Hackschooling makes me happy

When you're a kid,
0:18you get asked this one particular question a lot.
0:21It really gets kind of annoying.
0:23"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
0:26Now, adults are hoping for answers like
0:29"I want to be an Astronaut" or
0:30"I want to be a Neurosurgeon".
0:33You adults and your imaginations. (Laughter)
0:36Kids,
0:37they are more likely to answer with pro skateboarder
0:39surfer or Minecraft player.
0:42I asked my little brother, and he said,
0:44"Seriously dude, I'm 10, I have no idea,
0:46probably a pro skier.
0:48Let's go get some ice cream!"
0:49(Laughter)
0:50See, us kids are going to answer
0:52with something we're stoked on
0:54What we think is cool.
0:55What we have experience with,
0:57and that's typically the opposite of what adults want to hear.
1:01But if you ask a little kid,
1:02sometimes you'll get the best answer,
1:05something so simple, so obvious,
1:07and really profound.
1:10"When I grow up, I want to be happy".
1:13For me, when I grow up,
1:14I want to continue to be happy
1:16like I am now.
1:17I'm stoked to be here at TEDx,
1:19I've been watching TED videos
1:20for as long as I can remember.
1:22But I never thought I'd make it on stage here so soon.
1:25I mean, I just became a teenager,
1:26and like most teenage boys,
1:28I spend most of my time wondering:
1:30"How did my room get so messy all on its own?" (Laughter)
1:33Did I take a shower today? (Laughter)
1:35And the most perplexing of all,
1:37How do I get girls to like me? (Laughter)
1:41Neuroscientists say that the teenage brain is pretty weird.
1:44Our prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped,
1:46but we actually have more neurons than adults.
1:48Which is why we can be so creative, and impulsive, and moody,
1:52and get bummed out.
1:55But what bums me out is to know that
1:57a lot of kids today are just wishing to be happy,
2:01to be healthy, to be safe, not bullied,
2:03and be loved for who they are.
2:05So it seems to me when adults say,
2:08"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
2:10They just assume that you'll automatically be happy and healthy.
2:14But maybe that's not the case.
2:16Go to school. Go to college. Get a job.
2:18Get married. Boom!
2:20Then you'll be happy, right?
2:22We don't seem to make learning how to be happy and healthy
2:25a priority in our schools.
2:26It's separated from schools,
2:28and for some kids, it doesn't exist at all.
2:31But what if we didn't make it separate?
2:33What if we based education on the study
2:35and practice of being happy and healthy?
2:37Because that's what it is, a practice.
2:40And a simple practice like that.
2:43Education is important,
2:45but why is being happy and healthy
2:46not considered education?
2:48I just don't get it.
2:51I've been studying the science of being happy and healthy.
2:54It really comes down to practicing these 8 things:
2:57Exercise, diet and nutrition,
2:59time in nature, contribution and service to others,
3:02relationships, recreation,
3:04relaxation and stress management,
3:07and religious or spiritual involvement.
3:09Yes, I got that one. (Laugther)
3:11So these 8 things come from Dr. Roger Walsh.
3:15He calls them "Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes"
3:17or TLCs for short,
3:19He's a scientist that studies how to be happy and healthy.
3:22In researching this talk,
3:24I got a chance to ask him a few questions like:
3:26"Do you think better schools today are making these 8 TLCs a priority?"
3:30His response was no surprise.
3:32It was essentially "No".
3:34But he did say
3:35that many people do try to get this kind of education
3:38outside of the traditional arena
3:40through reading or practices such as meditation or yoga.
3:44But what I thought was his best response
3:46was that much of education is oriented,
3:48for better or worse,
3:50towards making a living rather than making a life.
3:55In 2006, Sir Ken Robinson gave
3:57the most popular TED talk of all time,
4:00"Schools Kill Creativity."
4:02His message is that creativity is as important as literacy,
4:06and we should treat it with the same status.
4:09A lot of parents watched those videos,
4:11some of those parents like mine counted it as one of the reasons
4:13they felt confident to pull their kids from traditional school,
4:16to try something different.
4:19I realize that I am part of this small but growing revolution of kids
4:22who are going about their education differently.
4:24And you know what? It freaks a lot of people out.
4:28Even though I was only 9
4:30when my parents pulled me out of the school system,
4:32I can still remember my mom being in tears
4:34when some of her friends told her she was crazy, and it was a stupid idea.
4:37Looking back, I'm thankful she didn't cave to peer pressure,
4:41and I think she is too.
4:43So out of the 200 million people
4:48that have watched Sir Ken Robinson's talk,
4:50why aren't there more kids like me out there?
4:55Shane McConkey is my hero.
4:57I loved him because he was the world's best skier.
4:59But then one day I realized what I really loved about Shane.
5:03He was a hacker.
5:04Not a computer hacker,
5:06he hacked skiing.
5:07His creativity and inventions made skiing what it is today,
5:11and why I love to ski.
5:14A lot of people think of hackers as geeky computer nerds
5:17who live in their parent's basement, and spread computer viruses.
5:20But, I don't see it that way.
5:22Hackers are innovators.
5:24Hackers are people who challenge and change the systems
5:27to make them work differently, to make them work better.
5:30It's just how they think, it's a mindset.
