0:00:12.768,0:00:15.400
Host: Please welcome[br]to the TEDxSonomaCounty stage,

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Todd Rose.

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(Applause)

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Todd Rose: It's 1952,[br]and the Air Force has a problem.

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They've got good pilots[br]flying better planes,

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but they're getting worse results.

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And they don't know why.

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For a while, they blamed the pilots.

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They even blamed the technology.

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They eventually got around[br]to blaming the flight instructors.

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But it turned out that the problem[br]was actually with the cockpit.

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Let me explain.

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Imagine you're a fighter pilot.

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You're operating a machine

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that in some cases can travel faster[br]than the speed of sound,

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and where issues[br]between success and failure,

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sometimes life and death,

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can be measured in split seconds.

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If you're a fighter pilot,

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you know that your performance

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depends fundamentally[br]on the fit between you and your cockpit.

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Because after all, what good[br]is the best technology in the world,

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if you can't reach[br]the critical instruments

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when you need them the most?

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But this presents a challenge[br]for the Air Force.

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Because obviously,[br]pilots are not the same size.

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So, the issue is:

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how do you design one cockpit[br]that can fit the most individuals?

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For a long time,

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it was assumed that you could do this[br]by designing for the average pilot.

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That almost seems intuitively right.

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If you design something[br]that's fit for the average sized person,

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wouldn't it fit most people?

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It seems right but it's actually wrong.

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And 60 years ago,

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an Air Force researcher, Gilbert Daniels,

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proved to the world[br]just how wrong this really is,

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and what it was costing us.

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Here's how he did it.

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He studied over 4,000 pilots

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and he measured them[br]on ten dimensions of size,

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and he asked a very simple question:

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how many of these pilots[br]are average on all ten dimensions?

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(Laughter)

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The assumption was[br]that most of them would be.

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Do you know how many really were?

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Zero.

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Gilbert Daniels proved

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there was no such thing[br]as an average pilot.

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Instead, what he found

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was that every single pilot[br]had what we call a jagged size profile.

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Right?

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It means no one is the same[br]on every dimension.

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And this makes sense.

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Just because you're the tallest person

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doesn't mean you're the heaviest,

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doesn't mean you have[br]the broadest shoulders,

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or the longest torso.

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But this is tricky because if every pilot[br]has a jagged size profile

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and you design a cockpit on average,

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you've literally designed it for nobody.

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So, the Air Force[br]realized they had a problem.

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And their response was bold.

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They banned the average.

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(Laughter)

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Meaning that moving forward,

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they refused to buy fighter jets

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where the cockpit was designed[br]for an average sized pilot.

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And instead, they demanded[br]that the companies who built these planes

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designed them to the edges[br]of dimensions of size.

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Meaning that rather than design[br]for, say, the average height,

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they wanted a cockpit[br]that could accommodate

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as close to the shortest pilot[br]and the tallest pilot

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as the technology would allow.

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Now, the companies that made these planes,[br]as you could imagine,

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weren't happy, right?

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They argued, and lobbied, and they said,

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it's going to be impossible[br]or at least impossibly expensive

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to build a flexible cockpit.

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But once they realized[br]that the Air Force wasn't going to budge,

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suddenly, it was possible.

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And it turned out[br]it wasn't that expensive.

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And in fact, they made great strides

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leveraging simple solutions

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that we all take for granted[br]in our everyday life,

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like adjustable seats.

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And as a result,

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the Air Force not only

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improved the performance[br]of the pilots that they already had,

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but they dramatically[br]expanded their talent pool.

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And today, we have the most diverse[br]pool of fighter pilots ever.

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But here's the thing,

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many of our top pilots would have never[br]fit in a cockpit designed on average.

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So, most of us have never sat

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in the cockpit of a $150 million[br]fighter jet, right?

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But we've all sat in the classroom.

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And I would argue

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(Laghter)

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(Applause)

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I would argue that these are[br]the cockpits of our economy,

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and I think we all know[br]that we have some problems.

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We're spending more money[br]than ever before,

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but we're getting worse results.

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Whether we're talking about[br]declining test scores in math and science

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or our dropout crisis.

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You probably know,

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that we have over 1.2 million dropouts

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every single year[br]in high school in this country.

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What you may not know

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is that at least 4% of those dropouts[br]are known to be intellectually gifted.

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That means we're losing over 50,000[br]of our brightest minds every single year.

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So, we know we have a problem.

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But do we know why?

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So far, we've been content[br]to blame the students.

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We blame the teachers.

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We even blame the parents.

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But here's the thing ...

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I think back to the Air Force example,

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and I can't help but wonder:

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how much of this problem[br]is just bad design?

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Here's what I mean.

