WEBVTT

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Host: Please welcome
to the TEDxSonomaCounty stage,

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Todd Rose.

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(Applause)

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

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They've got good pilots
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
to blaming the flight instructors.

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But it turned out that the problem
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
than the speed of sound,

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and where issues
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
on the fit between you and your cockpit.

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

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if you can't reach
the critical instruments

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when you need them the most?

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But this presents a challenge
for the Air Force.

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Because obviously,
pilots are not the same size.

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So, the issue is:

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how do you design one cockpit
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
by designing for the average pilot.

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That almost seems intuitively right.

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If you design something
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
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
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
are average on all ten dimensions?

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(Laughter)

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The assumption was
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
as an average pilot.

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Instead, what he found

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

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Right?

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It means no one is the same
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
the broadest shoulders,

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or the longest torso.

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But this is tricky because if every pilot
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
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
for an average sized pilot.

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

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designed them to the edges
of dimensions of size.

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Meaning that rather than design
for, say, the average height,

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they wanted a cockpit
that could accommodate

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as close to the shortest pilot
and the tallest pilot

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as the technology would allow.

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Now, the companies that made these planes,
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
or at least impossibly expensive

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to build a flexible cockpit.

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But once they realized
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
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
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
of the pilots that they already had,

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but they dramatically
expanded their talent pool.

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And today, we have the most diverse
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
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
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
the cockpits of our economy,

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and I think we all know
that we have some problems.

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We're spending more money
than ever before,

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but we're getting worse results.

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Whether we're talking about
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
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
are known to be intellectually gifted.

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That means we're losing over 50,000
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
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
is just bad design?

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Here's what I mean.

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Even though we have
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
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
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
has taught us anything,

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it's this.

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If you design those
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
that because they are designed on average,

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cannot possibly do
what we expected them to do,

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which is to nurture individual potential.

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But think about
what that could really costs us.

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Because every single student
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
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
can't challenge them.

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We also know what happens.

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They get bored, and a shockingly
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
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
but who is a below average reader.

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Because our science textbooks


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assume that every kid
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
and foremost a reading test.

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And it's doubtful that we will ever see
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
other than average.

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But it is a whole other thing

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when the technology changes
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,
just like the rest of society,

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has gone digital.

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

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

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

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It's already here.
You've already paid for it.

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The question is:
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
to create learning environments

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that are so flexible

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

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Now, you might think
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
with simple solutions

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that we take for granted
in our everyday digital lives.

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Here I am thinking about basic stuff

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like language translation,
support for reading, vocabulary,

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you know, even the ability of a machine
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
on the lives of individuals.

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I know I was, the first time
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
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.

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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
was reading at grade level.

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Now, one of my favorite things
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
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
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
one kid in her class.

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His name was Billy.

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

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

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And she was hoping this
might reach him now

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while he's still learning to read.

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Now, I have to say,
that actually made me nervous.

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Because as I said,
the technology was pretty basic.

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And I didn't want to disappoint her.

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So, you can imagine


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how pleasantly surprised I was
about halfway through the study,

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the teacher reaches out to say,
"Hey, guess what?"

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Not only has Billy taken to the technology

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but I'm starting to see
improvement in his performance.

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So, that was nice.

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But nothing,

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nothing prepared me for what I saw

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when I went back to that classroom
at the end of the study.

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Billy had become the de facto
smartest kid in the class.

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No kidding.

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And everybody knew it.

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In fact, the first thing that I saw
when I walked through the door

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was six or seven kids
huddled around Billy's desk

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asking him questions about the assignment.

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And boy did he have answers,

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it turns out.

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The thing is, all we really gave Billy
and his classmates

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was the learning equivalent
of adjustable seats.

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And in return,

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we got a glimpse of Billy's talent.

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And sure, you might say, "Well, look，
that's one kid in one classroom,"

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but then again,

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that's one kid in one classroom.

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And isn't that what it's actually about?

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Nurturing individual potential.

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Jonas Salk was one individual
and he cured polio.

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What if Billy is the next Jonas Salk?

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What if the cure for cancer
is in his mind?

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Who knows?

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But I do know that we came
dangerously close to losing his talent

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before he even left grade school.

