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80 million, that's the number of children

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in the United States from ages 0 to 18.

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80 million gems waiting to
blossom, to bloom, to be engaged,

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to be seen, to be known,
to be put in the play.

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80 million gems.
What's our vision for America's kids?

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Well you know what,
we hardly ever talk about it.

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Is the vision to keep them safe?
To keep them out of trouble?

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Is the vision to keep them in school?

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Those are all management
and control ideas.

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Not very compelling.

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What is our vision for America's kids?

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So, because I love to go around
and interview people

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is why everywhere I am in the world

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particularly in the United States,

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I do like to ask adults, what is your
highest aspiration for our young?

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Some interesting things happen.

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No one has ever said,

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Oh, this child of mine my fondest wish

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is that they will ace statewide benchmark
math and science test when they're 16.

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I've never heard anybody say,

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Oh, my fondest wish
is that this young person

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will help make America more competitive
in the global economy.

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No, when you actually listen,
to people's statements

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about their dreams for our kids,
you hear a very different language.

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Kids who experience joy,

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kids who are connected and engaged,

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kids who fall in love
with their life and all of life,

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kids with kindness, and generosity,
kids who are happy,

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kids who contribute.

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That, my friends, is the language
of human thriving.

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And it's the language of quality,
isn't it ?

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Not the language of quantity.
Kids of joy, happiness,

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connection, engagement,
fulfillment, kindness,

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compassion, generosity.

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The language of thriving.

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Here's something we know now,
based on a series of scientific studies:

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That only one quarter of the 80 million,

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one quarter of kids, when they become
high school students

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are on a pathway to human thriving.

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The other three quarters
have fallen off that path.

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It's no longer about purpose and hope,

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and connectedness, and engagement,
and joy,

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but it's about being alone,

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it's about being empty,
it's about being medicated,

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it's about being confused
and it's about being lost.

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Only a quarter of America's teenagers
stay on a pathway to human thriving.

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And I think I know why this happens.

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There's probably a lot of reasons,
of course,

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but here's one key one.

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About two thousand years ago,

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Plutarch, a Greek philosopher,
I've forgot what his first name is,

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I think it was Frank Plutarch -
(Laughter)

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Plutarch gave us one of the key axioms
of human development,

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and that is that youth
are not vessels to be filled

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but fires to be lit.

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Fires to be lit.

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What he is talking about, and what
we know in human development,

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is that the best of development is from
the inside out, not the outside in.

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In this nation, we've forgotten that,
by and large,

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and we are do an awful lot
of development, don't we,

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from the outside in.

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Fill the empty vessel with
information, factoids,

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ideas, ideals, values, expectations
and demands.

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Some of that's ok.

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But the real question of human development
is letting 'this' emerge.

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in life... and what is 'this'?
What is this fire ?

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The core idea in human thriving
is the identification of that fire,

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that inner light, that human spark.

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I've been working in this space
now, for about ten years.

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My team of scientists and I
at Search Institute,

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have been creating a science
of human thriving

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with a particular eye
to children and teenagers.

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Thriving begins with the idea
of the human spark.

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It's the metaphore I use to define
that animating engine,

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that thing about a young person
that gives them joy and energy,

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the reason why some will seek to actually
get up in the morning and get moving,

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something that gives their life hope
and direction and purpose.

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Spark by the way is very akin
to the idea of spirit.

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Spirit is from the latin spiritus,
and you know what that means: my breath.

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My breath, put into the world
with vigor and courage.

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My breath, it's the ultimate question
to ask each other

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and particularly to ask our young.

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What is your breath?
What is your spark?

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You in the audience, mostly adults,

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you know what life is like
when spark is alive.

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When you can name and claim
some animating energy,

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some capacity that gives your life
direction, hope and purpose,

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you know what life is like
with spark and we also know

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what it's like when spark dies.

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We know what that emptiness feels like.

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We've conducted a series
of national

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representative sample studies
in the last few years,

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numbering six or seven thousand
middle school and high school kids,

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to inquire about their spark
and the biography of their spark

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and does anybody know and care

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and does anybody actually nourish
this spark.

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The initial question
goes something like,

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Tell me what it is about you,
that gives you joy and energy?

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What's going on in those
moments when life feels

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the richest and the fullest
with purpose and hope?

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What is your spark?
I'm dying to know.

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Let me tell you some things
that are incredibly fascinating

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about America's young people.

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100% of middle school
and high school students

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get the idea of spark in a heart beat.

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They may not have used that word before
but once we tear it up they know

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what it is we are talking about.

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And they'll often times
interrupt the interviewer,

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and say, I know what it is,
I know what that feels like,

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I know what that looks like.

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I can walk you into the cafeteria
of my high school

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and I can point out the kids
with spark and the kids without.

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You can see it in the face
and in the body posture.

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A hundred per cent of kids get it,

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and then they say this,
nobody has ever asked me this before.

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You really want to know what my spark is?

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Usually social scientists come in and
they want to know about our drug use,

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our sexuality, our predilection
to violence, our approach to school.

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Nobody has ever asked me
to define my spark.

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A 100% get it.

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Two thirds of America's young people
can name at least one spark.

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A few can name two,
and a few can name three.

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But two thirds can quickly name one.

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Interesting that another 20% or so,

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can name their spark with a little
nudge from a caring adult,

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a counselor, a teacher, a parent,
a grandparent, a neighbour,

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a youth program worker,

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can pull it out of you,
what is it about you

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that gives you joy and energy
and animates your life.

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There is three kinds of sparks
as young people define them.

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For some kids it's a skill or a talent:
I love to make music.

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It's when life is the best.

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I love to draw, I love to write,
I love to lead, to study archeology.

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For some kids, it's a commitment:
my spark, it's surprising

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how many kids say,
my spark is social justice,

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my spark is a commitment
to the stewardship of the Earth.

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Some kids, the third category,
it's a quality:

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my spark, I'm a person of empathy.

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That's what I do,
that's when life is the best.

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I'm the one other people go to,
to listen to them, awesome!

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First of all, right here.

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If you ever discover and name
a kid's spark, say it back to them.

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Tell them you see it and hear it.
Thank them for possessing it.

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Because the spark in almost all cases
is good and beautiful

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and useful to the world.

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But we never talk to our kids about
seeing the human spark.

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There are at least 220 kinds of sparks
that we have now categorized in America.

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Here's something I wish for every city
we come from: that at some point

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there would be a census
of the sparks of our kids,

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and that census would flood
the media, to put the story out

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into our cities about the rich ways
that kids define their human spark.

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It gives us a whole another lens.
It draws us toward them,

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rather than the images
we have now of our kids,

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which are so often things that
frighten us and push us away.

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Here are some of the leading
categories of sparks:

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helping, serving and volunteering.

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Leading.

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Learning a particular subject matter,
like archeology, physics, French.

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Service to the globe,

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that is stewardship of the Earth,
the preservation of the natural world.

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Athletics. And the creative life.

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And the winner in all these categories

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is the creative life: art, music,
drama, dance, movement

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is the largest category in which
sparks fall for America's kids.

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Interesting. That's the arena in which
most kids say, I'm my best self.

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That's the arena in which
most kids will say,

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this is where life is the fullest
and the most hopeful.

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How are we doing in America?

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In supporting art, music, drama,
dance, movement.

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It's not that we want all those kids

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to necessarily become
professionals in that field.

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It's about right now.
Human development is about today,

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it's about how I awaken, how I am seen,
how I am known and how I am embraced.

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Have I mentioned my grandson Ryder yet?

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Ryder is seven now,
but when he was four,

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he taught us a very important thing
about the human spark.

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He reminded us that the spark

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is not necessarily the same thing
as the work you do.

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So Ryder was on our deck, and he says,

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you know what? -
as he is holding up his hand.

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I am an artist,

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I don't know if it's the work
I will do some day, but I am an artist.

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I am.

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Spark is a life orientation, it's an
approach, it's a way of being present

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in the world, it may touch work,
it may be work, it may be outside of work.

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It's not the same thing as
vocational planning.

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It's about nurturing
and naming what is in here.

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This mum is Lea Adler,
when her son was eight -

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This is a story, by the way,
that spark is not always pretty.

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When her son was eight,
he cut off the head of a doll,

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put it on a plate of lettuce,

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brought it into his mother
in the family room and said,

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Isn't this cool?
Doesn't this look great?

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When he was twelve
he boiled a pot of water,

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put six cans of unopened cherries
and then waited for them to explode

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and then filmed the cherries and the juice

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rolling down the walls of that kitchen.

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Now, most parents what would we be doing?

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Seeking professional help,
thinking of a reform school.

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Not Lea Adler, she is the mother
of Steven Spielberg.

