thank you very much IRISA hello
everybody what am i doing in the medical
faculty here I grew up with a degree in
literature and education in this very
University this is because we actually
teach medical students in year one and
year two we take drama music miss Lu are
you one of those students and movement
well I’m not here to talk about my
organization I’m not allowed to so when
I started preparing for this TED talk I
thought it should be caused 2016 guess
why how many of you are 20 years old
yeah that’s what I thought
well you’re 20 and I’m nearing 60 and I
was thinking that 40 years in between
that is an unknown capacity it is a gap
but imagine what you can teach me not
just what Professor Chan said about the
phone but there’s so much you can teach
me and hopefully given my age and the
trials and tribulations I can help with
something as well I am far from vnx but
the older I get the more I know I don’t
know so I think that is a good position
to be and if I can work this thing we
can start this thing right yes please
thank you all right so what are you
thinking of sand sea Beach emerald green
water there is one woman sitting at
about nine o’clock do you see her there
so what are you thinking of when you see
this gosh I wish I could be there but my
question to you is what is the capacity
of this place what would you do with it
you have five seconds what would you do
with it and you have any answers what
would you do with it what would you do
there yeah yeah thank you photos
anything else yes call all your friends
over what else
what about come with gentleman swim
thank you very much can we have the next
one well let me introduce you to Rowena
Cade in after after the first world war
she moved to this place and I will tell
you where it is later on yes so Rowena
Cade
born in 1893 years ancient she died
almost when she was a hundred but on
that photo what is she doing by the sea
she is actually making a pillar out of
cement and sand can you see what is this
woman thinking she lived right by that
seat by the way the first picture I took
in June this year when I was there and
it was like heaven
please IRISA thank you that was what she
was thinking she saw Rowena cane came
from she had great love for theater and
she was always an actress for a long
time after she moved there they did a
Midsummer Night’s Dream she played a
small role in 1927 I believe even people
thought maybe we should do a bit more
acting there so she thought about that
do you not think that was totally insane
that the cliff is a granite cliff there
are no steps down to the beach and
therefore in 1932 and 33 with two
gardeners she built steps down from the
cliff to the beach and she and the two
gardeners hold buckets of sand up like
that to mix in the pillar in the cement
or assemblies and this is what she
created this is the minute theatre in
Cornwall and you should really go there
so I took this picture
the minute theater is literally carved
out of granite she and two gardeners
only built the entire theater the steps
the stage and the backdrop of that
emerald sea which I believe it’s the
Atlantic of my job is right and that was
the was what she saw for that place in
this woman in her mind she had this
drive to build a theater the yellow
group at seven o’clock there from
Thailand as I was walking around you
have people from all over the world
if 80,000 visitors a year 150,000 just
walking through 80,000 watching plays in
the rain spring summer autumn and winter
when we think about capacity she is we
are not only talking about the landscape
pasady what can you do with it but more
importantly what can a human being
contribute to this world get outside of
our head what can we do and this is what
Rowena Cate this but you know seriously
what is the unknown capacity it is the
place it is it is our brain it is
wanting to go beyond I think what we
have I don’t know what this happened but
it doesn’t matter all the other things
unknown undefined I think it sounds very
negative but as you know two negatives
would bring you a positive so my
question here today for us to think
about is what are you going to do about
your unknown capacity being a student is
one thing but as Professor Chadd quite
rightly said I don’t think that’s enough
anymore I think it is very important to
do the mko which means more
knowledgeable others you can look that
up it is a phrase from Vygotsky who is
an educational psychologists living in
ambiguity is extremely important because
this is what we all live in now when I
was your age things were much more
certainly if I went through university
and I found a good job I would
definitely get to a B and C but you have
such a much more layered world that I
think there is less than certainty and
while that might sound frightening I
actually think it is an englis for you
to tap into your own capacity I work in
the arts are under theatre company which
is a charity we work both in English and
in Chinese and our belief is that the
arts change lives that’s why we work
with medical students we also work with
very vulnerable students and the unknown
capacity is not just of the physical
space or of a mind but the arts are an
unknown capacity people think it’s
luxurious it’s you can jettison it
anytime let’s get down to
forget about the arts I think that is
probably a viewpoint we need to change
arts in education meaning using the arts
for the purpose of Education it’s also
very much an unknown capacity in Hong
Kong most parents would think my kid
could go for violin lessons dance
lessons painting lessons cooking lessons
whatever that is the arts but that is so
