WEBVTT

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When you're a kid,

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you get asked this one
particular question a lot.

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It really gets kind of annoying.

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"What do you want to be
when you grow up?"

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Now, adults are hoping for answers like

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"I want to be an Astronaut" or

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"I want to be a Neurosurgeon".

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You adults and
your imaginations. (Laughter)

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Kids,

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they are more likely to answer with
pro skateboarder

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surfer or Minecraft player.

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I asked my little brother,
and he said,

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"Seriously dude, I'm 10,
I have no idea,

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probably a pro skier.

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Let's go get some ice cream!"

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(Laughter)

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See, us kids are going to answer

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with something we're stoked on

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What we think is cool.

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What we have experience with,

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and that's typically the opposite
of what adults want to hear.

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But if you ask a little kid,

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sometimes you'll get the best answer,

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something so simple,
so obvious,

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and really profound.

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"When I grow up,
I want to be happy".

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For me, when I grow up,

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I want to continue to be happy

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like I am now.

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I'm stoked to be here at TEDx,

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I've been watching TED videos

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for as long as I can remember.

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But I never thought I'd make it
on stage here so soon.

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I mean,
I just became a teenager,

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and like most teenage boys,

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I spend most of my time wondering:

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"How did my room get so messy
all on its own?" (Laughter)

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Did I take a shower today?
(Laughter)

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And the most perplexing of all,

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How do I get girls to like me?
(Laughter)

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Neuroscientists say that
the teenage brain is pretty weird.

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Our prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped,

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but we actually have
more neurons than adults.

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Which is why we can be so creative,
and impulsive, and moody,

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and get bummed out.

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But what bums me out
is to know that

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a lot of kids today are
just wishing to be happy,

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to be healthy, to be safe, not bullied,

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and be loved for who they are.

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So it seems to me when adults say,

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"What do you want to be
when you grow up?"

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They just assume that you'll 
automatically be happy and healthy.

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But maybe that's not the case.

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Go to school. Go to college. Get a job.

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Get married. Boom!


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Then you'll be happy, right?

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We don't seem to make learning
how to be happy and healthy

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a priority in our schools.

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It's separated from schools,

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and for some kids,
it doesn't exist at all.

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But what if we didn't make it separate?

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What if we based education on the study

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and practice of being happy and healthy?

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Because that's what it is, a practice.

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And a simple practice like that.

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Education is important,

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but why is being happy and healthy

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not considered education?

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I just don't get it.

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I've been studying the science
of being happy and healthy.

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It really comes down to practicing
these 8 things:

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Exercise, diet and nutrition,

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time in nature, contribution
and service to others,

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relationships, recreation,

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relaxation and stress management,

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and religious or spiritual involvement.

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Yes, I got that one.
(Laugther)

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So these 8 things come
from Dr. Roger Walsh.

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He calls them
"Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes"

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or TLCs for short,

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He's a scientist that studies
how to be happy and healthy.

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In researching this talk,

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I got a chance to ask him
a few questions like:

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"Do you think better schools today
are making these 8 TLCs a priority?"

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His response was no surprise.

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It was essentially "No".

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But he did say

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that many people do try
to get this kind of education

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outside of the traditional arena

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through reading or practices
such as meditation or yoga.

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But what I thought was his best response

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was that much of education is oriented,

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for better or worse,

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towards making a living
rather than making a life.

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In 2006, Sir Ken Robinson gave

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the most popular TED talk of all time,

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"Schools Kill Creativity."

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His message is that creativity is
as important as literacy,

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and we should treat it
with the same status.

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A lot of parents watched those videos,

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some of those parents like mine
counted it as one of the reasons

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they felt confident to pull their kids
from traditional school,

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to try something different.

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I realize that I am part of this small
but growing revolution of kids

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who are going about
their education differently.

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And you know what?
It freaks a lot of people out.

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Even though I was only 9

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when my parents pulled me out
of the school system,

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I can still remember my mom 
being in tears

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when some of her friends told her
she was crazy, and it was a stupid idea.

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Looking back, I'm thankful
she didn't cave to peer pressure,

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and I think she is too.

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So out of the 200 million people

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that have watched Sir Ken Robinson's talk,

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why aren't there more kids
like me out there?

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Shane McConkey is my hero.

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I loved him because
he was the world's best skier.

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But then one day I realized
what I really loved about Shane.

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He was a hacker.

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Not a computer hacker,

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he hacked skiing.

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His creativity and inventions made
skiing what it is today,

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and why I love to ski.

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A lot of people think of hackers
as geeky computer nerds

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who live in their parent's basement,
and spread computer viruses.

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But, I don't see it that way.

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Hackers are innovators.

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Hackers are people who challenge
and change the systems

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to make them work differently,
to make them work better.

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It's just how they think,
it's a mindset.

