ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bill Gates - Philanthropist
A passionate techie and a shrewd businessman, Bill Gates changed the world while leading Microsoft to dizzying success. Now he's doing it again with his own style of philanthropy and passion for innovation.

Why you should listen

Bill Gates is the founder and former CEO of Microsoft. A geek icon, tech visionary and business trailblazer, Gates' leadership -- fueled by his long-held dream that millions might realize their potential through great software -- made Microsoft a personal computing powerhouse and a trendsetter in the Internet dawn. Whether you're a suit, chef, quant, artist, media maven, nurse or gamer, you've probably used a Microsoft product today.

In summer of 2008, Gates left his day-to-day role with Microsoft to focus on philanthropy. Holding that all lives have equal value (no matter where they're being lived), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has now donated staggering sums to HIV/AIDS programs, libraries, agriculture research and disaster relief -- and offered vital guidance and creative funding to programs in global health and education. Gates believes his tech-centric strategy for giving will prove the killer app of planet Earth's next big upgrade.

Read a collection of Bill and Melinda Gates' annual letters, where they take stock of the Gates Foundation and the world. And follow his ongoing thinking on his personal website, The Gates Notes. His new paper, "The Next Epidemic," is published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

More profile about the speaker
Bill Gates | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Bill Gates: Mosquitos, malaria and education

Bill Gates en directo

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Bill Gates espera resolver algúns dos maiores problemas do mundo usando un novo tipo de filantropía. Nuns apaixonados e tamén simpáticos 18 minutos, pídenos que consideremos dúas grandes preguntas e como poderíamos darlles resposta.
- Philanthropist
A passionate techie and a shrewd businessman, Bill Gates changed the world while leading Microsoft to dizzying success. Now he's doing it again with his own style of philanthropy and passion for innovation. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I wrote a letter last week talking about the work of the foundation,
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A semana pasada escribín unha carta sobre o traballo da fundación,
00:18
sharing some of the problems.
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contando algúns dos problemas.
00:21
And Warren Buffet had recommended I do that --
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E Warren Buffet recomendárame
00:24
being honest about what was going well, what wasn't,
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ser sincero sobre o que ía ben e o que non,
00:27
and making it kind of an annual thing.
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e facelo de forma anual.
00:30
A goal I had there was to draw more people in to work on those problems,
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Eu quería conseguir que máis xente traballara nestes problemas,
00:33
because I think there are some very important problems
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porque penso que algúns deles son moi importantes
00:36
that don't get worked on naturally.
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e que non se resolven sós.
00:39
That is, the market does not drive the scientists,
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O mercado non leva aos científicos,
00:44
the communicators, the thinkers, the governments
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aos profesionais da comunicación, aos pensadores, aos gobernantes
00:47
to do the right things.
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a facer as cousas correctas.
00:50
And only by paying attention to these things
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E tan só prestando atención a estas cousas
00:53
and having brilliant people who care and draw other people in
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e só tendo xente brillante que se preocupa e atrae a outra xente,
00:57
can we make as much progress as we need to.
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só así podemos progresar tanto coma necesitamos.
00:59
So this morning I'm going to share two of these problems
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Esta mañá vou compartir con vós dous destes problemas
01:02
and talk about where they stand.
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e comentar o seu estado actual.
01:05
But before I dive into those I want to admit that I am an optimist.
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Pero antes de profundar nisto debo admitir que son un optimista.
01:09
Any tough problem, I think it can be solved.
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Creo que calquera problema grave ten solución.
01:13
And part of the reason I feel that way is looking at the past.
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E unha das razóns polas que penso así é que miro ó pasado.
01:16
Over the past century, average lifespan has more than doubled.
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No último século, a vida media das persoas máis que se duplicou.
01:21
Another statistic, perhaps my favorite,
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Outra estatística, quizais a miña preferida,
01:24
is to look at childhood deaths.
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é a da mortalidade infantil.
01:27
As recently as 1960, 110 million children were born,
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En 1960 naceron 110 millóns de nenos
01:33
and 20 million of those died before the age of five.
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dos que 20 millóns morreron antes de chegar aos 5 anos.
01:37
Five years ago, 135 million children were born -- so, more --
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Hai cinco anos naceron 135 millóns de nenos -son máis-
01:41
and less than 10 million of them died before the age of five.
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e menos de 10 millóns morreron antes de acadar os cinco anos.
01:47
So that's a factor of two reduction of the childhood death rate.
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Isto supón unha redución á metade da taxa de mortalidade infantil.
01:52
It's a phenomenal thing.
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É unha cousa fenomenal.
01:54
Each one of those lives matters a lot.
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Cada unha desas vidas é moi importante.
