Our Joint Head of College, James Burgess hosted the penultimate Thursday Thought of the academic year last Thursday to explain why things aren’t weird… just different.
He stumbled across a TED Talk a few weeks ago which talks about how the word ‘weird’ is deemed as a negative thing in society, but actually is it really about people being different?
He then shared the TED Talk by Derek Silvers with the pupils and staff watching the livestream. He wanted to look at why this is the case and how different perspectives are formed. Is it through environment, upbringing or personal experiences or a mixture of the three?
In the talk, Derek uses the example of how streets and blocks are named in the USA and Japan, the systems are complete opposites of each other. Are the differences weird or just different?
He also looks at how different cultures time rhythm in music and how in China there are doctors who only get paid if you are healthy. If you are sick they don't get paid because they have failed at their job!
Derek loves how you can go to the opposite side of the world and see that assumptions we have can be turned upside down with the opposite being true in other places. It is important to know that whatever brilliant ideas you have, the opposite may also be true.
James suggests two lessons we can learn from this:
- Surround ourselves with diversity. We need people who will challenge our assumptions. If you think your way is the only way, surround yourself with people who will challenge this, including people who think differently and enjoy different things.
- Flip it upside down - look at things from a different perspective. Everyone enjoys different things, so don’t judge. It doesn’t have to change you, you just need to accept difference.
James’s final thought was this: “When you use the word weird, what context are you using it in? Is it an insult? Or are people just different rather than weird.”
