Ben George is a fourth-grade student in Mrs. Stoker and Mr. Albrecht’s classroom at Brockport’s Hill School. He is nine years old, but he is already accomplishing amazing things.
At the end of April, Ben spoke about educational freedom on stage at the TEDx talk in Clinton, New York. Ben, who is one of the youngest TED talk speakers to ever take the stage, said he was both nervous and excited for the event. His talk addressed how educational freedom – the ability to help shape his own, personal curriculum – has impacted him as a student and the beneficial impact it can have on other students. Ben has been able to take advantage of the opportunity of educational freedom this year, choosing different topics to focus on with reading assignments each night.
“Students should get to learn what they choose to be able to have more fun in school,” said Ben. “One person would learn what they want to learn and the other would learn what they wanted to learn.”
Ben was approached by Mr. Albrecht about the opportunity to present at the TEDx event, after expressing an interest in taking ownership of his learning this year. “If I told myself a year ago that I’d be giving a speech to 150 people, I probably wouldn’t have believed myself,” said Ben.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in 2020, two Brockport students were scheduled to provide talks at a previously scheduled TEDx event. However, due to the pandemic, the event was canceled. One of the students who was scheduled to speak in 2020 has since graduated from Brockport Central, but that didn’t stop her from attending the event in April. Sharon Marie Bartz, now a student at Potsdam College, revised her 2020 speech and delivered it at the TEDx event.
The event was held at Clinton Middle School and the speeches will be featured worldwide after they are edited in New York City.
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