I am a teacher at least I have been for
eight years and a character trade of
teachers is that they do not just like
to teach but they also like to learn and
as a teacher I can tell you if you want
to learn you’re gonna have to attend
lessons so in my case this meant
attending as many lessons of my
colleagues as possible that way I would
become a better teacher but you know
what I never really found time for this
there was always the more pressing
matter of my students needing all my
attention all of the time so I realized
to become a better teacher I had to stop
all this teaching I am a journalist and
just like Eric I’m intrigued by
education actually I think at the moment
we are witnessing a miracle an education
historical miracle because just one
century ago only 20 percent of the
people had ever seen a classroom from
the inside only 20 percent but now
everywhere you go between 9:00 in the
morning and 3:00 in the afternoon there
are no kids in the streets anymore
because now we’ve reached the stage
where 90% of all the children are in a
classroom and that’s great and I’ve I’m
a journalist and I’ve the feeling that
we have to report on this story and I’ll
tell you why because there’s just one
institution in every society where
everyone spends at least a couple of
years and that Institute we call
education so I came up with the road
trip of a lifetime
I bought this old folks wagon camper car
and I could buy it for a relatively good
price since I bought it from my mom
actually I should say our
because we of course we are brothers and
as brothers we would travel the world
and I would visit my colleagues and he
would do all of his reporting so we had
a big trip ahead of us we would travel
50,000 kilometers we would visit schools
in more than 16 countries and we’d
literally fill its schools everywhere
for example here in Georgia a tiny
school which is 17 children and this
beautiful school in Armenia and a school
in New Delhi in one of the poorest
neighborhoods in New Delhi in India and
here a school in the middle of the
desert of Oman especially this last one
was tough because as you know it gets
really hot in desert right and he’s in
charge of the car as I was in charge of
the camera but he refused to install an
air conditioning inside our little then
he would convince me it would be better
if we would open up a window to adjust
to the hot climate so the first thing
that struck me as a teacher is how
familiar everything was to me
look at these classrooms they are from
Finland and this one from Iran this one
from India and of course this one from
Singapore don’t they all look quite the
same and the children they were familiar
to me as well you always have these ones
that try to take up all of your
attention but then and this is in the
same classroom of course you have these
ones that probably need a little bit
more of your attention and everywhere
around the world kids try to outsmart
their teachers so take this – this boy
and girl they are from Georgia
and they told me something in secret and
I’m gonna trust that you guys won’t tell
their teachers in Georgia what they told
me is that at the beginning of every
school day they had to hand in their
phones but what they did of course was
handing an old phone so to keep their
own phones in their pocket and this
sounded familiar to me as well
I suddenly realized that’s what my
students have been doing to me all those
years and then of course the teachers
they were very open and welcoming and I
could always enter their lessons but
only halfway to a trip in India this guy
his name is taka Bhatia and he was
teaching in an all-girls school he’s
teaching chemistry only then and they’re
sitting in the back of that classroom I
realized how dependent these girls are
on him to grow themselves and I started
to realize that all that education
really is is a teacher meeting and
connecting with their students they in
day out and again and again now I had a
totally different experience as Eric
could easily connect with his peers I
was met with little suspicion a dualist
from the West remember the school in
Oman we were driving through in the
desert sweating our asses off but with
the open window this school we really
wanted to visit because we heard it was
a school especially built for Bedouin
children every morning children would
gather from all the corners of the
desert to go there to this building
where it was literally nothing else
around but sand to get free education
now Eric managed to make an appointment
with just a night before it got canceled
and we never found out why now this
happened more than once in Iran schools
were suddenly closed down if I asked you
if I could write down their story in
Turkey recently 20,000 people 10 20,000
teachers got fired
after the attempted coop we spoke with
one of them and what she told this was
teachers are afraid of their government
even in Singapore Singapore is known for
having the best education results at the
moment even in Singapore the teachers
did not want to go on record now slowly
a pattern occurred well and I could
easily collect connect with his teachers
as they are talkative as I know and you
know as soon as I asked if I could write
on the story they stopped talking they
had to ask for permission from someone
higher up a ministry somewhere was there
of course never got or they were too
afraid afraid to talk at all now I know
one thing as a journalist and that is
whenever people stop talking on the
record we have to start working on that
story so I also noticed people and power
looking over the shoulders of my
colleagues take for example Ukraine
before entering any school in Ukraine
you can see the names of the people that
died in the Maidan revolution of 2014 so
that their names will not be forgotten
by the students but in Iran we also saw
martyrs but they were in the hallway
their pictures were in the hallway next
to student art and that’s from a war
even before the children were born in
Cyprus the children’s notebooks say
never forget and these notebooks are
provided by the government so to help
the children remember that there is an
enemy of north occupying a part of their
land and in Russia in the history books
provided by the state Stalin is now
everywhere we went we saw Sultan’s
ministers government’s presidents trying
to reshape the next generation through
education through the teachers
and you know what I can actually relate
