Education

Why every student deserves a champion | Rita Pierson

Watch the full talk: A clip from Rita Pierson’s TED Talk “Every kid needs a champion” from TED Talks Education 2013 Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to…

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Watch the full talk:

A clip from Rita Pierson’s TED Talk “Every kid needs a champion” from TED Talks Education 2013

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.'” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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We know why kids don’t learn. 
It’s either poverty,
 

low attendance, negative peer influences—
we know why.
 

But one of the things that we never 
discuss or we rarely discuss
 

is the value and importance 
of human connection.
 

Relationships.
I have had classes that were so low,
 

so academically deficient, that I cried.
 

I wondered, “How am I going to take 
this group, in nine months,
 

from where they are to where they need to be?
How do I raise the self-esteem of a child
 

and his academic achievement 
at the same time?”
 

One year I came up with a bright 
idea. I told all my students,
 

“You were chosen to be in my class
because I am the best teacher and you  

are the best students.
They put us all together so we  

could show everybody else
how to do it.”
 

One of the students said, “Really?”
I said, “Really.”
 

And I gave them a saying to say:
“I am somebody. I was somebody when I came.
 

I’ll be a better somebody when I leave.
I am powerful, and I am strong.
 

I deserve the education that I get here.
I have things to do, people to impress,  

and places to go.”
And they said, “Yeah!”
 

You say it long enough, it 
starts to be a part of you.
 

Both my parents were educators.
My maternal grandparents were educators.
 

For years, I watched my mother take 
the time at recess to review,
 

go on home visits in the afternoon,
buy combs and brushes and peanut butter  

and crackers
to put in her desk  

drawer for kids that needed to eat,
and a washcloth and some soap for the kids
 

who didn’t smell so good. See, it’s 
hard to teach kids who stink.
 

Years later, after she retired,
I watched some of those same kids  

come through and say to her,
“You know, Ms. Walker, you made  

a difference in my life.
You made it work for me.
 

You made me feel like I was somebody,
when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn’t.
 

And I want you to just see what I’ve become.”
And when my mama died two years ago at 92,
 

there were so many former 
students at her funeral,
 

it brought tears to my eyes, 
not because she was gone,
 

but because she left a 
legacy of relationships
 

that could never disappear.
Every child deserves a champion,
 

an adult who will never give up on them,
who understands the power of connection,
 

and insists that they become the 
best that they can possibly be.
 

Is this job tough? You betcha. 
Oh God, you betcha.
 

But it is not impossible. We can do this.
We’re educators. We’re born to make a difference.

51 Comments

  1. TALK to TALK

    May 14, 2021 at 5:30 pm

    Brilliant speech. Thanks meanwhile:)

  2. Adarsh Singh

    May 14, 2021 at 5:30 pm

    She could ask me to charge towards the beast titan and i gladly would 😂
    Erwin you sure have a challenger in the room!

  3. Sain D

    May 14, 2021 at 5:32 pm

    Destroying the nuclear family and searching for issues in society have driven away the hero’s, for sake of you BS cancel culture! You made your bed now lie in it!

  4. The 300: Primed Providence Phenotype

    May 14, 2021 at 5:33 pm

    Do not deny your Animal heart body! Mammals are social and familiar by nature!

  5. TRIBE OF MENTORS

    May 14, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    *Life changer habits you need to learn*
    ➡1.Practice Gratitude.
    ➡2.Write something
    ➡3.Invest in self-care.
    ➡4.Create a morning ritual
    ➡5.Make time for exercise.
    Have a nice day🌺

  6. atomixfang

    May 14, 2021 at 5:46 pm

    This consolation trophy bullshit needs to stop.

  7. Randy Farnsworth

    May 14, 2021 at 5:48 pm

    Every child needs a FATHER!

  8. Das Deutsch

    May 14, 2021 at 5:52 pm

    Wow, so powerful!
    All what we can become starts in our minds… and I think it’s just incredible how that invisible “little” thing can change a person.
    Make people think they can achieve anything, and they will.

  9. Nicole on EQ

    May 14, 2021 at 5:58 pm

    What an inspirational woman. The power of human connection is truly underrated.

  10. Rhetta Peoples

    May 14, 2021 at 6:02 pm

    There is nothing like a Black teacher! No slight to any others but the expressions, love and determination oozes from Black women teachers. I don’t know what I would’ve done had I not experienced being a student of a Black woman.

    • Leftie Snowflake

      May 14, 2021 at 6:21 pm

      White teachers are the best. I’m glad I had white teachers.

    • Just Some Nameless Soul

      May 14, 2021 at 6:26 pm

      @Leftie Snowflake and one more racism, probably to make a point.. Yeah, humanity is indeed fucked

    • Leftie Snowflake

      May 14, 2021 at 6:31 pm

      @Just Some Nameless Soul What do you mean?

