Merit is Not a Test Score: Adora Svitak at TEDxLoyolaMarymountU

Adora Svitak, Author and Motivational Speaker. Since the age of 4, Adora has been exploring what she can do with the written word: everything from championing literacy and youth voice to working with the UN's World Food Programme to raise awareness about world hunger. Hoping to instill her love of writing in others, she taught her first class at a local elementary school the year her first book, Flying Fingers, debuted; since then, she has spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world.
In 2010, she delivered the speech "What Adults Can Learn from Kids" at TED. The speech received over 3.3 million views on TED.com alone, and has been translated into over 40 different languages. We look forward to her talk, entitled, "Merit is not a Test Score: Competition and Social Justice in Education."


In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)