By: Kamryn Poe
TED Talks were made to share “ideas worth spreading.” Many teachers have been using TED Talks to teach students important lessons in life. For example, Ms. McCroskey (high school English) and Mrs. Badgett (college psychology) use TED Talks often to get major topics across to myself along with other students.
TED Talks have a way of connecting to people and making us understand the hardships other people have faced.
Lydia Otten recalled a TED Talk she watched, “There is one [TED Talk] in particular that really stuck out to me. It was about this woman who was a journalist [and she] just had a baby, and then went to the country where she was assigned. The country she was assigned to was in the middle of a war and it [was] just heartbreaking what she had to face as a journalist, and [it was terrible] how much the government was controlling her. She was literally risking her life to be a journalist.”
“In Journalism class, we have watched many TED Talks,” Callie Weatherly commented. “There was one we were shown last year that talked about how dangerous it is for journalists in other countries. I don't remember specifics, but these journalists were terrified. In their home countries, the government would do anything and everything they needed to in order to keep certain things from becoming public. The journalists knew this, but they felt that the people needed to know what was going on. They took risks that I know I'm nowhere near brave enough to take. They were willing to risk everything to try and make the corruption and unfair treatment public.”
Alex Trentmann also watches TED Talks. He had this to say: “In our Journalism class, we watch videos about the plight of the media world and how it has become this money machine, more focused on itself rather than the people. One video showed how distorted the news is, only showing United States-related news instead of international news. Also, [it showed] how long international stories stay up on the front page before an American tragedy takes its place. It could be 4 deaths in the US versus 300 in Uganda, and the 4 people would have more media coverage from US news giants than the Ugandan story.”
The above recounts of TED Talks have really happened. Women have had to leave their families to report on wars in other countries. Men have had to say their goodbyes before being thrown into war zones that they have no reason to be in. Americans-- not everyone, but a lot-- pay more attention to the same things happening here than we do to the real problems in the world. We are more focused on Beyonce stories than we are about massive terrorist attacks happening in Pakistan.
Should you start to watch TED Talks if you haven’t already?
“Yes, they go over controversial issues and open your eyes to the problems of the world,” Alex Trentmann responded.
Callie Weatherly replied with, “Yes, 100%! The videos are educational. Some of them just explain something in detail, while others tell personal stories to help people understand big issues and topics.”
TED Talks were made to share “ideas worth spreading.” Many teachers have been using TED Talks to teach students important lessons in life. For example, Ms. McCroskey (high school English) and Mrs. Badgett (college psychology) use TED Talks often to get major topics across to myself along with other students.
TED Talks have a way of connecting to people and making us understand the hardships other people have faced.
Lydia Otten recalled a TED Talk she watched, “There is one [TED Talk] in particular that really stuck out to me. It was about this woman who was a journalist [and she] just had a baby, and then went to the country where she was assigned. The country she was assigned to was in the middle of a war and it [was] just heartbreaking what she had to face as a journalist, and [it was terrible] how much the government was controlling her. She was literally risking her life to be a journalist.”
“In Journalism class, we have watched many TED Talks,” Callie Weatherly commented. “There was one we were shown last year that talked about how dangerous it is for journalists in other countries. I don't remember specifics, but these journalists were terrified. In their home countries, the government would do anything and everything they needed to in order to keep certain things from becoming public. The journalists knew this, but they felt that the people needed to know what was going on. They took risks that I know I'm nowhere near brave enough to take. They were willing to risk everything to try and make the corruption and unfair treatment public.”
Alex Trentmann also watches TED Talks. He had this to say: “In our Journalism class, we watch videos about the plight of the media world and how it has become this money machine, more focused on itself rather than the people. One video showed how distorted the news is, only showing United States-related news instead of international news. Also, [it showed] how long international stories stay up on the front page before an American tragedy takes its place. It could be 4 deaths in the US versus 300 in Uganda, and the 4 people would have more media coverage from US news giants than the Ugandan story.”
The above recounts of TED Talks have really happened. Women have had to leave their families to report on wars in other countries. Men have had to say their goodbyes before being thrown into war zones that they have no reason to be in. Americans-- not everyone, but a lot-- pay more attention to the same things happening here than we do to the real problems in the world. We are more focused on Beyonce stories than we are about massive terrorist attacks happening in Pakistan.
Should you start to watch TED Talks if you haven’t already?
“Yes, they go over controversial issues and open your eyes to the problems of the world,” Alex Trentmann responded.
Callie Weatherly replied with, “Yes, 100%! The videos are educational. Some of them just explain something in detail, while others tell personal stories to help people understand big issues and topics.”
RSS Feed