    • Just Some Nameless Soul

      May 14, 2021 at 7:40 pm

      @Leftie Snowflake “black teachers are the best, white teachers are the best, yellow teachers are the best, green teachers are the best, purple teachers are the best”, this is racism, stereotypical racism

    • Irving Peenwiddle

      May 14, 2021 at 10:19 pm

      If that were true, we’d have a glut of Nobel Prize winners from the inner city. Instead, we have the likes of George Floyd.

  11. mylxiong08

    May 14, 2021 at 6:03 pm

    What an excellent educator!

  12. Just Some Nameless Soul

    May 14, 2021 at 6:08 pm

    This is the type of teacher my school lacked when I needed it..

  13. A Walker

    May 14, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    Powerful

  14. Big Dee

    May 14, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    Children need fathers …. black men do no raise their children… period

    • Michael Parris

      May 14, 2021 at 6:47 pm

      Some do. You’re not helping with statements that insult them.

  15. Self-Education Methodology

    May 14, 2021 at 6:43 pm

    👋 Self-Education Methodology

  16. Michael Parris

    May 14, 2021 at 6:45 pm

    Fathers are really good at this.

  17. Waldo Armijo

    May 14, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    Bull

  18. Sharon Hobbs

    May 14, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    Lets try obeying the Bible, morals and application go a long ways to correcting problems.

  19. 언엊

    May 14, 2021 at 6:54 pm

    I miss you..

  20. Pedro Leandro

    May 14, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    Just Spectacular!!!
    The education is the only way to get there! Not just to be a successful person, but first of all to be a happy person and somebody that makes a better would in the life experience.

  21. Joseph V. Weiss

    May 14, 2021 at 7:24 pm

    F

  22. Nova Vanguard

    May 14, 2021 at 7:31 pm

    Wish I had teachers like this

  23. Legendary 27

    May 14, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    I’m not a teacher… Does this still apply to adults like me?

  24. Legendary 27

    May 14, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    I’m not a teacher or a sensi… Does this still apply to adults like me?

    • AL

      May 15, 2021 at 5:21 am

      At a certain point in our life, we become our own teachers. This applies to you; tell yourself that you are worthy, you have places to go, and good to do. Improve yourself. Impress yourself. The good thing about being adults is that we are old and wise enough to realize that there are things we don’t know, and that we are able to look for resources and teach ourselves. If things become too complicated, we can ask for him in order to learn.

      Best of luck.

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      Trading crypto now will be very wise but trading without a professional is not.

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  26. Kaashvi Juneja

    May 15, 2021 at 5:17 am

    me wishing her to come and teach me

  27. Worgiewoo

    May 15, 2021 at 7:06 am

    No matter how much times passes I always cry at this speech, she is amazing 💛

  28. Time To Get It

    May 15, 2021 at 7:42 am

    Human connection is a necessity. Small world as it is so human interaction is bound to happen. Relationships tell a lot about a person anyways whether it’s a friendship, intimate relationship, or interactions with family. Practice make perfect with most things. We get more in tune with ourselves with relationships or human connection because are full selves are bound to be revealed because we practice alone plus around/with ppl which is best of both worlds in regards to living in your own world + having ppl enter your world yet the world is still yours

  29. Qwqs Sdad

    May 15, 2021 at 8:20 am

    She thinks that poverty could affect the educational life of students but there are many other sides which have more effect but we rarely discuss them.
    She wondered how can we raise their future by bright ideas. The are powerful and strong enugh so everyone deserve better education . And they can make adifference in the society as aformer student this isnt tough and isnt Impossible

  30. max mustermann

    May 15, 2021 at 8:36 am

    This gave me tears

  31. The Sophist Quotes

    May 15, 2021 at 1:43 pm

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  32. Mohd Khan

    May 15, 2021 at 2:57 pm

    When i see ” Why every student deserves to be champion” then first thing in my mind is “Because every student is champion in their own world”

  33. U Cannot Defeat My Shmeet

    May 15, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    There’s that, then there’s the mere existence of the song “schools out”

    Which kinda highlights how schools have absolutely failed in making kids WANT to learn

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    May 15, 2021 at 8:53 pm

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  35. Asha Gairola Gairola

    May 16, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    In asian countries , basically if u don’t get to go collage then u r basicaally unsuccessful in the good jobs

  36. Jamaican Princess1974

    May 18, 2021 at 12:55 am

    She’s good

  37. Belinda Blah

    May 18, 2021 at 4:09 am

    Wish you could do a show in NZ. These Ted talks are awesomen

  38. Anand Thakkar

    May 18, 2021 at 4:02 pm

    We need TEACHERS LIKE THESE!!!!!!!. In India many teachers dont take pride that they r educators. How will they be able to uplift someones self esteem If they do not have pride in what they r doin

  39. Joviane Mathieu

    May 18, 2021 at 10:48 pm

    🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

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