Ted Talk

As I was reading the article assigned, I came across a link titled Hacking School: One Teenager's Path to Happiness.  The link brought me to a Tedx Talk from the University of Nevada.  Logan LaPlante, a speaker who recently became a teenager, discusses what he wants to be when he grows up.  Unlike what most adults would like to hear, such as astronaut or neurosurgeon, LaPlante states that he wants to be happy.  He poses the question, “What if we base education on being happy and healthy?” 

LaPlante’s research brought him to Dr. Roger Walsh who has suggestions as to how to be happy and healthy.  The eight Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) are exercise, diet/nutrition, time in nature, contribution/service, relationships, recreation, relaxation/stress management, and religion/spiritual.  LaPlante goes on to discuss how typically, students in traditional school systems, are not offered these opportunities so his parents made the difficult decision to pull him out of the traditional school.  LaPlante’s family friend opened a school in which students are learning through hands-on experiences such as camping on a mountain and discussing mountain safety one day and weather the next day.  LaPlante refers to this type of schooling as “Hackschooling” (2013) and equates it to freedom in education.  He calls himself a ‘hacker’ because his mindset is that his learning is essentially a “remix or mashup” (LaPlante, 2013) of experiences to help him learn faster and better.

During LaPlante’s presentation, it was clear that he had the best interest of the audience in mind.  His persuasive discussion of creativity and freedom in education was inspiring and made me think about how I can do a better job implementing those ideas in my own classroom.  He clearly communicated with and engaged the audience with a bit of humor and visual representations of his main points.  I found myself feeling proud of this young man for his passion in his own learning and his profound insight on what is truly important, health and happiness.  I would recommend other teachers watch this Tedx Talk so that we don’t forget what the big picture is really about.

Reference

LaPlante, L. (2013, February 12). Hackschooling makes me happy. Retrieved July 10, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=282&v=h11u3vtcpaY