01:57
And the key reason we were able to it was not only rising incomes
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E a razón de conseguir isto non foi só o aumento dos ingresos,
02:02
but also a few key breakthroughs:
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tamén houbo unha serie de avances clave,
02:05
vaccines that were used more widely.
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coma a difusión do uso das vacinas.
02:08
For example, measles was four million of the deaths
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O sarampelo, por exemplo, causou catro millóns das mortes
02:11
back as recently as 1990
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dende 1990
02:13
and now is under 400,000.
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e actualmente causa menos de 400.000.
02:16
So we really can make changes.
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Así que realmente podemos cambiar as cousas.
02:18
The next breakthrough is to cut that 10 million in half again.
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O próximo gran avance será reducir eses 10 millóns outra vez á metade.
02:22
And I think that's doable in well under 20 years.
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E eu creo que isto é factible en menos de 20 anos.
02:26
Why? Well there's only a few diseases
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Por que? Porque hai só unhas poucas enfermidades
02:30
that account for the vast majority of those deaths:
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que causan a maior parte das mortes:
02:33
diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria.
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a diarrea, a neumonía e a malaria.
02:39
So that brings us to the first problem that I'll raise this morning,
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Isto nos leva ao primeiro problema que vou expoñer esta mañá:
02:44
which is how do we stop a deadly disease that's spread by mosquitos?
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Como deter unha enfermidade mortal transmitida por mosquitos?
02:51
Well, what's the history of this disease?
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Cal é a historia desta enfermidade?
02:53
It's been a severe disease for thousands of years.
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É unha enfermidade grave dende hai xa milleiros de anos.
02:56
In fact, if we look at the genetic code,
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De feito, se ollamos o código xenético,
02:59
it's the only disease we can see
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é a única enfermidade para a que se observa
03:02
that people who lived in Africa
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que a xente que viviu en África
03:04
actually evolved several things to avoid malarial deaths.
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tivo cambios evolutivos para evita-la morte a causa da malaria.
03:08
Deaths actually peaked at a bit over five million in the 1930s.
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As mortes aumentaron un pouco dos 5 millóns nos anos 1930.
03:14
So it was absolutely gigantic.
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Era unha cifra realmente enorme.
03:17
And the disease was all over the world.
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E a enfermidade estaba presente por todo o mundo.
03:20
A terrible disease. It was in the United States. It was in Europe.
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Unha enfermidade terrible. Estaba nos Estados Unidos. E en Europa.
03:23
People didn't know what caused it until the early 1900s,
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A xente non sabía qué a causaba ata comezos dos anos 1900,
03:26
when a British military man figured out that it was mosquitos.
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cando un militar británico se deu de conta que eran os mosquitos.
03:32
So it was everywhere.
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Estaba en todas partes.
03:34
And two tools helped bring the death rate down.
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E dúas ferramentas axudaron a reducir a taxa de mortalidade:
03:38
One was killing the mosquitos with DDT.
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unha foi matar os mosquitos con DDT,
03:41
The other was treating the patients with quinine, or quinine derivatives.
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a outra foi tratar aos doentes con quinina ou derivados dela.
03:46
And so that's why the death rate did come down.
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Así foi como descendeu a taxa de mortalidade.
03:50
Now, ironically, what happened was
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O irónico foi que
03:53
it was eliminated from all the temperate zones,
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se eliminou a malaria das zonas temperadas,
03:56
which is where the rich countries are.
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que é onde se encontran os países ricos.
03:57
So we can see: 1900, it's everywhere.
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Así, en 1900 a malaria está en todas partes.
03:59
1945, it's still most places.
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En 1945, aínda en case todas partes.
04:03
1970, the U.S. and most of Europe have gotten rid of it.
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En 1970, os Estados Unidos e a maior parte de Europa xa a erradicaran.
04:06
1990, you've gotten most of the northern areas.
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En 1990 desaparecera xa practicamente dos países do norte.
04:09
And more recently you can see it's just around the equator.
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E máis recentemente está presente só en torno do Ecuador.
04:15
And so this leads to the paradox that
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Isto nos leva ó paradoxo de que
04:19
because the disease is only in the poorer countries,
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como é unha enfermidade só presente nos países máis pobres
04:21
it doesn't get much investment.
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non se invisten moitos cartos nela.
04:25
For example, there's more money put into baldness drugs
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Por exemplo, se invisten máis cartos en produtos contra a calvicie
04:29
than are put into malaria.
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que contra a malaria.
04:32
Now, baldness, it's a terrible thing.
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É certo, a calvicie é unha cousa terrible.
04:35
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
04:38
And rich men are afflicted.
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E os homes ricos están moi afectados.
04:41
And so that's why that priority has been set.
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Así se explica o establecemento de prioridades.
04:47
But, malaria --
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Pero a malaria...
