How School Makes Kids Less Intelligent | Eddy Zhong | TEDxYouth@BeaconStreet - Summary

Summary

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**Title:** The Unintended Consequence of Education on Intelligence

**Speaker's Story:**

* Before 14, the speaker was directionless and followed parents' advice to excel in school (despite struggling academically)
* At 14, a business plan competition sparked a passion for creating things, leading to:
+ Winning multiple competitions
+ Developing a hardware tech startup at 16
+ Realizing the value of creative intelligence and entrepreneurship

**Key Message:**

* The education system often prioritizes academic intelligence over creative intelligence
* This can stifle innovation and encourage conformity to a narrow, traditional path (school > college > stable job)
* **Empowerment Message:** Individuals, especially youth, can diverge from this path, create their own futures, and drive change by exploring entrepreneurship, innovation, and non-traditional success routes.

**Core Takeaway:**
"No one has ever changed the world by doing what the world has told them to do."

Facts

Here are the key facts extracted from the text, numbered and in short sentences:

1. **Speaker's Background**: The speaker had no clear life goals before turning 14.
2. **Initial Aspirations**: At a young age, the speaker wanted to be a professional Call of Duty player.
3. **Parental Influence**: The speaker primarily followed their parents' advice, which included doing well in school.
4. **Academic Struggles**: The speaker was not good at school, particularly struggling with science and writing.
5. **Turning Point**: At 14, the speaker's life changed after receiving an invitation to a business plan competition in Boston.
6. **Competition Details**: Over five months, participants formed teams, developed business ideas, and presented to a panel of judges.
7. **Outcome**: The speaker's team won the competition, receiving a check, and sparked an interest in attending more competitions.
8. **Further Participation**: Over two years, the speaker attended dozens of competitions, winning almost all of them.
9. **Unique Approach**: The speaker's team stood out by building prototypes of their ideas, not just presenting them.
10. **Meeting Frank**: At one competition, the speaker met a Polish man named Frank, who offered to help turn their prototype into a real company.
11. **Startup at 16**: With Frank's help, at 16, the speaker and teammates began building a hardware technology startup.
12. **School Presentation**: The team presented their idea at their school but received little interest and were mocked.
13. **Elementary School Response**: Presenting to an elementary school yielded a highly enthusiastic response, with kids eager to support the project.
14. **Media Feature**: The speaker's company was later featured in the Wall Street Journal.
15. **Comparative Success**: The speaker's company outperformed some companies started by Harvard or Stanford graduates.