wrong the arts have such potential to
change minds if we can look at the next
exactly so if you didn’t know that this
was all about the arts and you looked at
skills alertness motivation innovating
linking questioning reflection you would
think that it has nothing to do with the
arts but they do the thinking
dispositions are skills alertness
and motivation skills we all have a lot
of and you certainly have a lot more
than I do and this is where I think our
school education fails miserably we work
with a lot of primary school students
and a lot of secondary school students
and fortune unfortunately they end up
with about 10% lower creativity every
year as they go up as they gain in
skills that’s why that’s black
motivation what they want to learn their
own way alertness connecting things
linking things can we do that the link
the questioning reflection my I was
recently in the conference in Venice
conference copy Venice and we were
discussing why arts are called soft
skills they’re really not soft if you
look at all these words you wouldn’t
recognize them there are actually local
competencies so when you look at the
arts perhaps you would look at them
differently now when the arts are done
right when you use their power and their
potential when you use their unknown
capacity there’s a lot of deep
reflection going on you need to ask a
lot of questions so if we go back to the
medical school example we don’t teach
medical students to dance although they
do move around we do use case studies we
do ask a lot of questions who is the
person behind the white coat
what is this ethical issue what is this
kind of facial expression of a posture
if you walked into a doctor’s clinic and
you saw a doctor who would only stare at
the floor would you have a lot of
confidence in the doctor we deal with
emotions something that we don’t deal
with in local schools for those of you
who grew up here like I did they no no
no you don’t talk about emotions you
only talk about instant noodling there
you are
instant noodle thing means you’ve got to
learn regurgitate passed your exams as
flying colors everything’s got to the
instant but education cannot be this way
education takes time and that’s why I
think one of the things is we have to
turn the clock back we have to put a lot
of time into what we do not UFOs but you
see us what do I see is the main
obstacle to developing ones unknown
capacity poverty of the imagination
certainly what do I mean by that well we
have noticed that the young people that
we work with if they keep on living up
to the next person if following trends
all the time if they keep on saying
that’s our try to test it Road let me
follow it exactly following following
this poverty of the imagination and why
does that happen with a lot of young
people it’s because they come from very
grassroots families some of them even
don’t even get three meals a day in this
one girl that we’re dealing with and
therefore you only move between this
your public housing and stay in your
school backwards and forwards and
backwards and forwards and that’s all
you know so that’s why I think the art
opened up a lot of minds poverty of
imagination in the word capacity when
you look at that word automatically you
think of numbers are what’s a capacity
building
how far am I going to build my business
so that it’s gonna expand but in
building your own unknown capacity
please don’t I think simply think about
numbers
it doesn’t mean when something is very
big very large humungous you’re doing
better it doesn’t mean the
corporations are necessarily better than
the really tiny ones around the corner
because size doesn’t matter and I think
this has to change as well you want to
develop your capacity it’s a one-person
individual relating to others that’s the
second issue of poverty of the
imagination
the third is only STEM subjects count
and that’s why we’ve been forcing the
stem into steam recently this month
we’re starting to work with social
workers after medical students so that
the arts can be used in their social
work that’s how we try and leap out and
therefore please I’m sure you have lots
of opportunity when I was here in this
university first degree there were no
oversea students now look at this
marvelous community I’m sure you all in
this room come from at least 30
different countries relating to others
helps you actually break the mold but
what does the art also do these are
teenagers this is Nicholas Nickleby
along the way we don’t teach them just
to act or just to dance
that’s just skill based but through an
experience where they work together when
they think about the text where they
fail this is what they think about they
think about success and failure again
and I think this is a third issue about
Hong Kong that is an obstacle to
developing ones unknown capacity success
in Hong Kong for those of you don’t come
here you might already feel it is rather
linear and somewhat narrow you’ve got to
make pots of money you’ve got to have
your property before the girl next door
would marry you you’ve got to count your
bank account yes you all have to pay
already I’m not saying it’s it’s not
important and if you’re a student you’ve
got to get your a plusses yes these are
the games we do have to pay but I think
and this is Anna in the
in in the middle this is what Ana said
she suddenly realized after going
through some arts experiences that she
has a different definition to success
this is important because we need many
different definitions of success so that
people can become themselves and be
completely diversified or separately
this is another girl and she has learned