04:49
even the million deaths a year caused by malaria
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mesmo o millón anual de mortes causadas pola malaria
04:51
greatly understate its impact.
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non dan unha idea suficiente do seu impacto.
04:53
Over 200 million people at any one time are suffering from it.
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Máis de 200 millóns de persoas vense afectadas por ela.
04:56
It means that you can't get the economies in these areas going
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Isto significa que as economías destas áreas non progresan
05:01
because it just holds things back so much.
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porque a malaria non deixa avanzar as cousas.
05:04
Now, malaria is of course transmitted by mosquitos.
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Entón, a malaria está causada por mosquitos.
05:08
I brought some here, just so you could experience this.
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Trouxen algúns para que poidades experimentalo.
05:13
We'll let those roam around the auditorium a little bit.
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Vounos deixar voar un pouco polo auditorio.
05:17
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
05:20
There's no reason only poor people should have the experience.
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Non é xusto que só os pobres poidan gozar da experiencia.
05:23
(Laughter) (Applause)
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(Risas) (Aplausos)
05:30
Those mosquitos are not infected.
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Estes mosquitos non están infectados.
05:35
So we've come up with a few new things. We've got bed nets.
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Temos inventado algunhas cousas. Hai mosquiteiros para as camas.
05:39
And bed nets are a great tool.
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Son unha ferramenta formidable.
05:42
What it means is the mother and child stay under the bed net at night,
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A nai e o neno quedan baixo o mosquiteiro pola noite,
05:45
so the mosquitos that bite late at night can't get at them.
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e os mosquitos que pican pola noite non poden achegárselles.
05:50
And when you use indoor spraying with DDT
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E cando se usa DDT en aerosol
05:55
and those nets
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xunto cos mosquiteiros
05:56
you can cut deaths by over 50 percent.
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se poden reducir as mortes en máis dun 50%.
05:59
And that's happened now in a number of countries.
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Isto xa sucedeu en algúns países.
06:02
It's great to see.
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É fantástico velo.
06:04
But we have to be careful because malaria --
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Pero debemos ter coidado porque no caso da malaria
06:07
the parasite evolves and the mosquito evolves.
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o parasito evoluciona e o mosquito evoluciona.
06:12
So every tool that we've ever had in the past has eventually become ineffective.
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Por iso tódalas armas usadas no pasado volvéronse eventualmente ineficaces.
06:16
And so you end up with two choices.
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E rematas tendo dúas opcións.
06:19
If you go into a country with the right tools and the right way,
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Se chegas a un país coas ferramentas xustas e actúas na forma axeitada,
06:23
you do it vigorously,
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enerxicamente,
06:26
you can actually get a local eradication.
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podes lograr unha erradicación local,
06:29
And that's where we saw the malaria map shrinking.
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e así foi como vimos diminuir a presencia da malaria no mapa.
06:31
Or, if you go in kind of half-heartedly,
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Pero se non chegas con decisión,
06:34
for a period of time you'll reduce the disease burden,
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durante algún tempo reduces a presencia da enfermidade,
06:37
but eventually those tools will become ineffective,
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pero as ferramentas poden volverse ineficaces,
06:41
and the death rate will soar back up again.
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e a taxa de mortalidade volverá aumentar.
06:44
And the world has gone through this where it paid attention and then didn't pay attention.
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E no mundo xa se teñen dado estes dous casos.
06:49
Now we're on the upswing.
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Neste momento estamos avanzando.
06:51
Bed net funding is up.
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Hai máis financiamento para mosquiteiros.
06:54
There's new drug discovery going on.
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Estanse descubrindo novos fármacos.
06:57
Our foundation has backed a vaccine that's going into phase three trial
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A nosa fundación financiou unha vacina que vai comezar a terceira fase de proba
07:01
that starts in a couple months.
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nun par de meses.
07:02
And that should save over two thirds of the lives if it's effective.
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Se funciona, isto debería salvar máis dos dous terzos das vidas.
07:05
So we're going to have these new tools.
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Así que imos ter novas ferramentas.
07:08
But that alone doesn't give us the road map.
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Pero non han bastar por si soas.
07:11
Because the road map to get rid of this disease
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Porque desfacerse desta enfermidade
07:14
involves many things.
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implica moitas cousas.
07:16
It involves communicators to keep the funding high,
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Implica ter comunicadores para manter o financiamento alto,
07:19
to keep the visibility high,
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a visibilidade alta,
07:21
to tell the success stories.
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para que dean a coñecer os éxitos.
07:23
It involves social scientists,
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Implica ter sociólogos
07:25
so we know how to get not just 70 percent of the people to use the bed nets,
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para saber como facer que a xente que usa os mosquiteiros nas camas non sexa o 70%
07:28
but 90 percent.
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senón o 90%.