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Even though we have[br]one of the most diverse countries

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in the history of the world,

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and even though it's the 21st century,

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we still design our learning environments,

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like textbooks, for the average student.

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No kidding.

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We call it age-appropriate.

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And we think it's good enough.

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But of course, it's not.

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I mean, think about it.

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What does it even mean[br]to design for an average student?

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Because a student is not one-dimensional,

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like struggling to gifted.

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Students vary on many[br]dimensions of learning,

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just like they vary on dimensions of size.

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Here are a few obvious ones.

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And just like size,

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each student, every single one of them,

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has a jagged learning profile.

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Meaning, they have strengths,

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they're average at some things,

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and they have weaknesses.

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We all do.

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Even geniuses have weaknesses.

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But ...

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if the fighter pilot example[br]has taught us anything,

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it's this.

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If you design those[br]learning environments on average,

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odds are you've designed them for nobody.

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So, no wonder we have a problem.

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We've created learning environments[br]that because they are designed on average,

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cannot possibly do[br]what we expected them to do,

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which is to nurture individual potential.

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But think about[br]what that could really costs us.

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Because every single student[br]has a jagged learning profile,

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it means that the average hurts everyone,

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even our best and brightest.

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Even for them,

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designing on average[br]destroys talent in at least two ways.

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First, it makes your talent a liability.

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We all know kids like this.

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So unbelievably gifted in one area

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that their educational environment[br]can't challenge them.

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We also know what happens.

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They get bored, and a shockingly[br]high number of them drop out.

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The second way

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that designing on average destroys talent

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is that it means your weakness[br]will make it hard for us to see,

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let alone nurture, your talent.

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We all know kids like this as well.

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Like the kid who's gifted in science[br]but who is a below average reader.

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Because our science textbooks[br]

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assume that every kid[br]is reading at grade level,

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this kid's in trouble.

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Because for her,

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science class is first[br]and foremost a reading test.

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And it's doubtful that we will ever see[br]what she's truly capable of.

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Now, it's one thing when our technology

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does not allow us to do anything[br]other than average.

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But it is a whole other thing

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when the technology changes[br]and we can do more,

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but we don't realize it.

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That's where we are today.

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In the last few years, education,[br]just like the rest of society,

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has gone digital.

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If you don't believe me,[br]just consider this fact:

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U.S. public schools are one of the largest[br]buyers of iPads in the world.

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Right? So, the question isn't[br]do you want the technology?

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It's already here.[br]You've already paid for it.

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The question is:[br]what do you want it to be?

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And this is where it really gets exciting.

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We have a chance, right now,

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to use this technology[br]to create learning environments

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that are so flexible

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that they truly can nurture the potential[br]of every single individual.

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Now, you might think[br]that sounds expensive, right?

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Doesn't have to be.

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In fact, we can get a long way,

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we can make great strides[br]with simple solutions

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that we take for granted[br]in our everyday digital lives.

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Here I am thinking about basic stuff

0:11:37.961,0:11:41.720
like language translation,[br]support for reading, vocabulary,

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you know, even the ability of a machine[br]to pronounce a word for you,

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or read a passage if you want.

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Basic stuff.

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But while these are simple solutions,

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you'll be surprised

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at how big of an impact they actually have[br]on the lives of individuals.

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I know I was, the first time[br]that I saw it happen.

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I was observing a fourth-grade classroom

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a few years ago,

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and they were participating in a study

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where we were testing the effectiveness[br]of a new digital science curriculum.

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Now, I'll be the first to say

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this new digital version wasn't fancy.

0:12:20.195,0:12:21.795
In fact, it was pretty basic.

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The thing that it had going for it though,

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was that it did not assume

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that every student in that classroom[br]was reading at grade level.

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Now, one of my favorite things[br]about this particular classroom

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was the teacher.

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Because she hated technology.

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And I know this

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because it's the first thing[br]that she told me when I met her.

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And my response was,

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"OK, why did you sign up for a study[br]that's about technology?"

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She told me

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she was willing to go through this

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in the hopes that it might help[br]one kid in her class.

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His name was Billy.

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And Billy, as she told me,[br]had a mind for science.

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But he was one of those kids[br]who was a below average reader.

0:13:15.478,0:13:17.668
And she was hoping this[br]might reach him now

0:13:17.668,0:13:19.618
while he's still learning to read.

0:13:20.987,0:13:23.317
Now, I have to say,[br]that actually made me nervous.

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Because as I said,[br]the technology was pretty basic.

0:13:27.929,0:13:29.739
And I didn't want to disappoint her.

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So, you can imagine[br]

0:13:32.489,0:13:35.950
how pleasantly surprised I was[br]about halfway through the study,

0:13:37.260,0:13:39.990
the teacher reaches out to say,[br]"Hey, guess what?"