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I'm growing up in a world

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that needs more people
with the hacker mindset,

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and not just for technology.

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Everything is up for being hacked,
even skiing,

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even education.

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So whether it's Steve Jobs,

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Mark Zuckerberg or Shane McConkey,

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having the hacker mindset
can change the world.

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Healthy, happy, creativity,

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and the hacker mindset are
all a large part of my education.

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I call it "Hack-Schooling".

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I don't use any one
particular curriculum,

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and I'm not dedicated to
anyone's particular approach.

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I hack my education.

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I take advantage of opportunities
in my community,

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and through a network
of my friends and family.

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I take advantage of opportunities
to experience what I'm learning.

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And I'm not afraid to look for shortcuts

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or hacks to get a better,
faster result.

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It's like a remix
or a mashup of learning.

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It's flexible, opportunistic,

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and it never loses sight of making happy,

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healthy and creativity a priority.

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And here's the cool part
because it's a mindset

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not a system.

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Hack-schooling can be used by anyone
even traditional schools,

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So, what does my school look like?

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Well it looks like Starbucks
a lot of the time. (Laughter)

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But, like most kids,

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I study a lot of math, science,
history, and writing.

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I didn't used to like to write

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because my teachers made me
write about butterflies and rainbows.

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And I wanted to write about skiing.

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It was a relief when my good friend's mom

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started The Squaw Valley Kids Institute

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Where I got to write through
my experiences and my interests

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while connecting with great speakers
from around the nation

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and that sparked my love of writing.

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I realize that

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once you're motivated to learn something,

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you can get a lot done
in a short amount of time

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and on your own.

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Starbucks is pretty great for that.

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Hacking physics was fun.

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We learned all about
Newton and Galileo,

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and we experienced some
basic physics concepts like

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kinetic energy though experimenting
and making mistakes.

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My favorite was the giant Newton's cradle
that we made out of bocci balls.

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We experimented with a lot of other
things like bowling balls

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and even giant jawbreakers.

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Project Discovery's Ropes Course
is awesome

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and slightly stressful.

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When you're 60 feet off the ground,

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you have to learn
how to handle your fears,

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communicate clearly and
most importantly, trust each other.

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Community organizations play
a big part in my education.

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A High Fives Foundations Basics Program:

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"Being Aware and Safe
in Critical Situations"

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We spent a day with the
Squaw Valley ski patrol

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to learn more about mountain safety.

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The next day we switched
to the science of snow,

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weather, and avalanches.

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But most importantly,

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we learned that making
bad decision puts you

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and your friends at risk.

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Young Shu-Tak Woo brings history to life.

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You study a famous character in history,

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so you can stand on stage
and perform as that character.

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and answer any question
about their lifetime.

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In this photo,

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you see Al Capone and Bob Marley

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getting grilled with questions

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at the historical Piper's Opera
House in Virginia City.

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The same stage where
Harry Houdini got his start.

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Time in nature is really
important to me.

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It's calm, quiet, and
I get to just log out of reality.

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I spend one day a week outside all day.

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At my Foxwalker classes,

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our goal is to be able to survive
in the wilderness with just a knife.

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We learn to listen to nature,
we learn to sense our surroundings,

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and I've gained
a spiritual connection to nature

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that I never knew existed.

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But the best part is
that we get to make spears,

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bows and arrows,
fires with just a bow drill,

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and survival shelters for the
snowy nights when we camp out.

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Hanging out at The Moment Factory

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where they hand make skis
and design clothes,

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has really inspired me to
one day have my own business.

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the guys at the factory have showed me
why I need to be good at math,

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be creative and get good at sewing.

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So I got an internship
at Big Short Brand

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to get better at design and sewing.

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Between fetching lunch,
scrubbing toilets,

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and breaking their vacuum cleaner,

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I'm getting to contribute
to clothing design,

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customizing hats, and selling them.

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The people who work there are
happy, healthy, creative

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and stocked to be doing
what they're doing.

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This is by far,
my favorite class.

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So, this is where I'm really happy,

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powder days.

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And it's a good metaphor for my life,

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my education,

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my Hack-schooling.

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If everyone skied this mountain

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like most people think of education,

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everyone would be skiing the same line,

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probably the safest,

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and most of the "powder"
would go untouched.

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I look at this and see
a thousand possibilites.

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Dropping the cornice,
shredding the spine,

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looking for a [unclear]
from cliff to cliff.

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Skiing to me is freedom,
and so it's my education.

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It's about being creative,
doing things differently.

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it's about community,
and helping each other,

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it's about being happy and healthy

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among my very best friends.

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So I'm starting to think I know

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what I might want to do
when I grow up.

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But if you ask me
what do I want to be when I grow up,

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I'll always know that
I want to be happy.

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Thank you.
(Applause)