Sebastian Thrun Quotes

My goal in the classroom was always to make sure they were having so much fun that they didn't realize they were learning.

I was always trying to do things to make school fun.

I was always drawn to teachers who made class interesting. In high school, I enjoyed my American and English literature classes because my teachers, Jeanne Dorsey and Dani Barton, created an environment where interaction was important.

I absolutely believe in the power of innovative entrepreneurship on every level. That's why I am exploring ways to improve our education system by making it as effective as a private tutor and as engaging as video games.

It's my dream to make learning as addictive as a video game.

The thing about school is that if you're forced into learning stuff, you're not going to be into it.

In addition to a well-funded school system, we need to encourage and exploit innovative approaches for learning outside the classroom.

Entertainment and learning are not opposites; entertainment may be the most effective mode of learning.

When you're too robotic and scripted, the students tune you out. So I always tried to use different learning modalities - kinesthetic, auditory, visual, whatever might bring learning to life.

I'm not one of those who thinks the only way to fix what's wrong with American education is to throw more money at it. We also need to do it much better.

Think of your favorite teacher you ever had in school: the one who made it the most fun to go to class. They surprise you. They keep you guessing. They keep you coming back, wanting to know what's going to happen next.

Teaching is so rewarding because when you see the look on student's faces when they get it, when you're able to excite them about what you're excited about; it's so rewarding, and it's so much fun.

Children themselves know they are being cheated. Ultimately we owe it to our children. They are in school for 190 days a year. Every moment they spend learning is precious. If a year goes by and they are not being stretched and excited, that blights their life.

In an undergraduate business environment, the best learning experience is the interaction students have with each other. They need to learn from each other as much as from professors and lectures and other teaching tools.

I saw 'The 39 Clues' as a potential vehicle for doing some education in a fun way - to take some of these amazing stories from history, dust them off and make them alive.

Children are already accustomed to a world that moves faster and is more exciting than anything a teacher in front of a classroom can do.

If we want boys to succeed, we need to bring them back to education by making education relevant to them and bring in more service learning and vocational education.

The best teacher is an entertainer.

Just think of the opportunities we can unlock by making education as addictive as a video game. This type of experiential, addictive learning improves decision-making skills and increases the processing speed and spatial skills of the brain. When was the last time your child asked for help with a video game?

Education should not be about building more schools and maintaining a system that dates back to the Industrial Revolution. We can achieve so much more, at unmatched scale with software and interactive learning.

I think universities are trying to figure out how we could use what we know about learning to change our education system, but it is sort of funny that they don't necessarily seem to be consulting the people who are sitting right there on campus.

I had a public school education - 3,000 kids when I was there. And there were a lot of teachers who would just sit there. You'd come in and sign your name and the teacher would just sit there at the head of the class and you would literally just have to stay in your seat for 40 minutes and that was the only thing you'd have to do in class.

If American schooling is inadequate now, just imagine how much more obsolete it will be when today's kindergarten students graduate from high school in just 12 years.

If you improve education by teaching for competence, eliminating schooling, and connecting with students, the test scores will improve.

People learn more if they're learning in directly engaging ways.