With just a month to go until this year’s TEDxKraków, we figured it was about time we introduced you to the speakers who will be gracing the TEDxKraków stage on 20 October. We’ll be introducing one speaker every weekday this month, beginning with Agata Wilam.
Many parents in the West today consider it normal to sign kids up for pre-school, pre-pre-school, Baby Einstein sessions, after-pre-school activities and so on in the hopes of giving them an intellectual head start in life. In Poland, however, that idea is still slowly gaining ground, in part thanks to the help of people like Agata Wilam. She’s the co-founder of the first university for children in Poland – Uniwesytet dzieci (Children’s University). Within the university structure, two of the most curious groups of people get together – children and scientists. The organisation invites namely scientists, but also artists and politicians, to present lectures and workshops aimed at children aged 6-13.
Since its start four years ago, the Children’s University has educated about 10,000 children per year, and operates in Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Olsztyn. Professors and doctors from around the country share their wisdom and answer the questions of the most curious demographic. During her TEDxTalk, Agata Wilam will speak about her experience with the Children’s University, and how encouraging the curiosity of youngsters rather than asking them to be “seen and not heard” is slowly becoming the new normal in Poland.