I'm 17 | Kate Simonds | TEDxBoise

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Kate Simonds, senior at Timberline High School, is 17. Take a deep breath and a quick inventory of what feelings come to mind when you consider a 17 year old. Now watch this talk and prepare to have your thoughts flipped inside out.

Hi everyone.

My name is Kate Simonds, and I'm 17.

Upon hearing me say this or seeing
the title of this talk, "I'm 17",

I'm sure you're thinking:

since she's on the stage,

she must have done something incredible
that she can teach me about.

Maybe she-- I don't know, what did
she do to deserve a TED talk?

Did she accidentally make millions

from investing in a successful
startup company at age 15?

Maybe she cured some disease
accidentally while interning in a lab

or maybe she received a perfect score
on her SATs at the age of 7.

Did I do any of those things?

No.

I haven't done any
of these things unfortunately

so here's the reason
why I'm talking today:

When I took this stage, you all assumed
that I'm some child genius

or some accredited creator because I'm 17.

I must have done something
worthy of your attention.

Yet, the only qualification to being
a TED speaker is to have an idea.

An idea you think is worth spreading.

And that's the problem.

Because I'm 17 and I'm on this stage,

you're only respecting me
because I'm on this stage.

Maybe it's because you like
my extremely high heels

but I don't think that's the reason
why I should have your respect.

I don't think that I should have
to be a high school millionaire

or to have cured an epidemic
to be worth listening to.

I think that any idea should be respected
no matter the age of who it comes from.

My voice has been disrespected
what seems like hundreds of times.

I've been told by adults
that I'm not ready to vote

even though I keep up with politics,
and I'm sure of my beliefs.

I've been told to stop
fighting for equality

because I have a little voice,
and it won't fix anything.

The difference is, no one
would say those things to an adult.

Any adult that fights
for a cause like that

would be deemed
a courageous and dedicated hero

but because I'm 17,
I'm naïve and ignorant.

I have years of experience of my voice
not mattering and not being respected.

I'm even told, according to
a Life Science article from 2008,

that because I'm a teenager,
I can't experience empathy

which is defined as the ability

to understand and share
the feelings of an other.

Now, without any quantifiable data
or scientific evidence

I can prove that article wrong.

Here's how.

I did it about a minute ago

when I understood the assumptions
you made when I took this stage.

With empathy because I can relate to you,

I understand your hesitations
to my qualifications

because when I was picked
for this TED talk,

I wondered the same thing.

I'm just a 17 year old, what do I know?

What can I teach you about?

But by this time,
I hope I've gained your respect.

I say "gained" because unlike the other
speakers, I didn't have it initially.

There was an inherent paradigm of doubt.

This surrounds all students.

The reason I'm so passionate
about this is because of my work

with a local non-profit organization
which is called One Stone.

One Stone is a student-run,
official 501(c) non-profit,

and after joining
as a sophomore in high school,

I learnt how to create a budget,
to run an interview,

how to speak in front
of large groups like this one

and most importantly,
how to problem solve.

Surrounded by high school students,

no one ever questioned
the validity of my thoughts.

Let me tell you, we've got stuff done.

But things would change
the second I'd leave the building.

I'd try talking to an adult about
something I'd be working on,

my research or a project, and they
would ask me, "What do you know?"

All teens are asked this, "What do
you know? How could you know this?

You're only a teenager."

We are asked this when we talk about
politics, education,

even with what we want
to do with our lives

because we're "Too young to understand."

Just because we have
vertical driver's licenses

and you all have
horizontal driver's licenses,

apparently, we don't know what love is.

We can't know
what we should or shouldn't believe,

we don't get to talk
about education or politics

because we don't live in the "real world".

We actually do not get
to speak for ourselves.

At this point, you may have noticed
that I'm not using slides.

Part of the reason why
is that I don't really need them

but to be honest with you, the real reason
why is that this is a really unique chance

for a student like me
to have your attention,

so I'm going to strategically direct
100 % of it to myself.

(Laughter)

This problem is bigger than it sounds.

From my contrasting
experiences at One Stone

and with the help
of the amazing teachers I've had,

I've become fully aware of the constant
belittling that occurs to student voices.

This problem is big.

Look at our education system;
as students, we have no say

in what we learn or how we learn it,
yet we're expected to absorb it all,

take it all in, and be able
to run the world someday.

We're expected to raise our hands
to use the restroom, then 3 months later

be ready to go to college
or have a full time job,

support ourselves and live on our own.

It's not logical.

My mum is an elementary school teacher.

I always hear her and her colleagues
talking about how kindergarteners,

when asked a question, are thrilled
to be raising their hands, all of them.

Yet, as you increase the grade level,

fewer and fewer hands
are raised each year.

Now, in my senior classes in high school,
it's common that, when asked a question,

no one raises their hand, and the teacher
has to call out names from a roster.

I think this is because A, students
aren't confident in their own answers,

B, students have been made fun of
for answering too many questions correctly

or C, the students aren't listening.

Maybe they're texting in their lap

or most likely,
just extremely disinterested.

These are all three really big problems.

Students have lost sight
of their education's value

and have therefore stopped learning.

Because we're told,
"You don't get it, you're 17.

You don't deserve to have
the control over what you learn."

This statement and this mindset are toxic.

It's gotten to the point where we've begun
to stop listening to ourselves.