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And she cut him some slack, didn't she?
She went with it.

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She went with the flow.

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Well the real problem in America,
the real challenge is this issue of spark.

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"No one has asked me."

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Nobody knows what my spark is.

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That happens over and over again.

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00:15:05,208 --> 00:15:11,490
You ever heard a kid say,
See me, you never see me?

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00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,571
What are they saying?
It isn't about the external, is it?

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It is about, see what I am bringing
to the human party.

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Thriving requires more than spark,
we've worked to develop

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00:15:27,629 --> 00:15:31,580
a scientifically grounded model
of human thriving.

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That is spark plus three spark champions,
preferably somebody in family, and school

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and in community, who is a spark champion.
They see it in you.

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They name it, they affirm it,
they run interference,

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they find you opportunities.

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00:15:50,274 --> 00:15:54,279
They talk about you and your human spark.

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And then the critical nature
of opportunity to express the spark.

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Great things happen my friends,
when kids experience

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00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:06,524
these three ingredients.

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00:16:06,544 --> 00:16:10,821
And the science is really profound:
spark + champions + opportunity,

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school success skyrockets,

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00:16:13,596 --> 00:16:19,374
engagement in school skyrockets,
compassion for others rises,

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00:16:19,727 --> 00:16:23,151
a sense of purpose rises,
violence decreases.

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How could it be otherwise?

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We are talking about the process
of human thriving in the world.

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Now here is where it falls apart.

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Do kids have three champions?
Not very often.

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Barely one half of our kids in America say

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their family knows and nourishes the spark.

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Only a third say anybody in their school
names, knows and nourishes the spark.

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And in the broader community
of congregations, synagogues,

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youth programs, playgrounds
and neighborhood,

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only a quarter of kids say
anybody knows my spark.

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00:17:06,682 --> 00:17:10,220
And then there's the opportunity
gap, that's huge.

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The mismatch between how kids name spark,
particularly in the creative life

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and the opportunities for that
to be nourished in community.

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There's an anthem for this idea
of human thriving.

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This is cyclon fence looking out
on a baseball diamond.

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The anthem is by John Fogerty
of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

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It goes something like,

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"Put me in coach,
I am ready to play, today!"

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And the word today is critical,
not tomorrow, but today.

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I want to be in there today,
I am a leader, put me in.

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I am a helper, put me in, know me.

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I am a giver, I am a protector
of the world, know me and put me in.

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You shall know them by their sparks,
probably,

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ought to be the most significant mantra

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and mandate for all of us in the world.

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And you shall know them by their sparks.

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I as a developmental scientist
am amazed at how easily we forget

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about how young people bring to our world

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a special capacity or gift,

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that our world desperately needs
and we so easily snuff it out.

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And as a citizen I am amazed how rarely

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we remember that innovation largely comes

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from the inside out, not the outside in.

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There's a bunch of things
I'd do now to change

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and transform how we do
business in America.

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I would make knowing kid's sparks,
at the very center of school life.

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In fact, I'd put it right at the front.

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I don't know how you can
engage and connect

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and bond kids to the institution
called school

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without knowing their spark.

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I would teach families the process
of the spark dialogue

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and how to name, affirm
and be a champion.

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I'd make the first
parent-teacher conference of the year

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to be about the spark of a kid.

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Let's talk that through
and we'll get to the rest of the stuff.

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I would do a census in cities about sparks

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and put it out into the ether
of community.

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And then I would map our after school
programs against sparks

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and begin to realign opportunity
with the expression of spark.

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My friends, this is really important stuff
in the annals of development.

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As you drive home tonight I wish you would
reflect some of your own spark biography,

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get used to that vocabulary and discourse:
What is your spark?

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What was it ?
What was it when you were sixteen?

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What was it when you were 26 and 36?

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Did it change, did it mutate,
is it the same?

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Because in dialogue with kids
they're going to want to know...

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Tell me your spark.

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They're going to turn the tables
back on you.

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When you get home tonight
if you have a partner, a spouse,

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practice the spark dialogue.

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What is your spark? Who knows it?
How can I help?

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Where do you express it?
What gets in your way? What is your spark?

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And then tomorrow, find a young person,
in your family

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or somebody else's family
and start the process.

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What is your spark?
I am dying to know.

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We've got this power, my friends,
in America if we could mobilize our people,

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to see differently, to know differently,

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and as we do that we move toward our
youngs rather than away from them.

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Thank you very much.
(Applause)