07:30
We need mathematicians to come in and simulate this,
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Precisamos matemáticos que fagan simulacións
07:33
to do Monte Carlo things to understand how these tools combine and work together.
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para comprender como combinar e facer funcionar estas ferramentas.
07:39
Of course we need drug companies to give us their expertise.
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Necesitamos, por suposto, compañías farmacéuticas que compartan con nós a súa experiencia.
07:42
We need rich-world governments to be very generous in providing aid for these things.
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Necesitamos que os gobernos do mundo rico nos axuden e sexan moi xenerosos.
07:47
And so as these elements come together,
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Coa combinación destes elementos
07:50
I'm quite optimistic
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teño moitas esperanzas
07:53
that we will be able to eradicate malaria.
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de que chegaremos erradicar a malaria.
07:57
Now let me turn to a second question,
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E agora permítanme pasar a unha segunda pregunta,
08:00
a fairly different question, but I'd say equally important.
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bastante diferente, pero eu diría igualmente importante.
08:04
And this is: How do you make a teacher great?
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¿Como se forma un gran profesor?
08:07
It seems like the kind of question that people would spend a lot of time on,
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Parece unha cuestión que poderíamos considerar a miúdo,
08:12
and we'd understand very well.
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e deberíamos comprender moi ben.
08:15
And the answer is, really, that we don't.
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Pero a realidade é que non.
08:19
Let's start with why this is important.
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Vexamos porqué isto é importante.
08:22
Well, all of us here, I'll bet, had some great teachers.
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Aposto que todos os que estamos aquí tivemos moi bos profesores.
08:26
We all had a wonderful education.
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Tivemos todos unha excelente educación.
08:29
That's part of the reason we're here today,
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En parte por iso estamos aquí hoxe,
08:32
part of the reason we're successful.
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é parte da razón do noso éxito.
08:34
I can say that, even though I'm a college drop-out.
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Eu podo dicir que, aínda que deixei a carreira,
08:37
I had great teachers.
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tiven moi bos profesores.
08:40
In fact, in the United States, the teaching system has worked fairly well.
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De feito, nos Estados Unidos, o sistema educativo funcionou bastante ben ata o de agora.
08:45
There are fairly effective teachers in a narrow set of places.
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Hai profesores moi bos nalgúns lugares específicos,
08:50
So the top 20 percent of students have gotten a good education.
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de xeito que un 20% dos estudantes tivo unha moi boa educación.
08:53
And those top 20 percent have been the best in the world,
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E este 20% foi o mellor do mundo,
08:57
if you measure them against the other top 20 percent.
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comparado cós outros mellores vintes por cento.
09:00
And they've gone on to create the revolutions in software and biotechnology
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Crearon as revolucións do software e a biotecnoloxía,
09:05
and keep the U.S. at the forefront.
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mantendo aos Estados Unidos en primeira liña.
09:09
Now, the strength for those top 20 percent
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Agora a vantaxe que tiña este 20% sobre os outros
09:12
is starting to fade on a relative basis,
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está diminuíndo,
09:15
but even more concerning is the education that the balance of people are getting.
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pero máis preocupante aínda é a educación que recibe o resto da xente.
09:21
Not only has that been weak. it's getting weaker.
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Foi mala e estase volvendo peor.
09:26
And if you look at the economy, it really is only providing opportunities now
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Se ollamos a economía, hoxe en día só brinda oportunidades
09:30
to people with a better education.
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á xente con mellor educación.
09:33
And we have to change this.
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E temos que cambiar isto.
09:36
We have to change it so that people have equal opportunity.
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Temos que cambialo para que exista igualdade de oportunidades.
09:39
We have to change it so that the country is strong
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Temos que cambialo para que o país sexa forte
09:42
and stays at the forefront
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e se manteña na vangarda
09:44
of things that are driven by advanced education,
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en campos que requiren unha educación avanzada,
09:47
like science and mathematics.
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como a ciencia ou as matemáticas.
09:49
When I first learned the statistics,
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Cando coñecín os datos estatísticos
09:52
I was pretty stunned at how bad things are.
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quedei abraiado do mal que van as cousas.
09:55
Over 30 percent of kids never finish high school.
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Máis do trinta por cento dos rapaces non remata o instituto.
09:58
And that had been covered up for a long time
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E isto non foi visible durante moito tempo
10:01
because they always took the dropout rate as the number
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porque sempre se calcula a taxa de abandono escolar coma a diferenza
10:04
who started in senior year and compared it to the number who finished senior year.
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entre o número de alumnos que comezan o último ano e os que o terminan.
10:09
Because they weren't tracking where the kids were before that.
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Pero non contaban os rapaces que xa abandonaran antes.
10:11
But most of the dropouts had taken place before that.
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Que eran a maioría dos casos.
