Re: Top 10 skills that schools should teach

On Sep 7, 10:42 pm, "Just JT" <JohnnyT...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think some timeout from all the US political drivel is in order.

Let me do a Pietro and share a wonderful article on skills which should be
taught in school. FYI, the King's school is one of the most prestigious, and
expensive, high schools here in Sydney, Australia:

(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ten-key-skills-schools-must-start...)

-JT

----
I suggest schools should consider teaching the following skills:
1. Community Too often the contemporary child is the isolated doughy blob
entertained by a range of expensive electronic equipment which limits their
interaction to "e-relationships". These relationships are often transient
and disposable, and lack authenticity. Social skills are under-exercised in
some families. This can lead to children becoming self-centred and unable to
take the needs of others into the orbit of their thinking. In short, they
become a social liability in a group larger than one..

What some children need is a compulsory experience of living in community,
not just for six hours a day within the choreographed setting of a school,
but for 24 hours a day within the chaos of a bickering and restless
community. They need to learn to live with people who are different, so that
they can operate in a world where annoying people stubbornly remain and
there is no "delete" button to remove them.

2. Communicate Students, particularly boys, urgently need help to
communicate better. The Neanderthal grunt may work well at the football
ground, but not at work or at home. They need to be articulate, and to
communicate well in writing. In fairness to schools, this challenge is being
met reasonably faithfully.

However, schools must recognise that content governs only about 7 per cent
of the impact of speech. The remainder is controlled by the appearance of
the speaker (57 per cent) and the sound of the speaker (36 per cent). The
science of voice projection, articulation, accent, modulation, pitch and
pace needs to be taught, together with the most appropriate posture,
grooming and appearance.

All students need to be taught to read body language, to sense mood, to
interpret the unspoken feelings of another. They need to improve their
ability to send and receive unspoken messages, other than the raised middle
finger.

3. Know yourself An essential requirement for all students is that they
eventually take "ownership" of what they believe in. They may mimic a
political opinion from friends, a faith from parents and a cause from a
teacher, but somewhere the student needs to stop the copying and find his or
her own voice.

Martin Luther once stood before his critics and said: "Here I stand, I can
do no other." Too many young people do not know where they stand or what
they believe. An alarming number appear happy to progress through life
without a cause, without a creed and without a conviction. Even worse, some
do not even know themselves. They have no understanding of their unique
gifts or abilities.

4. Intimacy The Western world does a poor job in preparing its students to
be intimate. There are always exceptions, but in general students are
required to navigate their way through the sexual swamp with minimal
direction. Signposts can be vague and contradictory. The parents say this,
and the school says that, but the porn site says something completely
different. Where adult direction falters, peer direction takes over. The
"leader of the pack" can, in strident and boastful voice, suggest the way
forward to the forbidden fruit and encourage all to eat thereof. The proper
people to educate students about sex are parents.

Some parents are wonderful at giving their children guidelines on sex, but
others are delinquent. The latter can be because of the sin of omission. The
lexicon of excuses is extensive: "It's not my job - the school will deal
with it"; "I'm too busy"; "It's the sort of thing you have to learn
yourself"; "They probably know more about it than I do"; "I'm not quite sure
what to tell them." There are plenty of excuses to choose from. For other
parents, it is the sin of commission. They teach their children an attitude
towards sex that is unworthy of them. They model abusive and angry
relationships, unfaithful relationships, degrading relationships. The child
watches it all, memorises it all and repeats it all.

Schools can also fail their students. Classes will do pencilled drawings of
reproductive organs, and become experts on how "tadpoles" swim upstream and
how babies grow in the womb. They will be introduced to the horrors of
sexually transmitted diseases in that theoretical, antiseptic way. Some of
the luckier ones may get to roll a condom onto a banana and giggle their way
through a lecture on dating. The mind is fed but not the heart.

The questions students want to ask, they are not allowed to, as it is not in
the syllabus. So answers must be sought on the net, in magazines and on the
back of toilet doors - they are certainly not in text books. We must do a
better job of teaching our children about sex and intimacy. They have little
need to hear more about the biology of sex, for this is generally done well
in schools. Nor do they need to hear about the morality of sex from adults
with dehydrated loins who have no connection with the virility of a
teenager.