5:33I'm growing up in a world
5:35that needs more people with the hacker mindset,
5:37and not just for technology.
5:39Everything is up for being hacked, even skiing,
5:42even education.
5:45So whether it's Steve Jobs,
5:47Mark Zuckerberg or Shane McConkey,
5:49having the hacker mindset can change the world.
5:54Healthy, happy, creativity,
5:56and the hacker mindset are all a large part of my education.
5:59I call it "Hack-Schooling".
6:01I don't use any one particular curriculum,
6:03and I'm not dedicated to anyone's particular approach.
6:06I hack my education.
6:09I take advantage of opportunities in my community,
6:11and through a network of my friends and family.
6:14I take advantage of opportunities to experience what I'm learning.
6:17And I'm not afraid to look for shortcuts
6:19or hacks to get a better, faster result.
6:23It's like a remix or a mashup of learning.
6:27It's flexible, opportunistic,
6:29and it never loses sight of making happy,
6:31healthy and creativity a priority.
6:34And here's the cool part because it's a mindset
6:37not a system.
6:39Hack-schooling can be used by anyone even traditional schools,
6:45So, what does my school look like?
6:47Well it looks like Starbucks a lot of the time. (Laughter)
6:50But, like most kids,
6:52I study a lot of math, science, history, and writing.
6:56I didn't used to like to write
6:58because my teachers made me write about butterflies and rainbows.
7:01And I wanted to write about skiing.
7:04It was a relief when my good friend's mom
7:06started The Squaw Valley Kids Institute
7:08Where I got to write through my experiences and my interests
7:12while connecting with great speakers from around the nation
7:15and that sparked my love of writing.
7:18I realize that
7:20once you're motivated to learn something,
7:23you can get a lot done in a short amount of time
7:25and on your own.
7:27Starbucks is pretty great for that.
7:30Hacking physics was fun.
7:32We learned all about Newton and Galileo,
7:35and we experienced some basic physics concepts like
7:38kinetic energy though experimenting and making mistakes.
7:41My favorite was the giant Newton's cradle that we made out of bocci balls.
7:47We experimented with a lot of other things like bowling balls
7:50and even giant jawbreakers.
7:54Project Discovery's Ropes Course is awesome
7:57and slightly stressful.
7:59When you're 60 feet off the ground,
8:01you have to learn how to handle your fears,
8:03communicate clearly and most importantly, trust each other.
8:08Community organizations play a big part in my education.
8:11A High Fives Foundations Basics Program:
8:14"Being Aware and Safe in Critical Situations"
8:18We spent a day with the Squaw Valley ski patrol
8:20to learn more about mountain safety.
8:21The next day we switched to the science of snow,
8:24weather, and avalanches.
8:26But most importantly,
8:27we learned that making bad decision puts you
8:29and your friends at risk.
8:32Young Shu-Tak Woo brings history to life.
8:35You study a famous character in history,
8:37so you can stand on stage and perform as that character.
8:40and answer any question about their lifetime.
8:44In this photo,
8:45you see Al Capone and Bob Marley
8:47getting grilled with questions
8:49at the historical Piper's Opera House in Virginia City.
8:52The same stage where Harry Houdini got his start.
8:57Time in nature is really important to me.
8:59It's calm, quiet, and I get to just log out of reality.
9:04I spend one day a week outside all day.
9:07At my Foxwalker classes,
9:09our goal is to be able to survive in the wilderness with just a knife.
9:12We learn to listen to nature, we learn to sense our surroundings,
9:16and I've gained a spiritual connection to nature
9:19that I never knew existed.
9:21But the best part is that we get to make spears,
9:23bows and arrows, fires with just a bow drill,
9:26and survival shelters for the snowy nights when we camp out.
9:31Hanging out at The Moment Factory
9:33where they hand make skis and design clothes,
9:35has really inspired me to one day have my own business.
9:38the guys at the factory have showed me why I need to be good at math,
9:42be creative and get good at sewing.
9:45So I got an internship at Big Short Brand
9:48to get better at design and sewing.
9:50Between fetching lunch, scrubbing toilets,
9:53and breaking their vacuum cleaner,
9:54I'm getting to contribute to clothing design,
9:56customizing hats, and selling them.
9:59The people who work there are happy, healthy, creative
10:02and stocked to be doing what they're doing.
10:04This is by far, my favorite class.
10:08So, this is where I'm really happy,
10:10powder days.
10:12And it's a good metaphor for my life,
10:14my education,
10:16my Hack-schooling.
10:17If everyone skied this mountain
10:19like most people think of education,
10:21everyone would be skiing the same line,
10:23probably the safest,
10:24and most of the "powder" would go untouched.
10:27I look at this and see a thousand possibilites.
10:30Dropping the cornice, shredding the spine,
10:32looking for a [unclear] from cliff to cliff.
10:35Skiing to me is freedom, and so it's my education.
10:39It's about being creative, doing things differently.
10:42it's about community, and helping each other,
10:44it's about being happy and healthy
10:46among my very best friends.
10:49So I'm starting to think I know
10:51what I might want to do when I grow up.
10:53But if you ask me what do I want to be when I grow up,
10:56I'll always know that I want to be happy.
10:59Thank you. (Applause)