kindness how do you find that very
strange in the arts but this is exactly
what I’m saying the arts is an unknown
capacity people think if you learn how
to dance and pass a great violin exam
you’re there but you’re far from there
the arts can teach people through
observation through listening through
feeling through imaginings through
reflecting through analyzing through
decision-making through judgment through
failing and this girl kaya has learned
kindness I have friend in England and
all he does is kindness projects he
really does kindness project with the
arts and this is what we would like to
do at the end of the day ah this guy
right here this is Maxwell and this is
Maxwell Maxwell didn’t read this Maxwell
comes not from an active academically
inclined school said he found out that
the greatest obstacle to developing his
inner self is him nobody else don’t
blame the teachers don’t blame textbooks
don’t lay exams
he’d had into his unknown capacity and
this is the key once he found out that
I’m the problem
he is now flourishing in school
flourishing is when he came to us his
visit marks were 35 or a hundred
now he gets 45 out of a hundred but
that’s that’s the point exactly his
motivation is now there and he pushes
himself to do other things and it’s
infectious and he gets all his friends
to be equally enthusiastic about
learning so before my time is up this is
the one-one-one
expedition
– please you remember marina Kate at the
cliff by common manic theater that are
ladies and gentlemen our we have exactly
this project and I’m looking for
everybody in every faculty to come and
help next year November 2018 this is a
village and it’s real this is a village
in Hong Kong that you can get to this is
a village that we’re hoping to
regenerate it’s three over 300 years old
a ching dynasty village it’s only got 23
people living there the youngest of whom
is my age it’s not getting anywhere how
do we change this into a living campus
how do we changes into a living lab how
do you put the Arts and Sciences and
everything together so that and how do
we tap the unknown capacity so that we
truly build a community of learning
through the Arts if you would like to
join me please just drop me an email and
if you want to know where it is the top
of the page
do you see airplanes yes it is right
opposite the Hong Kong International
Airport it is totally insane when you’re
standing there 300 year old village
decide 21st century Airport that’s right
we don’t have to go far Hong Kong needs
all of you seriously especially in this
highly divisive time to use the arts and
all the learning to create something to
build something that is positive even if
it’s unknown it’s an impetus because
it’s unknown I think all the more reason
we should dive into it thank you very
much
[Applause]
you
everybody what am i doing in the medical
faculty here I grew up with a degree in
literature and education in this very
University this is because we actually
teach medical students in year one and
year two we take drama music miss Lu are
you one of those students and movement
well I’m not here to talk about my
organization I’m not allowed to so when
I started preparing for this TED talk I
thought it should be caused 2016 guess
why how many of you are 20 years old
yeah that’s what I thought
well you’re 20 and I’m nearing 60 and I
was thinking that 40 years in between
that is an unknown capacity it is a gap
but imagine what you can teach me not
just what Professor Chan said about the
phone but there’s so much you can teach
me and hopefully given my age and the
trials and tribulations I can help with
something as well I am far from vnx but
the older I get the more I know I don’t
know so I think that is a good position
to be and if I can work this thing we
can start this thing right yes please
thank you all right so what are you
thinking of sand sea Beach emerald green
water there is one woman sitting at
about nine o’clock do you see her there
so what are you thinking of when you see
this gosh I wish I could be there but my
question to you is what is the capacity
of this place what would you do with it
you have five seconds what would you do
with it and you have any answers what
would you do with it what would you do
there yeah yeah thank you photos
anything else yes call all your friends
over what else
what about come with gentleman swim
thank you very much can we have the next
one well let me introduce you to Rowena
Cade in after after the first world war
she moved to this place and I will tell
you where it is later on yes so Rowena
Cade
born in 1893 years ancient she died
almost when she was a hundred but on
that photo what is she doing by the sea
she is actually making a pillar out of
cement and sand can you see what is this
woman thinking she lived right by that
seat by the way the first picture I took
in June this year when I was there and
it was like heaven
please IRISA thank you that was what she
was thinking she saw Rowena cane came
from she had great love for theater and
she was always an actress for a long
time after she moved there they did a
Midsummer Night’s Dream she played a
small role in 1927 I believe even people
thought maybe we should do a bit more
acting there so she thought about that
do you not think that was totally insane
that the cliff is a granite cliff there
are no steps down to the beach and
therefore in 1932 and 33 with two
gardeners she built steps down from the
cliff to the beach and she and the two
gardeners hold buckets of sand up like
that to mix in the pillar in the cement
or assemblies and this is what she
created this is the minute theatre in
