En la IBO Conference de Barcelona, l’alumne del Programa del Diploma, en Joel Dacasa, va ser seleccionat per a fer un discurs d’introducció a la ponent, Sra. Margaret Heffernan. L’elaboració d’aquest discurs ha estat una tasca molt enriquidora ja que, a partir de la idea inicial, s’ha anat polint fins a arribar al discurs final. A continuació, el podeu llegir:

«Four years ago, I attended a school here in Barcelona. For six years I was a student there. It was a private school, but in spite of this, it very strictly adhered to the National Guidelines for education. That is to say, they had a syllabus to teach, but they had the freedom to expand upon this knowledge: they could show us new applications for the things we learned – their use in the real world, for instance -, they could have tried to expand upon what we were taught. Even if we had had any question that was not within the lesson’s boundaries they could have answered it, yes. And yet they didn’t do it.

For six years, I did nothing but obey. Ladies and Gentlemen, all students are curious; some are interested in one thing and some, in something completely different. Some are born to love languages; others, numbers. Some want to apply their knowledge in a profession; others wish to keep studying. These people are all very different, but they all have in common that they want to learn more. I happened to be very curious, and so, I asked, once, and again, and again.

All I received from my teachers was silence. I was told that they wouldn’t answer because their reply would not be on the syllabus. That is, at first. There came a point where their annoyance at my questions caused them all to be met with a Shut Up.

These teachers, my teachers, could show me so much more, and yet they didn´t do it. They could have taught me more, and yet they didn’t do it. All I asked for was an answer, and yet they didn’t give it.

Those people, who called themselves „educators“, did not educate. By the use of this old and antiquated system, they inculcate! For six years all I did was ask and all I learned was nothing! I ask you, how can people learn when the very system in which they study is set against it, against them?! The answer is that they cannot, just as I could not! Society cannot achieve its true potential while it inhibits its future members with a flawed educational system. This can change, and it has to change! For I have seen with my own eyes and suffered with my own soul the treatment of teachers who do not wish to teach but rather to be paid!

After six years, when I could no longer bear this, I left that school for the one where I presently study, and this place was different. One of the most important differences, of course, were the teachers, who were the first I had encountered to give an answer to my questions, but the truly greatest was that it made the International Baccalaureate Programme available to those who wished to take it in their last high school years, and I took them up on their offer.

Four years I have been under these new programmes and I have had the chance to study what I wished. Whenever I wanted it, I was given extra work to further develop my skills. My teachers even answered my requests and created an extracurricular activity so that I and some other students with similar interests, could simply learn more. My teachers have gone so far as to allow me to travel to conferences of great importance and renown, both nationally and internationally.

Now, at the final year of the programme, I can from personal knowledge and experience, say that this has not only allowed me to pursue my interests much more than the National System ever did, but to be accelerated two academic years ahead of my age. If from anywhere, these merits do not only come from a superior system, but from the new teachers who have worked so much with me and accompanied me for the last few stages of my education.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seen the worst of education, but I have also seen the best. I have been under teachers whose methods and values were archaic, but also under people who would be payed the same and prepare me for the future which is now so imminent. I urge you to choose carefully.

Just as my new teachers choose to acknowledge that the past is the past, so too should you. Just as they do not, neither should you: I say, fear not the way of human progress!

My name is Joel Dacasa, and I am a student of the International School of SEK in Barcelona.

 Thank you.

Speaker Introduction

 Ladies and Gentlemen, today I have the pleasure of introducing a woman of business. The speaker who shall join us momentarily worked for thirteen years at the BBC. After some time, she returned to her native United States, and there she worked in companies such as Intuit and Standard & Poors, and as Chief Executive Officer at companies the likes of the InfoMation Corporation, or the iCast Corporation.

Praised for her works by the Sillicon Alley Reporter, the Streaming Media magazine and the Hollywood Reporter, earning such distinctions as being named one of the Top 100 Media Executives.

In total, she has been the author of five books: titles like The Naked Truth, and Willful Blindness have been penned by her hand, and the latter even received the title of Finalist at the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book Award of 2011. And what of A Bigger Prize, which coincidentally was awarded the Transmission Prize?

In short, the entirety of her accomplishments is too long to list, which may reveal the wisdom of living by our speaker’s motto of „Let’s not play the game, let’s change it.“

 So let’s welcome, from amongst yourselves, Margaret Heffernan!»