to this pressure because also in my
country when something when something is
wrong
the answer always seems to be well let’s
fix that through education right if
there’s climate change
well teachers should raise awareness
racism occurs all teachers must prevent
that in class of course but people
nowadays don’t know the national anthem
anymore litigious sing it with the
children and of course some of these
things might be very valuable I realize
that but it’s always the teachers who
are professionals that are managed by
now during our journey I realized I was
lucky traveling with my brother as a
teacher you could easily connect with
these pairs well I had a difficult time
talking to teachers but with him I could
win some trust and hear their stories
and I realized that when talking to a
teacher you never get an ordinary
conversation if you talk with a teacher
about teaching you speak with an entire
nation actually we soon realized that
let me advise you this if you ever want
to understand the country first thing
you should do is visit the school
because in the school you will see the
reflection of the entire nation in the
building you will find clues of the
economical state of a country in the
children you will find ideas for the
future and in the teachers and a
curriculum you will understand what a
country actually would like to become
now I think that this is the story
behind universal education I feel that
it was great that we brought all these
children in these classrooms and we
almost reached universal education but
now the new newest conversation has to
start and this conversation is what
is going on inside of all these
classrooms and who decides what is being
taught and to start this conversation I
think we have to give a stage to a
teacher wait wait so I went on this trip
to become a better teacher and I
actually saw many good practices all
around the world everywhere with my
colleagues they knew perfectly well what
to teach nobody had to tell this to them
they did what was best for their
students they did not need to be managed
at all and you know what this is not
just a message to those ministers and
governments presidents and Sultan’s who
are in no doubt right now watching this
TED talk of course no it’s actually also
a message to to you to the students here
in the room who hopefully some of you
will be my future colleagues and
actually to all teachers around the
world I think we should ask for our
professional space no wait we should
demand our professional space teachers
because you know what in the end we are
left alone in our classrooms with our
pupils and by that we have been given a
magnificent responsibility now as you
don’t have to tell a good doctor
how to heal its patients I don’t think
you have to tell a good teacher how to
teach the next generation we are on the
forefront of our nation’s ideals and
again to those Sultan’s ministers
government’s presidents and maybe also
to all the parents here or maybe just to
everyone in society I will make you guys
a promise as a teacher if you trust us
instead of pressurizes I promise we will
build your Nations now that sounds
fantastic and I as a journalist will
keep reporting so we are sure that he
you [Music]
eight years and a character trade of
teachers is that they do not just like
to teach but they also like to learn and
as a teacher I can tell you if you want
to learn you’re gonna have to attend
lessons so in my case this meant
attending as many lessons of my
colleagues as possible that way I would
become a better teacher but you know
what I never really found time for this
there was always the more pressing
matter of my students needing all my
attention all of the time so I realized
to become a better teacher I had to stop
all this teaching I am a journalist and
just like Eric I’m intrigued by
education actually I think at the moment
we are witnessing a miracle an education
historical miracle because just one
century ago only 20 percent of the
people had ever seen a classroom from
the inside only 20 percent but now
everywhere you go between 9:00 in the
morning and 3:00 in the afternoon there
are no kids in the streets anymore
because now we’ve reached the stage
where 90% of all the children are in a
classroom and that’s great and I’ve I’m
a journalist and I’ve the feeling that
we have to report on this story and I’ll
tell you why because there’s just one
institution in every society where
everyone spends at least a couple of
years and that Institute we call
education so I came up with the road
trip of a lifetime
I bought this old folks wagon camper car
and I could buy it for a relatively good
price since I bought it from my mom
actually I should say our
because we of course we are brothers and
as brothers we would travel the world
and I would visit my colleagues and he
would do all of his reporting so we had
a big trip ahead of us we would travel
50,000 kilometers we would visit schools
in more than 16 countries and we’d
literally fill its schools everywhere
for example here in Georgia a tiny
school which is 17 children and this
beautiful school in Armenia and a school
in New Delhi in one of the poorest
neighborhoods in New Delhi in India and
here a school in the middle of the
desert of Oman especially this last one
was tough because as you know it gets
really hot in desert right and he’s in
charge of the car as I was in charge of
the camera but he refused to install an
air conditioning inside our little then
he would convince me it would be better
if we would open up a window to adjust
to the hot climate so the first thing
that struck me as a teacher is how
familiar everything was to me
look at these classrooms they are from
Finland and this one from Iran this one
from India and of course this one from
Singapore don’t they all look quite the
same and the children they were familiar
to me as well you always have these ones
that try to take up all of your
attention but then and this is in the
same classroom of course you have these
ones that probably need a little bit
more of your attention and everywhere
around the world kids try to outsmart
their teachers so take this – this boy
and girl they are from Georgia
and they told me something in secret and
I’m gonna trust that you guys won’t tell
their teachers in Georgia what they told
me is that at the beginning of every
school day they had to hand in their
phones but what they did of course was
handing an old phone so to keep their