Cornwall and you should really go there
so I took this picture
the minute theater is literally carved
out of granite she and two gardeners
only built the entire theater the steps
the stage and the backdrop of that
emerald sea which I believe it’s the
Atlantic of my job is right and that was
the was what she saw for that place in
this woman in her mind she had this
drive to build a theater the yellow
group at seven o’clock there from
Thailand as I was walking around you
have people from all over the world
if 80,000 visitors a year 150,000 just
walking through 80,000 watching plays in
the rain spring summer autumn and winter
when we think about capacity she is we
are not only talking about the landscape
pasady what can you do with it but more
importantly what can a human being
contribute to this world get outside of
our head what can we do and this is what
Rowena Cate this but you know seriously
what is the unknown capacity it is the
place it is it is our brain it is
wanting to go beyond I think what we
have I don’t know what this happened but
it doesn’t matter all the other things
unknown undefined I think it sounds very
negative but as you know two negatives
would bring you a positive so my
question here today for us to think
about is what are you going to do about
your unknown capacity being a student is
one thing but as Professor Chadd quite
rightly said I don’t think that’s enough
anymore I think it is very important to
do the mko which means more
knowledgeable others you can look that
up it is a phrase from Vygotsky who is
an educational psychologists living in
ambiguity is extremely important because
this is what we all live in now when I
was your age things were much more
certainly if I went through university
and I found a good job I would
definitely get to a B and C but you have
such a much more layered world that I
think there is less than certainty and
while that might sound frightening I
actually think it is an englis for you
to tap into your own capacity I work in
the arts are under theatre company which
is a charity we work both in English and
in Chinese and our belief is that the
arts change lives that’s why we work
with medical students we also work with
very vulnerable students and the unknown
capacity is not just of the physical
space or of a mind but the arts are an
unknown capacity people think it’s
luxurious it’s you can jettison it
anytime let’s get down to
forget about the arts I think that is
probably a viewpoint we need to change
arts in education meaning using the arts
for the purpose of Education it’s also
very much an unknown capacity in Hong
Kong most parents would think my kid
could go for violin lessons dance
lessons painting lessons cooking lessons
whatever that is the arts but that is so
wrong the arts have such potential to
change minds if we can look at the next
exactly so if you didn’t know that this
was all about the arts and you looked at
skills alertness motivation innovating
linking questioning reflection you would
think that it has nothing to do with the
arts but they do the thinking
dispositions are skills alertness
and motivation skills we all have a lot
of and you certainly have a lot more
than I do and this is where I think our
school education fails miserably we work
with a lot of primary school students
and a lot of secondary school students
and fortune unfortunately they end up
with about 10% lower creativity every
year as they go up as they gain in
skills that’s why that’s black
motivation what they want to learn their
own way alertness connecting things
linking things can we do that the link
the questioning reflection my I was
recently in the conference in Venice
conference copy Venice and we were
discussing why arts are called soft
skills they’re really not soft if you
look at all these words you wouldn’t
recognize them there are actually local
competencies so when you look at the
arts perhaps you would look at them
differently now when the arts are done
right when you use their power and their
potential when you use their unknown
capacity there’s a lot of deep
reflection going on you need to ask a
lot of questions so if we go back to the
medical school example we don’t teach
medical students to dance although they
do move around we do use case studies we
do ask a lot of questions who is the
person behind the white coat
what is this ethical issue what is this
kind of facial expression of a posture
if you walked into a doctor’s clinic and
you saw a doctor who would only stare at
the floor would you have a lot of
confidence in the doctor we deal with
emotions something that we don’t deal
with in local schools for those of you
who grew up here like I did they no no
no you don’t talk about emotions you
only talk about instant noodling there
you are
instant noodle thing means you’ve got to
learn regurgitate passed your exams as
flying colors everything’s got to the
instant but education cannot be this way
education takes time and that’s why I
think one of the things is we have to
turn the clock back we have to put a lot
of time into what we do not UFOs but you
see us what do I see is the main
obstacle to developing ones unknown
capacity poverty of the imagination
certainly what do I mean by that well we
have noticed that the young people that
we work with if they keep on living up
to the next person if following trends
all the time if they keep on saying
that’s our try to test it Road let me
follow it exactly following following
this poverty of the imagination and why
does that happen with a lot of young
people it’s because they come from very
grassroots families some of them even
