
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7:35 - 7:40but to make that into reality
is something completely different. -
7:40 - 7:44We need teachers and students
coming from all over the world -
7:44 - 7:47and they need to be
practicing and experiencing -
7:47 - 7:50what we believe to be an ideal education
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7:50 - 7:55in every single class, and
every single moment in their dorm life. -
7:55 - 7:58We were able to prove that we could
do this through our summer school. -
7:58 - 8:01I don't think we could have come this far
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8:01 - 8:06were it not for that very first
summer school in 2010. -
8:07 - 8:09Three years have passed.
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8:10 - 8:16This year, we had about 400 applicants
from 35 countries, -
8:16 - 8:18with almost no advertisement.
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8:19 - 8:21They all came through,
or mostly came through -
8:21 - 8:24either word of mouth,
-
8:24 - 8:29or having read articles
about our project in the media. -
8:30 - 8:32What else was difficult?
(Laughs) -
8:32 - 8:36There were so many obstacles
and challenges that we went through. -
8:36 - 8:40Finding the right school site
under a very limited budget -
8:40 - 8:42was also a huge challenge...
-
8:43 - 8:47because it took us so long
to find a school site in Karuizawa -
8:47 - 8:52and then--our school is called
ISAK for short-- -
8:53 - 8:55and some of the board members
in the end started saying -
8:55 - 9:01that we should just go for ANY location
in Japan that had the initial 'K'. -
9:02 - 9:04That includes Kyoto, by the way.
-
9:05 - 9:07Believe it or not, we actually went
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9:07 - 9:11to Kamakura, Kawaguchiko
and almost to Kyoto, -
9:11 - 9:15and then, as far as
to Kyonan Machi in Chiba. -
9:18 - 9:20By the time we found
our current site in Karauizawa, -
9:20 - 9:24we must've visited almost 20
different sites in Japan, if not more. -
9:27 - 9:31I'm very grateful for
and thrilled -
9:32 - 9:37to see an increasing amount
of interest, enthusiasm, -
9:37 - 9:42support, and momentum
that our project is gaining. -
9:42 - 9:46And I know that people are not just
supporting our single school in Kuraizawa, -
9:46 - 9:50but they're supporting
a larger movement -
9:50 - 9:53that our project might be contributing to,
or possibly be a vanguard of: -
9:55 - 10:01The movement that hopefully will turn
into serious educational reform -
10:02 - 10:06in a country that's been
waiting for it for decades. -
10:08 - 10:10Through running this project,
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10:10 - 10:15I have come to appreciate one phrase
by the French philosopher Alain: -
10:15 - 10:21"Pessimism comes from our feelings;
optimism from the will". -
10:25 - 10:29We face a lot of challenges
and difficulties -
10:29 - 10:34and it's natural--it's easy--
to be very pessimistic about it. -
10:35 - 10:39But the future is something
that we create. -
10:40 - 10:43And if we strongly
believe in this, -
10:43 - 10:46we can and should take action.
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10:47 - 10:53And it is precisely this kind
of very strong determination or will -
10:54 - 10:56that becomes significant power
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10:57 - 11:03that opens up doors to a future
that we can be optimistic about. -
11:03 - 11:05Thank you.
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11:05 - 11:09(Applause)
- Title:
- Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto
- Description:
-
At the International School of Karuizawa, International Educator Lin Kobayashi offers a new kind of global education to tomorrow's leaders.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 11:14
Camille Martínez commented on English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Emi Kamiya commented on English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez approved English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto | ||
Camille Martínez commented on English subtitles for Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today: Lin Kobayashi at TEDxKyoto |
Akinori Oyama
Hello. Could you revisit "How to Tackle a Transcript" -http://translations.ted.org/wiki/How_to_Tackle_a_Transcript?
I think we can work on the following points first.
1) There will be period at the end of a line.
2) any long line (longer than around 40) shall be cut into shorter lines such as the subtitle at 1:27 where subtitle has the length of 47.
3) too short lines may be put together. A shorter duration makes it hard to read and creates too small chanks. If a subtitle has just a word or two and last only shorter than 1.7, maybe, we can merge two lines.
Camille Martínez
2:08-2:10
"open our doors" (plural) is the usual expression, so I added an 's' to the speaker's 'door'. I also kept the phrase together in one subtitle.
2:37
The speaker does say 'incidences' but I think she means 'incidents'. The first is more quantitative in nature, and refers to an instance or occurrence of an event, whereas here she's referring to two specific events that inspired her actions.
http://grammar.about.com/od/alightersideofwriting/a/Incidence-And-Incidents.htm
2:38 I agree that it sounds like she says 'guess here,' but I changed it to 'get here,' because it makes more sense.
6:49 their feet (the children's)
7:16 2010 was _another_ big year for our project. / The speaker goes on to explain what an important impact that year's summer program had on the future of the school, i.e., "...it made a huge difference..."
10:22 There is a sound problem, something was cut off between the Alain quote and the speaker's next line. I contacted her about it, and she didn't recall what the first part of her sentence was, but since she's off-screen when she says it, I just omitted these few words.
Emi Kamiya
Correction in Description:
Karuiza --> Karuizawa
Camille Martínez
Thank you, Emi!!
I have made the correction and will comment in the other languages to alert them to the error as well.