0:13:39.990,0:13:42.610
Not only has Billy taken to the technology

0:13:43.560,0:13:46.700
but I'm starting to see[br]improvement in his performance.

0:13:47.631,0:13:48.750
So, that was nice.

0:13:50.110,0:13:51.371
But nothing,

0:13:51.901,0:13:54.372
nothing prepared me for what I saw

0:13:54.372,0:13:57.731
when I went back to that classroom[br]at the end of the study.

0:13:59.842,0:14:02.921
Billy had become the de facto[br]smartest kid in the class.

0:14:03.682,0:14:04.991
No kidding.

0:14:04.991,0:14:06.591
And everybody knew it.

0:14:06.981,0:14:10.092
In fact, the first thing that I saw[br]when I walked through the door

0:14:10.523,0:14:14.547
was six or seven kids[br]huddled around Billy's desk

0:14:15.203,0:14:17.706
asking him questions about the assignment.

0:14:18.222,0:14:19.781
And boy did he have answers,

0:14:19.781,0:14:20.812
it turns out.

0:14:21.512,0:14:26.426
The thing is, all we really gave Billy[br]and his classmates

0:14:27.804,0:14:30.463
was the learning equivalent[br]of adjustable seats.

0:14:31.744,0:14:32.784
And in return,

0:14:33.194,0:14:35.155
we got a glimpse of Billy's talent.

0:14:36.315,0:14:40.308
And sure, you might say, "Well, look，[br]that's one kid in one classroom,"

0:14:41.341,0:14:42.336
but then again,

0:14:42.336,0:14:44.074
that's one kid in one classroom.

0:14:44.806,0:14:47.025
And isn't that what it's actually about?

0:14:47.606,0:14:49.685
Nurturing individual potential.

0:14:51.996,0:14:56.066
Jonas Salk was one individual[br]and he cured polio.

0:14:58.226,0:15:00.407
What if Billy is the next Jonas Salk?

0:15:02.077,0:15:04.557
What if the cure for cancer[br]is in his mind?

0:15:05.637,0:15:06.626
Who knows?

0:15:07.587,0:15:11.488
But I do know that we came[br]dangerously close to losing his talent

0:15:11.488,0:15:13.618
before he even left grade school.

0:15:14.047,0:15:16.618
Not because he didn't understand science,

0:15:16.968,0:15:19.079
but because he was still learning to read.

0:15:20.278,0:15:21.349
And that's what I mean

0:15:21.349,0:15:25.394
when I say that simple solutions[br]can have a profound impact on individuals.

0:15:26.247,0:15:28.117
So, the real question to me

0:15:28.117,0:15:31.648
is how do we get these[br]adjustable seats for learning

0:15:31.648,0:15:35.058
in the hands of every student[br]as fast as possible

0:15:35.687,0:15:37.278
without spending more money?

0:15:38.578,0:15:42.833
Here, I actually think the Air Force[br]has given us the formula for success.

0:15:44.873,0:15:47.269
What if we ban the average in education?

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We know it destroys talent.

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Instead, what if we demanded[br]that the companies

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that sell these materials[br]into our classrooms

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design them not to the average[br]of dimensions of learning

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but to the edges?

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It would be a bold move.

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It would certainly send[br]a strong signal to the market:

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the game's changed.

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But trust me,

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if we do this,

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not only will we increase the performance[br]of the kids in our classrooms today,

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we will dramatically[br]expand our talent pool.

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Because right now

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there are so many students[br]we simply cannot reach

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because we design on average.

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Design to the edges[br]and we will reach them,

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and we'll get their talent.

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And I have to say I know,

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because I was one of those students.

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So today, I'm a faculty member at Harvard.

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But I'm also a high school dropout.

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It gets better.

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I was a high school[br]dropout with a 0.9 GPA.

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(Laughter)

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For those of you who don't know,[br]that's pretty bad.

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(Laughter)

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But here's the thing.

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I've been to the very bottom[br]of our educational system

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and I've been to the very top.

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I'm here to tell you

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we are wasting so much talent[br]at every single level.

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And the thing is,

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because for every one person like me

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there are millions who worked as hard,[br]who had the ability,

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but who were unable to overcome

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the drag of an educational environment[br]designed on average.

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And their talent is forever lost to us.

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The thing is

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we can't really afford to lose them.

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The good news is

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we don't have to anymore.

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I'm telling you we have[br]a once in a lifetime chance, right now,

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to fundamentally re-imagine[br]the very foundation

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of our institutions of opportunity

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like education,

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in ways that nurture the potential[br]of every single individual;

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therefore, expand our talent pool,

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make us far more competitive in the world.

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We can do this.

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We know the formula.

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And it's time we demand it.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)