don’t even get three meals a day in this
one girl that we’re dealing with and
therefore you only move between this
your public housing and stay in your
school backwards and forwards and
backwards and forwards and that’s all
you know so that’s why I think the art
opened up a lot of minds poverty of
imagination in the word capacity when
you look at that word automatically you
think of numbers are what’s a capacity
building
how far am I going to build my business
so that it’s gonna expand but in
building your own unknown capacity
please don’t I think simply think about
numbers
it doesn’t mean when something is very
big very large humungous you’re doing
better it doesn’t mean the
corporations are necessarily better than
the really tiny ones around the corner
because size doesn’t matter and I think
this has to change as well you want to
develop your capacity it’s a one-person
individual relating to others that’s the
second issue of poverty of the
imagination
the third is only STEM subjects count
and that’s why we’ve been forcing the
stem into steam recently this month
we’re starting to work with social
workers after medical students so that
the arts can be used in their social
work that’s how we try and leap out and
therefore please I’m sure you have lots
of opportunity when I was here in this
university first degree there were no
oversea students now look at this
marvelous community I’m sure you all in
this room come from at least 30
different countries relating to others
helps you actually break the mold but
what does the art also do these are
teenagers this is Nicholas Nickleby
along the way we don’t teach them just
to act or just to dance
that’s just skill based but through an
experience where they work together when
they think about the text where they
fail this is what they think about they
think about success and failure again
and I think this is a third issue about
Hong Kong that is an obstacle to
developing ones unknown capacity success
in Hong Kong for those of you don’t come
here you might already feel it is rather
linear and somewhat narrow you’ve got to
make pots of money you’ve got to have
your property before the girl next door
would marry you you’ve got to count your
bank account yes you all have to pay
already I’m not saying it’s it’s not
important and if you’re a student you’ve
got to get your a plusses yes these are
the games we do have to pay but I think
and this is Anna in the
in in the middle this is what Ana said
she suddenly realized after going
through some arts experiences that she
has a different definition to success
this is important because we need many
different definitions of success so that
people can become themselves and be
completely diversified or separately
this is another girl and she has learned
kindness how do you find that very
strange in the arts but this is exactly
what I’m saying the arts is an unknown
capacity people think if you learn how
to dance and pass a great violin exam
you’re there but you’re far from there
the arts can teach people through
observation through listening through
feeling through imaginings through
reflecting through analyzing through
decision-making through judgment through
failing and this girl kaya has learned
kindness I have friend in England and
all he does is kindness projects he
really does kindness project with the
arts and this is what we would like to
do at the end of the day ah this guy
right here this is Maxwell and this is
Maxwell Maxwell didn’t read this Maxwell
comes not from an active academically
inclined school said he found out that
the greatest obstacle to developing his
inner self is him nobody else don’t
blame the teachers don’t blame textbooks
don’t lay exams
he’d had into his unknown capacity and
this is the key once he found out that
I’m the problem
he is now flourishing in school
flourishing is when he came to us his
visit marks were 35 or a hundred
now he gets 45 out of a hundred but
that’s that’s the point exactly his
motivation is now there and he pushes
himself to do other things and it’s
infectious and he gets all his friends
to be equally enthusiastic about
learning so before my time is up this is
the one-one-one
expedition
– please you remember marina Kate at the
cliff by common manic theater that are
ladies and gentlemen our we have exactly
this project and I’m looking for
everybody in every faculty to come and
help next year November 2018 this is a
village and it’s real this is a village
in Hong Kong that you can get to this is
a village that we’re hoping to
regenerate it’s three over 300 years old
a ching dynasty village it’s only got 23
people living there the youngest of whom
is my age it’s not getting anywhere how
do we change this into a living campus
how do we changes into a living lab how
do you put the Arts and Sciences and
everything together so that and how do
we tap the unknown capacity so that we
truly build a community of learning
through the Arts if you would like to
join me please just drop me an email and
if you want to know where it is the top
of the page
do you see airplanes yes it is right
opposite the Hong Kong International
Airport it is totally insane when you’re
standing there 300 year old village
decide 21st century Airport that’s right
we don’t have to go far Hong Kong needs
all of you seriously especially in this
highly divisive time to use the arts and
all the learning to create something to
build something that is positive even if
it’s unknown it’s an impetus because
it’s unknown I think all the more reason
we should dive into it thank you very
much
[Applause]
you
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