own phones in their pocket and this
sounded familiar to me as well
I suddenly realized that’s what my
students have been doing to me all those
years and then of course the teachers
they were very open and welcoming and I
could always enter their lessons but
only halfway to a trip in India this guy
his name is taka Bhatia and he was
teaching in an all-girls school he’s
teaching chemistry only then and they’re
sitting in the back of that classroom I
realized how dependent these girls are
on him to grow themselves and I started
to realize that all that education
really is is a teacher meeting and
connecting with their students they in
day out and again and again now I had a
totally different experience as Eric
could easily connect with his peers I
was met with little suspicion a dualist
from the West remember the school in
Oman we were driving through in the
desert sweating our asses off but with
the open window this school we really
wanted to visit because we heard it was
a school especially built for Bedouin
children every morning children would
gather from all the corners of the
desert to go there to this building
where it was literally nothing else
around but sand to get free education
now Eric managed to make an appointment
with just a night before it got canceled
and we never found out why now this
happened more than once in Iran schools
were suddenly closed down if I asked you
if I could write down their story in
Turkey recently 20,000 people 10 20,000
teachers got fired
after the attempted coop we spoke with
one of them and what she told this was
teachers are afraid of their government
even in Singapore Singapore is known for
having the best education results at the
moment even in Singapore the teachers
did not want to go on record now slowly
a pattern occurred well and I could
easily collect connect with his teachers
as they are talkative as I know and you
know as soon as I asked if I could write
on the story they stopped talking they
had to ask for permission from someone
higher up a ministry somewhere was there
of course never got or they were too
afraid afraid to talk at all now I know
one thing as a journalist and that is
whenever people stop talking on the
record we have to start working on that
story so I also noticed people and power
looking over the shoulders of my
colleagues take for example Ukraine
before entering any school in Ukraine
you can see the names of the people that
died in the Maidan revolution of 2014 so
that their names will not be forgotten
by the students but in Iran we also saw
martyrs but they were in the hallway
their pictures were in the hallway next
to student art and that’s from a war
even before the children were born in
Cyprus the children’s notebooks say
never forget and these notebooks are
provided by the government so to help
the children remember that there is an
enemy of north occupying a part of their
land and in Russia in the history books
provided by the state Stalin is now
everywhere we went we saw Sultan’s
ministers government’s presidents trying
to reshape the next generation through
education through the teachers
and you know what I can actually relate
to this pressure because also in my
country when something when something is
wrong
the answer always seems to be well let’s
fix that through education right if
there’s climate change
well teachers should raise awareness
racism occurs all teachers must prevent
that in class of course but people
nowadays don’t know the national anthem
anymore litigious sing it with the
children and of course some of these
things might be very valuable I realize
that but it’s always the teachers who
are professionals that are managed by
now during our journey I realized I was
lucky traveling with my brother as a
teacher you could easily connect with
these pairs well I had a difficult time
talking to teachers but with him I could
win some trust and hear their stories
and I realized that when talking to a
teacher you never get an ordinary
conversation if you talk with a teacher
about teaching you speak with an entire
nation actually we soon realized that
let me advise you this if you ever want
to understand the country first thing
you should do is visit the school
because in the school you will see the
reflection of the entire nation in the
building you will find clues of the
economical state of a country in the
children you will find ideas for the
future and in the teachers and a
curriculum you will understand what a
country actually would like to become
now I think that this is the story
behind universal education I feel that
it was great that we brought all these
children in these classrooms and we
almost reached universal education but
now the new newest conversation has to
start and this conversation is what
is going on inside of all these
classrooms and who decides what is being
taught and to start this conversation I
think we have to give a stage to a
teacher wait wait so I went on this trip
to become a better teacher and I
actually saw many good practices all
around the world everywhere with my
colleagues they knew perfectly well what
to teach nobody had to tell this to them
they did what was best for their
students they did not need to be managed
at all and you know what this is not
just a message to those ministers and
governments presidents and Sultan’s who
are in no doubt right now watching this
TED talk of course no it’s actually also
a message to to you to the students here
in the room who hopefully some of you
will be my future colleagues and
actually to all teachers around the
world I think we should ask for our
professional space no wait we should
demand our professional space teachers
because you know what in the end we are
left alone in our classrooms with our
pupils and by that we have been given a
magnificent responsibility now as you
don’t have to tell a good doctor
how to heal its patients I don’t think
you have to tell a good teacher how to
teach the next generation we are on the
forefront of our nation’s ideals and
again to those Sultan’s ministers
government’s presidents and maybe also
to all the parents here or maybe just to
everyone in society I will make you guys
a promise as a teacher if you trust us
instead of pressurizes I promise we will
build your Nations now that sounds
fantastic and I as a journalist will
keep reporting so we are sure that he
you [Music]
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