10:14
They had to raise the stated dropout rate
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Cando se comezou incluír estes rapaces
10:17
as soon as that tracking was done
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tiveron que aumentar a taxa de abandono escolar
10:19
to over 30 percent.
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a máis do 30%.
10:21
For minority kids, it's over 50 percent.
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Para rapaces procedentes de minorías, esta taxa supera o 50%.
10:25
And even if you graduate from high school,
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E aínda que remates o instituto,
10:28
if you're low-income,
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se tes baixos ingresos
10:31
you have less than a 25 percent chance of ever completing a college degree.
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tes menos dun 25% de posibilidades de terminar unha carreira universitaria.
10:35
If you're low-income in the United States,
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Se es pobre nos Estados Unidos
10:40
you have a higher chance of going to jail
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tes maior probabilidade de rematar no cárcere
10:44
than you do of getting a four-year degree.
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que de terminar unha carreira de catro anos.
10:46
And that doesn't seem entirely fair.
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Non parece moi xusto.
10:49
So, how do you make education better?
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Entón, ¿como mellorar a educación?
10:52
Now, our foundation, for the last nine years, has invested in this.
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A nosa fundación leva nove anos investindo nisto.
10:56
There's many people working on it.
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É moita a xente que está a traballar.
10:59
We've worked on small schools,
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Traballamos en pequenas escolas,
11:02
we've funded scholarships,
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financiamos becas,
11:04
we've done things in libraries.
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fixemos obras en bibliotecas.
11:06
A lot of these things had a good effect.
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Moitas destas accións tiveron efectos positivos
11:08
But the more we looked at it, the more we realized that having great teachers
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Pero canto máis observabamos, máis conscientes éramos de que ter bos profesores
11:11
was the very key thing.
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era a cuestión clave.
11:14
And we hooked up with some people studying
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E contactamos con xente que estudaba
11:17
how much variation is there between teachers,
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a variación existente entre profesores,
11:20
between, say, the top quartile -- the very best --
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entre, poñamos, o cuartil superior, os mellores,
11:23
and the bottom quartile.
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e o cuartil inferior.
11:25
How much variation is there within a school or between schools?
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¿Canta variación existe dentro dunha escola ou entre escolas?
11:28
And the answer is that these variations are absolutely unbelievable.
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A resposta é que esas variacións son realmente incribles.
11:33
A top quartile teacher will increase the performance of their class --
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Un profesor do cuartil superior mellorará o rendemento da clase,
11:38
based on test scores --
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baseado nas notas dos exames,
11:41
by over 10 percent in a single year.
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en máis dun 10% nun só ano.
11:43
What does that mean?
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¿Que significa isto?
11:44
That means that if the entire U.S., for two years,
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Significa que se todo Estados Unidos tivera, durante dous anos,
11:47
had top quartile teachers,
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profesores do cuartil superior,
11:50
the entire difference between us and Asia would go away.
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a diferencia que existe entre nós e Asia se esfumaría.
11:54
Within four years we would be blowing everyone in the world away.
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En catro anos teríamos superado a todo o mundo.
12:00
So, it's simple. All you need are those top quartile teachers.
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É sinxelo.Todo o que necesitamos son estes profesores do cuartil superior.
12:05
And so you'd say, "Wow, we should reward those people.
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E poderíamos pensar: "Guau, habería que recompensar a esta xente.
12:09
We should retain those people.
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Habería que conservala.
12:12
We should find out what they're doing and transfer that skill to other people."
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Deberíamos averiguar o que fan e transferir esas competencias a outra xente".
12:15
But I can tell you that absolutely is not happening today.
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Pero pódolles asegurar que isto non é en absoluto o que está pasando.
12:20
What are the characteristics of this top quartile?
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¿Cales son as características deste cuartil superior?
12:23
What do they look like?
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¿Como son?
12:25
You might think these must be very senior teachers.
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Poderíase pensar que son profesores con moita experiencia.
12:28
And the answer is no.
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O certo é que non.
12:30
Once somebody has taught for three years
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Unha vez que alguén ensinou durante tres anos
12:33
their teaching quality does not change thereafter.
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a súa calidade educativa xa non cambia.
12:38
The variation is very, very small.
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A variación é moi, moi pequena.
12:41
You might think these are people with master's degrees.
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Poderíase pensar que son xente con másters,
12:46
They've gone back and they've gotten their Master's of Education.
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xente que seguiu estudando para obter un máster en educación.
12:49
This chart takes four different factors
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Este gráfico amosa catro factores
12:52
and says how much do they explain teaching quality.
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e indica en que medida inflúen na calidade do ensino.
12:55
That bottom thing, which says there's no effect at all,
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Aquela cousa de abaixo, que non ten ningunha influencia,
12:58
is a master's degree.
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é un título de máster.
13:02
Now, the way the pay system works is there's two things that are rewarded.
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No sistema de pagos se recompensan dúas cousas.
13:06
One is seniority.
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Unha é a antigüidade.
13:08
Because your pay goes up and you vest into your pension.
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Porque o teu soldo aumenta e preparas a túa pensión.
13:11
The second is giving extra money to people who get their master's degree.
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A segunda é dar diñeiro extra á xente con un máster.
13:14
But it in no way is associated with being a better teacher.
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Pero isto non ten nada que ver có feito de ser mellor profesor.
13:17
Teach for America: slight effect.
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Programa "Teach for America": lixeiro efecto.
13:20
For math teachers majoring in math there's a measurable effect.
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Para os profesores de matemáticas o feito de ter un máster ten unha certa influencia.
13:24
But, overwhelmingly, it's your past performance.
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Pero, sobre todo, o máis importante é o traballo que se fixo no pasado.
13:29
There are some people who are very good at this.
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Hai algunha xente moi boa.
13:32
And we've done almost nothing
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E non fixemos case nada
13:35
to study what that is
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para estudar que é o que os fa tan bos,
13:38
and to draw it in and to replicate it,
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e como identificalo e replicalo
13:41
to raise the average capability --
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para mellorar a capacidade media
13:44
or to encourage the people with it to stay in the system.
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e incentivar á xente apta a ficar no sistema.
13:47
You might say, "Do the good teachers stay and the bad teacher's leave?"
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Poderíamos preguntarnos se quedan os profesores bos e marchan os malos.
13:50
The answer is, on average, the slightly better teachers leave the system.
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A resposta é: como media, os profesores lixeiramente mellores abandonan o sistema.
13:53
And it's a system with very high turnover.
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E é un sistema cunha grande rotación.
13:57
Now, there are a few places -- very few -- where great teachers are being made.
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Pero existen uns poucos sitios, moi poucos,onde se están a formar grandes profesores.
14:03
A good example of one is a set of charter schools called KIPP.
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Un bo exemplo é un grupo de escolas concertadas chamado KIPP.
14:08
KIPP means Knowledge Is Power.
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KIPP significa "Coñecemento é poder".
14:11
It's an unbelievable thing.
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É unha cousa incrible.
14:14
They have 66 schools -- mostly middle schools, some high schools --
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Teñen 66 escolas, a maioría de ensinanza básica, algunhas de secundaria,
14:17
and what goes on is great teaching.
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e o que hai nelas é ensino de calidade.
14:21
They take the poorest kids,
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Collen ós rapaces máis pobres,
14:24
and over 96 percent of their high school graduates go to four-year colleges.
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e máis do 96% dos seus graduados estudan carreiras universitarias.
14:28
And the whole spirit and attitude in those schools
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E o espírito e a actitude xeral nestas escolas
14:31
is very different than in the normal public schools.
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son totalmente distintos dos das escolas públicas normais.
14:34
They're team teaching. They're constantly improving their teachers.
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Hai ensino en equipo. Os profesores están a mellorar constantemente.
14:38
They're taking data, the test scores,
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Toman datos, resultados dos exames,
14:41
and saying to a teacher, "Hey, you caused this amount of increase."
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e dinlle ó profesor: "Mira, eres a causa desta mellora nos resultados".
14:44
They're deeply engaged in making teaching better.
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Están moi comprometidos para mellorar o proceso de ensinanza.
14:48
When you actually go and sit in one of these classrooms,
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Cando un chega e senta naquelas aulas,
14:51
at first it's very bizarre.
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ó principio é moi estraño.
14:54
I sat down and I thought, "What is going on?"
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Senteime e pensei: "¿Que está a pasar?".
14:57
The teacher was running around, and the energy level was high.
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O profesor corría dun lado para outro, había moita enerxía.
15:00
I thought, "I'm in the sports rally or something.
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Pensei: "Debo de estar nun evento deportivo ou algo así,
15:03
What's going on?"
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¿que está pasando aquí?"
15:05
And the teacher was constantly scanning to see which kids weren't paying attention,
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E o profesor estaba todo o tempo pendente dos nenos que non estaban atendendo,
15:08
which kids were bored,
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dos que se aburrían,
15:10
and calling kids rapidly, putting things up on the board.
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chamándoos rapidamente, poñendo cousas no encerado.
15:13
It was a very dynamic environment,
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Era un entorno moi dinámico,
15:15
because particularly in those middle school years -- fifth through eighth grade --
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porque especialmente nestas idades, dos 10 aos 13 anos,
15:18
keeping people engaged and setting the tone
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é moi importante mantelos ocupados e marcar a dinámica da clase
15:21
that everybody in the classroom needs to pay attention,
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para que todo o mundo preste atención
15:24
nobody gets to make fun of it or have the position of the kid who doesn't want to be there.
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e non haxa ninguén que faga burla ou que preferiría estar noutra parte.
15:30
Everybody needs to be involved.
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Todo o mundo participa.
15:32
And so KIPP is doing it.
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Así é como o está facendo KIPP.
15:35
How does that compare to a normal school?
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¿Cal é a diferencia respecto dunha escola normal?
15:38
Well, in a normal school, teachers aren't told how good they are.
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Nunha escola normal non se lles di aos profesores o bos que son.
15:42
The data isn't gathered.
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Non se recolle esta información.
15:45
In the teacher's contract,
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No contrato do profesor
15:47
it will limit the number of times the principal can come into the classroom --
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se limita o número de veces que o director virá á aula,
15:51
sometimes to once per year.
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ás veces á unha soa vez por curso.
15:53
And they need advanced notice to do that.
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E ten que avisar con antelación.
15:56
So imagine running a factory where you've got these workers,
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Imaxinen ter unha fábrica con obreiros
15:59
some of them just making crap
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na que algúns deles están a facer un moi mal traballo
16:02
and the management is told, "Hey, you can only come down here once a year,
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e que lle digan ó capataz: "Só podes vir unha vez ó ano,
16:06
but you need to let us know, because we might actually fool you,
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e ademais tes que avisar antes, porque así podemos
16:08
and try and do a good job in that one brief moment."
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facer trampa e aparentar que traballamos ben".
16:12
Even a teacher who wants to improve doesn't have the tools to do it.
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Aínda que un profesor queira mellorar, non ten as ferramentas para facelo.
16:17
They don't have the test scores,
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Non teñen os resultados dos exames
16:19
and there's a whole thing of trying to block the data.
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e hai unha tendencia a bloquear o acceso aos datos.
16:22
For example, New York passed a law
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Por exemplo, en Nova Iorque aprobouse unha lei
16:25
that said that the teacher improvement data could not be made available and used
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que dicía que os datos sobre a mellora dos profesores non podían facilitarse e usarse
16:30
in the tenure decision for the teachers.
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á hora de dar a un profesor unha praza permanente.
16:34
And so that's sort of working in the opposite direction.
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É como traballar na dirección contraria.
16:37
But I'm optimistic about this,
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Pero eu mantéñome optimista,
16:39
I think there are some clear things we can do.
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hai cousas claras que podemos facer.
16:43
First of all, there's a lot more testing going on,
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Para empezar, estanse facendo moitos máis estudios,
16:47
and that's given us the picture of where we are.
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o que nos permite ver en que punto nos encontramos.
16:50
And that allows us to understand who's doing it well,
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E nos permite comprender quen o está facendo ben,
16:54
and call them out, and find out what those techniques are.
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e chamalos, e averiguar que técnicas están a usar.
16:57
Of course, digital video is cheap now.
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O vídeo dixital é barato hoxe en día.
17:00
Putting a few cameras in the classroom
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Poñer unhas cantas cámaras
17:02
and saying that things are being recorded on an ongoing basis
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e dicir que as clases están a ser gravadas
17:08
is very practical in all public schools.
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é moi práctico nas escolas públicas.
17:10
And so every few weeks teachers could sit down
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Os profesores poderían reunirse de cada pouco tempo
17:13
and say, "OK, here's a little clip of something I thought I did well.
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e dicir: " Mirade. Velaquí un vídeo de algo que fixen ben.
17:16
Here's a little clip of something I think I did poorly.
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E velaquí un vídeo de algo que fixen mal.
17:19
Advise me -- when this kid acted up, how should I have dealt with that?"
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¿Algún consello? Cando este cativo se portou mal, ¿que debería ter feito eu?".
17:22
And they could all sit and work together on those problems.
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E poderían traballar xuntos nestes problemas.
17:26
You can take the very best teachers and kind of annotate it,
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Podes colle-los mellores profesores e rexistralo,
17:30
have it so everyone sees who is the very best at teaching this stuff.
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e facer que todo o mundo vexa cales son as mellores clases de cada asignatura.
17:34
You can take those great courses and make them available
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Podemos facer que ditas clases estean dispoñibles
17:36
so that a kid could go out and watch the physics course, learn from that.
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de modo que os nenos podan mirar as gravacións e aprender delas
17:41
If you have a kid who's behind,
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Se temos un neno que quedou por detrás do resto,
17:43
you would know you could assign them that video to watch and review the concept.
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saberíamos que podemos facerlle mirar o vídeo para repasar os conceptos.
17:47
And in fact, these free courses could not only be available just on the Internet,
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De feito, estes cursos gratuítos poderían estar dispoñibles non só en Internet,
17:51
but you could make it so that DVDs were always available,
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senón tamén en DVD,
17:55
and so anybody who has access to a DVD player can have the very best teachers.
