Jonathan Levi: What if Schools Taught Us How to Learn at TEDxWhiteCity (Transcript)

Jonathan Levi

Here is the full transcript of entrepreneur Jonathan Levi’s TEDx Talk: What if Schools Taught Us How to Learn at TEDxWhiteCity conference.

Listen to the MP3 Audio: What if Schools Taught Us How to Learn by Jonathan Levi at TEDxWhiteCity

TRANSCRIPT:

The way that we learn is broken. OK, it’s not quite broken, because broken would imply that it was working well to begin with. But it is inefficient and it’s ineffective and it’s really hopelessly outdated. I mean, sure, it’s gotten us to where we are today, and with enough effort it does get the job done, sort of.

But let’s face it, the way that we actually learn new information has not changed since the advent of character-based writing systems. Now at the same time we’re faced with exponentially more information than any generation ever to come before us. According to UNESCO, in the U.S. alone, 300,000 books will be published next year. In China, that number is half a million, that’s one book for every 2,000 people but it doesn’t even include a huge number, possibly a larger number of scientific publications and blog posts and magazine editorials and, of course, internet memes.

Now on top of all of this information overload, our lives and our livelihoods have become inextricably linked to rapid and lifelong learning. Most of us will change careers at least a few times throughout our lives, and even if we don’t, we’ll be forced to grapple with an ever growing body of knowledge in our respective fields. If you don’t believe me, ask any doctor or any programmer, just how much of their daily work revolves around innovations of just the last 10 years.