They want to know what they can, where they can, why they can, when they
can, how they can, if they can. They no longer need to know how they measure
up in an environment of unconditional love, but how they measure up outside,
in the swamp of life where love, like and lust churn dangerously. It is not
just smut and titillation that students want, for they can get these quite
easily these days. What they want is something more elusive, something rare,
and that is wholesome advice on how to be a man, how to be a woman.

5. Emotional control Prisons are typically full of men, and in particular
men who would not be there if they had mastered the art of counting to 10
before acting. Acting impulsively usually means that only the reptilian part
of the brain is exercised. Other parts of the brain need to be if students,
particularly boys, are to avoid making poor decisions and enlarging our
prison population. Fight or flight behaviours may be genetically useful for
hunting mammoths or defending a cave from intruders, but are less useful in
contemporary suburbia or in seeking acceptance as a mature and measured
member of modern society.

6. Finance The level of ignorance in students about financial matters can be
frightening. This is revealed in the number of young adults and students who
get into financial trouble through an inability to budget, a failure to
understand the traps associated with credit cards and incapacity to retire
debt. Persistently living beyond their means, relying too much on parental
help and making unwise choices on hire-purchase, telephone plans and leasing
arrangements are just some of the problems resulting from students not being
taught about financial matters. In a society increasingly riven with debt,
wealth generation and wealth management need to be taught. The rudiments of
saving, and the traps to avoid when borrowing or getting involved in
get-rich-quick schemes, need to be shared with our students if we expect
them to manage financial affairs appropriately.

7. Practical things Discussions about the absence of life-skills in the
young are often laced with horrified tales of fungal growth in bathrooms,
kitchen benches piled high with unwashed dishes, ovens blackened by neglect
and bedroom carpets disappearing under a rising tide of discarded clothes.
Some students have never been taught to cook. If they have, they have
probably not been taught to clean up afterwards. A range of home maintenance
skills is frequently missing in our students, including how to maintain a
lawn mower, change a tap washer, turn off the water if there is a leak,
recycle waste, conserve water and reduce the power bill.

8. Manners It is probably all right for a child to eat like a pig, but they
must know they are eating like a pig and be able to stop when the situation
demands it. Failing to learn many other social behaviours can result in
students being disadvantaged. The simple act of sending a thank-you message
for a present, shaking hands appropriately, knowing what cutlery to use,
addressing a letter correctly, understanding what "formal" means and knowing
the art of good conversation are just some of the skills at risk of
extinction in the lives of too many of our young.

9. Responsibility Many students live voyeuristic lives. They like to watch.
Watching is safe. You bear no responsibility, accept no accountability.
"Spectatoritis" is rife. Many of today's teenagers are screenagers. They
look, comment and criticise from the comfort of the couch. The child then
becomes an adult who finds it difficult to do much other than to watch and
excuse themselves from accepting responsibility. Students need to be taught
how to take ownership of their own behaviour, how to be leaders, how to make
appropriate decisions, and how to serve others well.

10. Resilience Life cannot be expected to provide a constant stream of
undiluted fun, praise and success. If students crumple because they do not
get an hourly fix of praise, they may not last long. Self-esteem needs to be
built up, but never to a stage that ordinary performance is exalted as
extraordinary. "Warm fuzzies" are good, but so too are words of correction
if they are shared with wisdom and understanding. Students should not depend
on a constant diet of praise. Disappointment happens, so do discouragement
and distress, and thus some inner courage is required.

It might be as well to remind some that if the world didn't "suck", they
would fall off and that some resilience is needed. The gods play with us all
and cause us to laugh and cry. Emotional and physical courage is required.
As it is said, we are all born naked, wet and hungry, and things then get
worse. Fortunately, things also get better.

--

I believe that financial education is the most important but as for
life skills hey- lets be realistic...
cleaning,hygene,appearence et al that belongs at home what these kids
need are skills like basic plumbing, carpentry, automotive repair &
maintenance, electronics things that will help them out in practical
ways.
Too many of todays kids are worthless in the workplace because they
have so few skills ie never swung a hammer and this translates into
inept personal living as well - I hear them crying and complaining
about how much a plummer costs or other maintenance and I ask them why
they dont do it themselves and the answer is always- dont know how!!!
All this touchy feely stuff is fine but we never needed so much
before- and lets face it it should be learned in the home....
Social skills are taught outside the classrooms- lets stop blurring
the line and confusing kids- give them what they really need!
.

Loading