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de forma que calquera con acceso a un DVD teña acceso aos mellores profesores.
18:02
And so by thinking of this as a personnel system,
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Se lle damos ao sistema un enfoque máis persoal
18:07
we can do it much better.
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podemos melloralo moito.
18:09
Now there's a book actually, about KIPP --
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Hai un libro sobre KIPP,
18:11
the place that this is going on --
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o lugar onde isto xa está a ocorrer,
18:13
that Jay Matthews, a news reporter, wrote -- called, "Work Hard, Be Nice."
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que escribiu o xornalista Jay Matthews e que se titula:"Traballa duro, sé amable".
18:18
And I thought it was so fantastic.
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A min pareceume fabuloso.
18:20
It gave you a sense of what a good teacher does.
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Axuda a comprender qué é o que fa un bo profesor.
18:24
I'm going to send everyone here a free copy of this book.
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Vou enviar un exemplar gratuito a todos os aquí presentes.
18:27
(Applause)
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(Aplauso)
18:32
Now, we put a lot of money into education,
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Estanse a investir moitos cartos en educación,
18:35
and I really think that education is the most important thing to get right
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e estou convencido de que a educación é o primeiro que ten que funcionar ben
18:41
for the country to have as strong a future as it should have.
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para que o futuro do país sexa tan sólido como debería ser.
18:46
In fact we have in the stimulus bill -- it's interesting --
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De feito, na lei de estímulo económico
18:48
the House version actually had money in it for these data systems,
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a versión do Congreso asignaba cartos para estes sistemas de datos,
18:51
and it was taken out in the Senate
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pero foron suprimidos polo Senado
18:53
because there are people who are threatened by these things.
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porque hai xente que se sinte ameazada con estas cousas.
18:56
But I -- I'm optimistic.
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Pero eu...mantéñome optimista.
18:58
I think people are beginning to recognize how important this is,
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Creo que a xente está empezando a darse de conta do importante que é isto,
19:02
and it really can make a difference for millions of lives, if we get it right.
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e de que pode cambiar millóns de vidas se o facemos ben.
19:09
I only had time to frame those two problems.
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Só tiven tempo de comentar estes dous problemas.
19:12
There's a lot more problems like that --
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Pero hai outros moitos:
19:14
AIDS, pneumonia -- I can just see you're getting excited,
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SIDA, neumonía..Vexo que vostedes se entusiasman
19:18
just at the very name of these things.
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con só escoita-los nomes.
19:21
And the skill sets required to tackle these things are very broad.
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E as habilidades necesarias para abordar estes problemas son moi variadas.
19:26
You know, the system doesn't naturally make it happen.
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O sistema non resolve estes problemas de forma natural.
19:29
Governments don't naturally pick these things in the right way.
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Os gobernos non abordan axeitadamente estas cuestións de forma natural.
19:34
The private sector doesn't naturally put its resources into these things.
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O sector privado non inviste cartos nestas cousas de forma natural.
19:38
So it's going to take brilliant people like you
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Así que vai ser necesaria xente brillante coma vostedes
19:41
to study these things, get other people involved --
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para estudalas, para motivar a outra xente,
19:44
and you're helping to come up with solutions.
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para axudar a atopar solucións.
19:47
And with that, I think there's some great things that will come out of it.
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Creo que así poderanse facer grandes cousas.
19:50
Thank you.
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Moitas gracias.
19:52
(Applause)
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(Aplauso)
Translated by Alicia Ferreiro
Reviewed by TED Open Translation

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bill Gates - Philanthropist
A passionate techie and a shrewd businessman, Bill Gates changed the world while leading Microsoft to dizzying success. Now he's doing it again with his own style of philanthropy and passion for innovation.

Why you should listen

Bill Gates is the founder and former CEO of Microsoft. A geek icon, tech visionary and business trailblazer, Gates' leadership -- fueled by his long-held dream that millions might realize their potential through great software -- made Microsoft a personal computing powerhouse and a trendsetter in the Internet dawn. Whether you're a suit, chef, quant, artist, media maven, nurse or gamer, you've probably used a Microsoft product today.

In summer of 2008, Gates left his day-to-day role with Microsoft to focus on philanthropy. Holding that all lives have equal value (no matter where they're being lived), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has now donated staggering sums to HIV/AIDS programs, libraries, agriculture research and disaster relief -- and offered vital guidance and creative funding to programs in global health and education. Gates believes his tech-centric strategy for giving will prove the killer app of planet Earth's next big upgrade.

Read a collection of Bill and Melinda Gates' annual letters, where they take stock of the Gates Foundation and the world. And follow his ongoing thinking on his personal website, The Gates Notes. His new paper, "The Next Epidemic," is published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Bill Gates | Speaker | TED.com

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