TEDxDirigo - Zoe Weil - The World Becomes What You Teach

THE WORLD BECOMES WHAT YOU TEACH

Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (www.HumaneEducation.org) and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which provides people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious choicemakers and engaged changemakers for a better world. Zoe created the first Master of Education and Certificate Program in Humane Education in the U.S. covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. She has also created acclaimed online programs and leads workshops and speaks at universities, conferences, and events across the U.S. and Canada. She has taught tens of thousands students through her innovative school presentations, and has trained several thousand teachers through her workshops and programs.

Zoe's most recent book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, won the 2010 Nautilus silver medal in sustainability and green values. She is the author of several other books including Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times for parents; The Power and Promise of Humane Education for educators; and Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs, winner of the Moonbeam gold medal in juvenile fiction, which follows the exploits of two seventh graders who become clandestine activists in New York City, righting wrongs where they find them.

Zoe received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• TEDx
• TEDxDirigo
• Maine
• Zoe Weil
• Institute for Humane Education
• education
• children

[momobud12]

Zoe, that was an inspiring talk. Bravo! I'll be looking out for all your future endeavors.

mob145@aol.com

[jlspleen]

A truly inspiring talk that is well thought out and so well presented. Thank you, Zoe. I love Star Trek too -  Live Long and Prosper!

[Mo Orr]

Thanks from the heart, Zoe. You are an inspiration. "Solutionaries" is a whole new word with a whole lot of meaning!

Live Long and Prosper!

[Zoe Weil]

Thanks for your comment. You raise good points. I believe our century-old model of education is outdated for a complex, globalized world. Our students need to be creative and critical thinkers and successful collaborators. Obviously an 18 minute talk cannot do justice to such complexities as fixing our educational system, and anecdotes (of which I have many), aren't enough. We're launching a longitudinal study to assess the effectiveness of humane education approaches. Appreciate your comment.

[kissfan7]

Adults can't agree on how to solve the world's problems. Hell, we can barely agree on whether something IS a problem. What makes Weil think we can teach these to kids.

Her anecdotal evidence is also lacking. Find those kids ten years later and then we can have a discussion about how they are doing. Even if they are all activists, they might be activists in a cause that's causing more harm than good, like the anti-GMO movement.

[markjheimann]

This video is so inspiring and so are you! As the parent of two young children, I am all too familiar with the major problems with our education system in the US. We lack more innovative educators like you, ready to tackle the major problems. Unfortunately, kids today are taught to be automatons, spitting back facts and figures without any depth of thought. You espouse the importance of teaching critical thinking and empowering the next generation of leaders to create necessary change. Bra

[slQueenBluestar]

Attention junky is why. KEEP this 'person; as far away from ANY form of power over OTHER PEOPLE as is physically and mentally possible. This is insane. Get a JOB. Mind your own business. There are NO SOLUTIONS...which are not IMPOSITIONS AND PROPEGANDA forced onto individuals who have apriori right to do their world with THEIR philosophy....NOT YOUR PROPOGANDA.....this video is absolutely horrendous.

[foxglovish]

This is a wonderful talk showing how important education is in creating a society no one has gone to before. Make it so!

[UNstinx]

Humane education is not only utterly ridiculous, but another means of language change for socialistic society which is anything BUT humane! Get back to basics...kids can't even read or do math. This is the kind of rubbish that perpetuates the "dumbing down of America." Of course, this is no surprise coming from a degenerate graduate of Harvard! Go to Venezuela and teach this garbage. They love Marxism, Socialism, Communism there!

[ZoeWeil]

Thanks so much for your comments Richard! Please check out our organization, the Institute for Humane Education, which has lots of free resources for teachers and professional development opportunities (online courses, workshops, grad programs).

[richardnsalvador]

Wow!!! You're amazing! I, too, was a huge Star Trek fan. But you articulate so well why I thought the show was important to me and why I enjoyed it so much. I am an educator. I will use your insights and your passion to inform my teaching. Thank you so very much.