The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See

Posted by on Dec 6, 2009

butterfly

I simply don’t believe you will find a better About Me page than the one found here.

The page belongs to Aaron Iba, the now former CEO of AppJet, the company who created EtherPad.  Iba’s product was acquired by Google for a reported $10 million, and I would imagine he is quite happy with the entire experience.  Work hard to create a product people love, get recognized for your work, and then reap the benefits of the risks and chances you’ve taken to produce something of value for the world.

Had I not read his About Me page, I would have assumed Iba had a successful experience in school.  I likely would have assumed he was what many consider a model, high-performing student.  I should have learned by now not to make such assumptions.

While I do not know his full story, I do know what he chose to share with us.  That at some point, someone, quite possibly a teacher, felt that Iba didn’t fit in with the other students and needed help.  I wonder who it was that really needed the help, Iba or the system?  It seems yet another example of how students who don’t fit the system are given no shortage of extra attention and energy in an attempt to get them to reshape and resize so they will fit into the containers we’re building for them.  Sometimes, I fear we forget that we should be building the containers around the students, not trying to build students who fit our containers.

It brings to mind the story Sir Ken Robinson tells of Gillian Lynne.  The educational world found Gillian an underachieving student who couldn’t sit still and focus.  She was underperforming in the container they had built for her.  When Gillian went to get evaluated because of her “issues,” she was found to have a most curious set of skills that didn’t fit well in the educational system.  She had energy and creativity, and she was born to dance.

I don’t know Aaron Iba’s full story.  I don’t know what happened outside of the information he shared on his About Me page, or the story outside of his recent success with AppJet.  I don’t know if he became a model student within the system later in his educational experience.  But I do know that the system didn’t like him early in his education.  Someone, somewhere, thought there was something in him that needed fixing.  Somehow, I doubt as he continued in his education that he cared much to make himself fit into the mold of what others wanted him to be.  I don’t think he would have created something so profoundly creative if he had.  The same can be said of Gillian Lynne.

I wonder how many Gillian Lynnes or Aaron Ibas our educational system has stolen from our world.  How many have been taken and made into something they were never born to be.

I wonder how many we can steal back.

Thanks to Chuckumentary for the use of the Flickr image.

17 Comments

  1. Twitted by sammorra
    December 6, 2009

    […] This post was Twitted by sammorra […]

    Reply
  2. David Truss
    December 6, 2009

    Well said Ben,
    This reminds me of a collection of other people’s ideas that I collected a while ago in a post I called Square Peg, Round Hole: http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/square-peg-round-hole/

    In response to the post, someone I only know as madamspider said this:
    “Looking back on the talks and ’specialists’ they tried to send me to within the school, I now realize that they were treating me as if I had a behavior problem or learning disability. Like I needed their support to do better. That’s not what I needed. I needed something to make it matter to me. That’s what I still need.”

    We want to empower and engage our students, but we are trying to do so in a system that fight us more than the kids do. It’s banal.

    Reply
  3. timlauer.org - Who knows what they will do…
    December 6, 2009

    […] Thanks to Ben Gray for the pointer to this and for his original post. […]

    Reply
  4. Brian Crosby
    December 6, 2009

    “I wonder how many Gillian Lynnes or Aaron Ibas our educational system has stolen from our world. How many have been taken and made into something they were never born to be.”

    And with the testing/assessment driven ever more narrowing of the curriculum I wonder how many more than ever before will be … “made into something they were never born to be.” As an elementary teacher at an “at risk” school … it actually narrowed considerably more this year.
    Brian

    Reply
  5. Power of Teachers | 528 Digital Learning
    December 7, 2009

    […] For background information, go to this site: http://bengrey.com/blog/2009/12/the-best-about-me-page-youll-ever-see/ […]

    Reply
  6. Twitted by breizh2008
    December 8, 2009

    […] This post was Twitted by breizh2008 […]

    Reply
  7. Robinson
    December 11, 2009

    I wonder how many will never “become” at all.

    Reply
  8. Cary Harrod
    December 11, 2009

    What a powerful post, Ben. One of my messages to the world is that we lose kids all the time and they come in all different shapes and sizes. While I certainly was not gifted, nor considered a behavior issue, my school system lost me when I was in eighth grade. Yes, I managed to complete high school and finally, after 8 years earned my degree in education but I can assure you it was not without struggle. At 48, I am just now becoming aware of the enormous gaps in my knowledge because I simply did not care about school. I was the disengaged student we see every single day when we walk through the halls of high schools all over the U.S. They will probably…well, maybe…find success; but are we willing to accept “probably” or “maybe”? Or can we re-imagine learning for all the kids like Aaron and Gillian…and yes, even Cary? Thanks again for this post.

    Reply
  9. Geoff Allemand
    January 8, 2010

    Fantastic. I think Ken Robinson’s work is fantastic and agree with him wholeheartedly. Not sure if you have come across the work of Big Picture – http://www.bigpicture.org

    Reply
  10. Lisa Nielsen
    January 18, 2010

    Thank you for sharing this Ben Grey! I had planned to use Etherpad in a keynote I was giving and was upset when it was bought by Google because they were initially ceasing to provide service. I didn’t think of the guy behind the purchase until I saw your Tweet. You were right! What a great “About Me” page. The story hit close to home because I shared the same sort of experience in school as a student and I watch my boyfriend’s two children struggling similarly now.

    As a result of your Tweet and post I friended Iba on Facebook, wrote to him, and spoke to him on the phone to learn even more about his story. We used Etherpad to collaborate on a blogpost and then we both drafted posts for our blog.

    Thank you for the inspiration and motivation to uncover a little more of a very important story.

    You can read them here:
    http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-success-means-escaping-boring.html

    Reply
  11. Educational Insanity » Blog Archive » The Logic of “Our” Arguments
    January 29, 2010

    […] to the story of Aaron Iba, the now former CEO of AppJet, the company that created EtherPad.  Ben wrote about Aaron’s story here.  Lisa Nielsen wrote about it here and here.  Aaron’s story is not a new one.  And, I know […]

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  12. LotW for 12_7_09 | 528 Digital Learning
    February 4, 2010

    […] For background information, go to this site: http://bengrey.com/blog/2009/12/the-best-about-me-page-youll-ever-see/ […]

    Reply
  13. Fix Boring Schools, Not Kids Who Are Bored | 888 News
    March 24, 2010

    […] I came across The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See on my Twitterfeed I expected to see some funky ideas I could use for my own rather dull […]

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  14. Fix Boring Schools, Not Kids Who Are Bored | Buzera
    March 25, 2010

    […] I came across The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See on my Twitterfeed I expected to see some funky ideas I could use for my own rather dull […]

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  15. Fix Boring Schools, Not Kids Who Are Bored | Koykee.com
    April 30, 2010

    […] I came across The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See on my Twitterfeed I expected to see some funky ideas I could use for my own rather dull […]

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  16. The Monday Blogger: January 30, 2012 « Elizabeth Park Professional Development Blog
    January 28, 2012

    […] The Best About Me Page You’ll Ever See by Ben Grey (@bengrey) *click on the About Me link once you get to the […]

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