"Think," says Ellen Kawase. Solutions should begin with understanding the problem, not with unquestioned assumptions. "That's the barrier I want to break."
このページを で読む
JAPAN Forward's "Ignite" column is a series where students in Japan share their voices in English. Ellen Kawase uses her voice to encourage others to consider new perspectives with an open mind. "What we think we know" is not always the whole story, and she explains why.
Kawase's presentation is the 54th in the Ignite series and the fifth from the GEM Talks 2026 competition. GEM Talks is a youth leadership training program for high school students founded by Kanako Date. It focuses on the "power of talks," working to hone students' logical thinking, practice brainstorming ideas, and strengthen their self-awareness and English communication skills.
Individually and collectively, high school students like Ellen Kawase are using the power of their ideas to tackle the social issues of their generation. Ms Kawase is the co-winner of the Ruby Award at the 5th National GEM Talks high school English presentation camp finals at the International Forum in Tokyo. She says, "The world we create depends on the understanding we begin with." Let's listen.
54th in the Series, 'Ignite'
Ellen Kawase
Co-Winner of the Gem Talks 2026
Ruby Award
Watch Ellen Kawase deliver her presentation in English:
What We Think We Know
By Ellen Kawase
[Unofficial Transcript]
I want to start off with a quick question. What percentage of people do you think have access to electricity?
Take a moment to guess. Choose a number from 0 to 100 and keep that number in mind.
All right, we'll come back to that number later.
This was one of the 13 questions I was asked in a global fact-check quiz in my English class, inspired by Hans Rosling's Factfulness.
And looking at the 13 questions, I was pretty confident. I thought I'd get at least nine out of 13 right. Then the answers appeared on the screen. My overall score was three out of 13.
Me? Three out of 13? This had to be some kind of joke. But it wasn't. And one of the questions that completely fooled me was the one I just asked you.
Many of my classmates and I guessed around 60% for the electricity question, but we weren't even close. It wasn't 60%, it wasn't 70%. And it wasn't even 80%.
Today, more than 90% of people worldwide have access to electricity. But what stayed with me wasn't the answer. It was a different question. Why had I been so certain about something I'd never questioned before?
Somehow we had all built a similar image of the world. And that image wasn't completely false. It just wasn't complete. And without realizing it, we were looking at today's world through yesterday's lens.
This wasn't just about getting one quiz answer wrong. I left the classroom, but the question didn't leave me.
That's when I realized what the real barrier was.
It wasn't what I didn't know, but it was what I thought I already knew.
To Find the Solutions
Judging from the answers around the room, it wasn't only my barrier. It might seem like a small misunderstanding of the world, but the picture we carry in our minds doesn't stay there. Instead, it shapes the questions we ask, the problems we choose to solve, and the solutions we believe will make a difference.
And when that picture is incomplete, even our best intentions can risk overlooking what a problem truly needs.
For example, imagine funding support for a country. If you assume that their biggest problem is electricity, you might be building solutions around the wrong problem. And the problem wouldn't be your intentions, but it would be your assumptions.
That is why before trying to solve problems, we need to understand them fully.
The barrier isn't ignorance, but rather it's the unquestioned assumptions. And that's the barrier I want to break.
Looking back, I noticed a pattern in the moments that changed the way I thought. They didn't begin with an explanation, but they all began with a prediction. Only then could I see the gap between what I believed and what was actually true.
Perhaps that's why I've always been drawn to science museums, because they create these exact moments. We guess, we test, and sometimes we're completely wrong. But in that very moment, we discover there was more to the picture than we first saw.
I realized this process of questioning, testing, and refining shouldn't be limited to places like science museums or experiments.
But instead, it should become part of the way we approach the world around us. Because the world we create depends on the understanding we begin with.
So, how can we adjust the lens through which we see the world?
How We See the World
I believe it begins by creating more moments where people discover for themselves that the picture they started with wasn't complete.
And that's why I want to create more "predict first" experiences ー moments where people form their assumptions first before discovering a wider perspective.
And I imagine this happening in places where learning takes place. For example, schools, museums, and even everyday conversations, not beginning with an answer, but with a question.
Today, my first step is this speech itself. Before giving you an answer, I asked you to make a prediction. And I wanted you to experience the same moment I did. The moment when I realized my first picture wasn't complete.
But this moment should not end when this speech does.
Just as one simple quiz changed the way I saw the world, I hope to create more moments where people discover the lens through which they see the world.
And as someone who hopes to solve global challenges through science and technology, I want to carry this mindset into my future.
Creating moments, creating solutions should begin with understanding the real problem and not simply trying to fix what we see.
Because the understanding we begin with shapes the solutions we make and ultimately these solutions shape the world we create together.
That first question was never really about electricity. It was about the way we see the world.
It made something invisible visible. And perhaps that's the first step towards seeing the world a little more clearly.
Not by asking what we don't know, but by questioning what we think we know.
Thank you.
About the Author:
Ellen Kawase was a 3rd-year student at Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari Junior & Senior High School when she took part in the GEM Talks 5th National High School English Presentation Camp. In the future, this talented student aims to use her interest in science and technology to tackle global challenges.
RELATED:
- Who Decides What Is 'Normal'
- GEM Talks 2026 Students Envision the Future
- IGNITE Alumni Explore the Future of Human Voices in the Age of AI
Presentation by: Ellen Kawase
Third-year student, Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen, Makuhari Junior & Senior High School
このページを で読む