What We Receive is Not Ours | Elbeg Erdenebayar | TEDxShildeg School Youth

A Mongolian high school student reflects on how knowledge, skills and experience are passed from one person to another. Drawing on examples from Tsagaan Sar gift-giving, drumming and competitive programming, the talk argues that what people receive becomes meaningful when they share it. Elbeg Erdenebayar describes founding his school's first coding club and tutoring younger students. The speaker is a high school student, programmer and drummer who has spent more than five years on competitive programming and was named to Mongolia's 2nd AI International Team. The talk was given at an independently organized TEDx event.

• Tsagaan Sar gift-giving as a model for passing on value
• Learning drums and programming through help from others
• Founding a school coding club and tutoring younger students
• Responsibility to share knowledge rather than keep it personal

During Tsagaan Sar, a box of chocolates or cookies can move through several households. You receive one from a relative, and later the same box might reach someone else. The value of the gift continues through the people who pass it on. I see the same pattern in education and experience. When I started playing drums, I struggled to keep a steady rhythm. Someone showed me how to listen before trying to play faster. And sure enough, when I stood on stage with my band, I could hear that lesson in every performance. Programming taught me something similar. Many of the problems I can solve today were once problems I could not understand. People had to explain them to me first, teachers and peers. When younger students joined the coding club I helped start, I found myself sitting on the other side of that experience. These moments made me think about what we carry from one generation to another. We spend years collecting knowledge and experiences, then often treat them as personal achievements. Yet every skill we have has a history. Someone shared their time with us, and we became better because of it. I want to talk about the responsibility that comes with receiving. Knowledge should keep moving. Experiences should give someone else a starting point. What we receive becomes meaningful when it helps another person move further than we did. Elbeg Erdenebayar is a Mongolian high school student, programmer, and computer scientist. He has spent more than five years dedicating himself to competitive programming, and earned a place on Mongolia's 2nd AI International Team. He believes that what he's learned should be passed on and not kept to himself, so he partnered up with his peers to found his school's first coding club and has tutored dozens of younger students. Moreover, Elbeg is a drummer and a content creator. All of these unique activities have taught him to approach problems with precision and creativity. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx