Read the full transcript of Dr. Graeme Mitchell’s talk titled “How To Save Our Children From Cynicism” at TEDxRRU 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Power of Ideas
Lately, I’ve been captivated by a simple yet exciting idea. It’s an idea with the power to transform education. It keeps popping up in my dreams, sneaking into my showers, it’s even becoming a bit of a third wheel in my relationship.
Our thoughts are profoundly shaped by what we consume. Think about that for a second. Every conversation, every book, every journey, every snippet of media we engage with shapes our future thoughts. That podcast at Thanksgiving, that social media post last week, even that spicy reality show that you might watch last night, they’re all combining to influence the thoughts you’re having today.
Now, with this in mind, I’ve become a bit obsessed about curating better inputs because as far as I’m concerned, the person with the better flows of information gets better thoughts, which is why this next number is so disturbing, 46,000 hours. That’s the total amount of time my 10th grade class spent on social media just last year, 46,000 hours. In that amount of time, you could walk from Los Angeles to New York, coast to coast, not once, not twice, but 34 times. But I think it’s more than just a shocking statistic. I think it’s a window into their world.
Studying Social Media Feeds
So as a class, we came together and we studied their social media feeds. And amidst the cute puppies and the viral dances, what really stood out was this tsunami of stress-inducing content washing over them day after day. And then there’s this quirky evolutionary trait that we all share known as the negativity bias.
This helped our ancestors to detect threats, hardwiring all of us to intensely remember bad news to stay safe.
So for the negative stuff, our brains are like Velcro, catching every bit of dirt. But for the positive stuff, it’s as if we’ve washed them with Teflon, allowing all that positivity to just slide away.
Institute for Global Solutions Program
Now during the school day, as they step back from their screens, these learners are part of our Institute for Global Solutions program, a public school offering designed to empower teenagers to make a difference in our world. What began in 2013 as just a modest experiment with only 23 students taking part has since exploded into this dynamic offering of nearly 200 learners annually.
And when they come into our program, we give them a test designed by the late Hans Rosling. And it gauges their understanding of important global issues, health, poverty, environmental challenges. Their results, they always reveal a striking disparity. The learners coming into our program, they think the world is totally falling apart. Even when the data paints a much brighter picture.
And it’s not just our students. When I give the same test to my fellow teachers, their results are even more alarming. But the real eye opener, my master’s students. They have the most negatively distorted views of all. As their knowledge increases, their hope diminishes.
What’s the Point? We’re Screwed
This disconnect, it motivated us to launch our program over a decade ago, and it was all sparked by a single statement. Following a class discussion on climate change, one of my sharpest 15-year-olds stood up and shouted out, “What’s the point? We’re screwed.”
Now, this wasn’t your average teenage grumble. So the next day, armed with a red marker, I wrote his words in the middle of the whiteboard. “What’s the point?” And then I turned and asked the class, “What do you think?” For the next 45 minutes, they just unloaded. When the dust had settled, one thing was clear. These learners were indifferent or apathetic. No, they were afraid.
This realization was transformative. Despite being up to their necks in doom and gloom, these learners were oblivious to the astonishing advancements of the past century. We weren’t just dealing with a knowledge gap. We faced something far more profound, a hope gap.
Balancing Challenges with Past Victories
There is no doubt that today’s teens need, they need to wrestle with the world’s challenges, but it’s equally essential for them to study past victories, to understand the incredible progress we’ve made. Without knowing about these past wins, they can’t grasp how far we’ve come. All they see is this daunting mountain ahead. They need to know we are not at base camp. In fact, we are well into the climb because, as it turns out, our world, for all its flaws, is in a much better state than most think.
People are living longer, healthier, wealthier lives. They’re benefiting from increased safety, happiness, and access to education, and not just in the West, but around the world. So in our program, we have decided to get intentional. We have shone a light on the monumental milestones achieved in the past few generations.
The World Transformed in 20 Years
Now, I want to ask you a question. What were you up to 20 years ago? Now, I was working on cruise ships, flaunting frosted tips in my hair, and sporting a very trendy eyebrow ring. Now, thankfully for my wife, so much has changed.
In the time it’s taken our current grade 12s to go from diapers to diplomas, the world has been transformed. The likelihood of a child surviving to the age of five has nearly doubled. The rate of extreme poverty has been cut in half. Recent leaps in genetics, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence are fueling breakthroughs that were unimaginable just a few short years ago.
These are triumphs of tenacity. They should be making headlines every day, but they don’t. They slide under the radar, silent, forgotten. They are missing the shock factor that compels us to click. So unless we give our students the skills to look for the good, they will drown in those 46,000 hours of sensationalism.
A Teacher’s Broader Role
As a teacher, I’m expected to give my students the tools to grow and learn and expand their horizons. But these days, I find myself embracing a broader role. It’s now also about inspiring hope and guiding my students to find that hope on their own, especially when it seems out of reach.
With this in mind, we have reimagined our curriculum. We now dedicate half, half of all class time to showcasing progress and possibility. This isn’t about sugarcoating reality. Now it’s about leaning into the facts, balancing our wins with the challenges ahead. And our goal, it’s always to find that sweet spot, avoiding cynicism and complacency while igniting action.
And the good news, it’s working. It’s as if we’ve hit a refresh button, infusing our students’ perspectives with balanced optimism. This in turn has sparked a frenzy of incredible projects which are genuinely improving our community.
So at this moment where what we consume fuels fear or hope, it reminds me of the tale of the two wolves. An old man says to his grandson, “There is a terrible fight going on inside me between two wolves. One is evil, greedy, fearful. The other is good, peaceful and honest. Now they’re fighting inside you and inside everyone else too.” After a moment, the boy asks, “Granddad, which wolf will win?” The old man pauses. “The one you feed.”
Feeding the Right Wolf
So let’s focus on feeding the right wolf. It’s time for all of us to prioritize truth and positivity in our daily consumption. Let’s curate our feeds and the thoughts that follow, shining a light on progress, not just problems. Together, let’s embark on a mission to bridge the hope gap. Let’s forge a world where the silence of success is replaced by the roar of progress.
By leading with facts, not fear, we are compelling countless young learners to engage with purpose and conviction. Because if our approach has taught us anything, it’s that by being intentional, by cultivating better inputs, by feeding the right wolf, we can redefine how our students see the world.