Sometimes, I catch myself on a wild
train of thought and stop myself thinking,

"Self, stop thinking about this.

You're only 17, you don't know
anything about psychology.

What are you doing? Stop!"

This is me, someone who totally believes
in the validation of everyone's ideas

and is doing a TED Talk
on the validation of everyone's ideas,

discrediting my own because my thoughts
don't come from an adult mind.

Last spring, my friend and I
started a club.

Both of us are very outspoken,
and we saw this as an opportunity

to make a difference in our school.

We anticipated it might take some work
to convince the adults of our mission

but we didn't realize

that the real challenge would be
convincing our classmates

that they could make a change as students.

When we tried to stand up for something,

they criticized us, they made fun of us
for standing up for our beliefs.

That's really, really bad.

Students question the validity
of their own thoughts

because they don't come from adult minds,

yet what really separates adults
and teenagers intellectually?

Is it an age?

Do we wake up on our 21st birthdays
with everlasting knowledge?

Do we turn 18 and suddenly
have ideas that are worth listening to?

Also, this magical age of adulthood is
different in countries all over the world.

It hasn't seemed to work
so far, so who's right?

Or maybe it's from attaining a level
of maturity which can come at any age

but I know a lot of high schoolers
and college students

that are more mature
than some adults I know.

So that's not logical either.

I think that it doesn't come
with age or experiential maturity.

There's a definite biological
difference between the two

but it comes instead
with brain conformity.

Researchers at Stanford
tested this a while back.

They looked at neurosignalling
differences in the two ages

between adolescence and adults
to see how brains were networked.

They ended up finding out
adult pathways were much more constant

as if mapped than the younger subjects

whose pathways were more scattered
or spontaneous or, dare I say, creative.

It's no secret that society
has a lot of problems

that we just can't quite seem to solve.

The adults behind them have
conditioned attempts at solving them

which is why we haven't made any progress.

In my government class, my teacher
has a really sarcastic poster that says,

"If you think our problems are bad,
just wait until you see our solutions".

(Laughter)

Maybe this problem is that we're not
thinking about these solutions creatively.

Teens are criticized all the time
for having rambunctiously inventive ideas.

But instead of making fun
of these teenagers,

maybe the problem is
that we should be harnessing these ideas,

we should be tapping into
these spontaneous brain pathways

and using them to solve these problems.

This is my idea worth spreading:

a world of creative collaboration
between adults and students.

It's a world where adults listen
and respect student ideas,

and a world where students respect
and listen to their own ideas.

The education system;
it will improve dramatically,

students will care about learning

because they know
that their education matters.

In the current status quo,

once you're educated past a certain point
you've learned all about failure.

We're teaching our students right now

to lose belief in possible
change or perfection.

In other words, we're teaching them

to stop thinking outside the box
and to accept adequacy.

We're teaching them to conform
to standards and to lose their creativity.

But before this happens, students
don't think of logistics or limitations,

they're fearless.

Think of the kindergarteners;
if we could harness this excited energy

before they lose it and foster it
throughout their entire education,

think of the creative ideas
that could come of it.

Possibly even more so,
government could improve.

Once students know
that their voices matter,

they'll feel obligated to participate.

They'll feel responsible
for where policies are headed.

With improved efficacy
comes progress across the board.

I'm not suggesting to extend
suffrage to 5 year olds.

But I do think that we should
encourage our 18 year olds to vote,

not discourage them,
that so happens frequently.

Ask us about social security,
ask us about environmental destruction,

ask us about anything.

Let us know that we matter because we do.

It's true that not all of us
will understand these policies right away.

Just because we're teenagers doesn't mean
that we don't understand politics

and similarly, just because you're
an adult, doesn't mean that you do.

When you tell us that our votes
don't matter, that we're not ready,

you lose, too.

Fewer and fewer people
are voting each year, that's a fact.

And a loss of votes, to be dramatic,
is a loss of democracy.

If you're not old enough, if you're 17
like me, 16, 15, 13, you still matter, too

even though you can't legally vote,
and you aren't in college yet.

You are still valuable to society.

OK, if anyone has fallen
asleep or something

or if you have found me
completely disinteresting, wake up,

and listen to me now.

Students, we've been respectfully asking
for student voice for years.

We've sat on representative seats
at board meetings,

and we've protested standardized testing,
but it hasn't been enough.

Look where we are.

We need to stop asking,
and we need to start demanding.

More than student councils
and board meetings, and clubs,

and representative seats.

We deserve to be trusted with more
than setting up our parents' iPads.

(Laughter)

Our ideas matter.

But, unfortunately this will only work
if it's a collaboration.

Adults, I'm asking you to work with us.

Give us your respect, hold us accountable.

I'm not asking for blind faith,
I'm asking for you to let us prove it.

You hold me accountable for my education.

I can hold you accountable too.

Environmental destruction, national debt,
unjust policies, social inequalities,

the list goes on and on.

We need to hold each other accountable
for any progress to be made,

and I promise you it will.

I'm 17.

I haven't won a Nobel Peace Prize,
I haven't solved inequality,

I haven't solved poverty,
I haven't done any of the cool things

that I've mentioned earlier.

But the difference is, I know that I can.

Teens, you need to believe in your voices,
and adults, you need to listen.

Thank you.

(Applause)