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Not because he didn't understand science,

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but because he was still learning to read.

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And that's what I mean

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when I say that simple solutions
can have a profound impact on individuals.

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So, the real question to me

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is how do we get these
adjustable seats for learning

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in the hands of every student
as fast as possible

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without spending more money?

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Here, I actually think the Air Force
has given us the formula for success.

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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
that the companies

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that sell these materials
into our classrooms

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design them not to the average
of dimensions of learning

00:16:01.891 --> 00:16:03.242
but to the edges?

00:16:04.270 --> 00:16:06.139
It would be a bold move.

00:16:06.139 --> 00:16:09.099
It would certainly send
a strong signal to the market:

00:16:09.782 --> 00:16:11.071
the game's changed.

00:16:12.121 --> 00:16:13.162
But trust me,

00:16:13.632 --> 00:16:14.771
if we do this,

00:16:16.010 --> 00:16:19.961
not only will we increase the performance
of the kids in our classrooms today,

00:16:20.468 --> 00:16:23.022
we will dramatically
expand our talent pool.

00:16:23.610 --> 00:16:24.752
Because right now

00:16:24.752 --> 00:16:27.651
there are so many students
we simply cannot reach

00:16:28.271 --> 00:16:30.370
because we design on average.

00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:33.794
Design to the edges
and we will reach them,

00:16:34.504 --> 00:16:36.192
and we'll get their talent.

00:16:37.472 --> 00:16:38.781
And I have to say I know,

00:16:38.781 --> 00:16:40.713
because I was one of those students.

00:16:41.472 --> 00:16:44.993
So today, I'm a faculty member at Harvard.

00:16:46.393 --> 00:16:48.693
But I'm also a high school dropout.

00:16:49.534 --> 00:16:50.545
It gets better.

00:16:50.545 --> 00:16:54.118
I was a high school
dropout with a 0.9 GPA.

00:16:54.118 --> 00:16:55.271
(Laughter)

00:16:55.271 --> 00:16:57.723
For those of you who don't know,
that's pretty bad.

00:16:57.723 --> 00:16:59.922
(Laughter)

00:17:01.024 --> 00:17:02.442
But here's the thing.

00:17:03.393 --> 00:17:06.303
I've been to the very bottom
of our educational system

00:17:08.173 --> 00:17:09.793
and I've been to the very top.

00:17:10.274 --> 00:17:11.240
I'm here to tell you

00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:15.064
we are wasting so much talent
at every single level.

00:17:17.275 --> 00:17:18.340
And the thing is,

00:17:18.340 --> 00:17:20.355
because for every one person like me

00:17:21.235 --> 00:17:26.445
there are millions who worked as hard,
who had the ability,

00:17:27.295 --> 00:17:28.986
but who were unable to overcome

00:17:28.986 --> 00:17:32.366
the drag of an educational environment
designed on average.

00:17:33.186 --> 00:17:35.316
And their talent is forever lost to us.

00:17:36.896 --> 00:17:38.162
The thing is

00:17:38.162 --> 00:17:40.097
we can't really afford to lose them.

00:17:41.458 --> 00:17:42.514
The good news is

00:17:42.514 --> 00:17:44.237
we don't have to anymore.

00:17:45.848 --> 00:17:49.768
I'm telling you we have
a once in a lifetime chance, right now,

00:17:50.858 --> 00:17:53.518
to fundamentally re-imagine
the very foundation

00:17:54.218 --> 00:17:55.871
of our institutions of opportunity

00:17:55.871 --> 00:17:57.170
like education,

00:17:57.170 --> 00:18:00.535
in ways that nurture the potential
of every single individual;

00:18:01.175 --> 00:18:03.012
therefore, expand our talent pool,

00:18:03.012 --> 00:18:05.257
make us far more competitive in the world.

00:18:06.697 --> 00:18:08.018
We can do this.

00:18:08.876 --> 00:18:10.468
We know the formula.

00:18:10.468 --> 00:18:12.055
And it's time we demand it.

00:18:12.055 --> 00:18:13.104
Thank you.

00:18:13.104 --> 00:18:16.139
(Applause)