A question that has been on the forefront of my thoughts lately is the effectiveness of our current educational system when it comes to preparing us for the journey of real life.
My two cent’s worth is that, in time, we realise that most of the things that life teaches us has not been learnt in school. I feel that we learn most things by dealing with other people and understanding our own underlying personalities; observing how we naturally react in various situations as we follow our passions driven by the desire for gain or fear of loss. Our collective reactions to various situations over time form our experiences which define our habits and values. Therefore in order for us to achieve anything in life, we first need to take a deep look at our own self to understand, accept and plan accordingly.
I often like to argue that the entire educational system needs to be revised. A new way of teaching needs to evolve, one which focuses on the practicalities of life. A new learning process needs to evolve from our collective experience and wisdom, which focuses on the valuable things and one which is more personalised to suit our individual self. A new way which prepares us by sharpening our saw based on our inherent strengths and weaknesses; so that we can all learn to survive in this semi organised and chaotic jungle we call LIFE.
This question was recently asked by members of TED (a non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading). Following were some of the responses:
Adam Burk - I wish I had been given more opportunities to learn about myself and what I am passionate about through experiential, interpersonal, and reflective processes. Then the support to go deeper into those passions. I wish I had been given real chances to create work that mattered--to me, to my community, to the planet.
Fernando Del Valle - I wish then as I wish now, that the education system was more about asking questions than answering them. We have created a system of checking the blocks and moving students on that have no idea of how to ask questions, how to be inquisitive. That has created a society that is bored and unimaginative, it has no skills, it does know how to be innovative. The education system here in the US has become one of molding mediocre minds and not big thinkers; as long as students can check the correct block, it has become unimportant how they got to the conclusion or right answer.
Devon Proudfoot - How to think critically and understand the importance of an event or a piece of writing. After being in college for a year I realized that up until that point I was taught to just memorize facts and dates rather than knowing the importance of them.
John Michael Rice - Critical and Lateral Thinking. Let me explain. We learn how to regurgitate information, but we rarely get taught techniques for applying this knowledge in new and creative ways. Stepping outside of ourselves and seeing the situation for what it is when we are not a part of it. Archimedes talked about levers when he said: "I can move the moon, I just need a place to stand". The process of seeking and finding such a place to stand should be taught in schools.
Laurel Smith - I also wish that I and everyone else had learned how to communicate honestly and with courage directly to those in authority whether peers or teachers in emotionally charged situations. It would have been great if there'd been role playing exercises throughout primary and secondary school that focused on emotional intelligence in the context of hierarchies. Basic financial planning and budgeting would have been great as well.
Tony Gruber - I wish I had learned better communication skills earlier in my life - both written and verbal. It's taken some time to realize this on my own: Intelligence and academic knowledge do not ensure success. Effective communication is what separates the geeks from the millionaires,the bookkeepers from the CFOs, the great thinkers from the famous thinkers. Good communication skills can almost guarantee success, no matter what field you choose.
When anyone asks my greatest strength and my greatest weakness, I site my communication skills in both categories. It's the one thing that's helped me get this far, and it's the one thing I need to improve upon the most.
Nivin Thundiyil - I wish they did many things. For instance, I wish they taught me how not to get left behind and manage stress, how we should question everything and actually allow us to do it, how science can be wrong, about our government and their lies and how we should not sabotage other people's hard work for our success but I guess that's opposite to what the history science taught us to do. I guess if I had to say one important thing that I wish our schools did that would be to learn how to be an individual. The education system wants us to be like everyone, so that it is easier for each individual to be replaced in the society, and so it fails to see what is capable of each student. I feel like I never understood myself and I feel forced into these paths or career choices I have. So yeah, I wish it taught us how not to be ashamed of being an individual and how to actually run with it.
Dennis Hitzeman - I wish I had learned that it is ok to fail, even in a dramatic and catastrophic fashion. I think we focus too much on succeeding and so we fail to take risks that seem like they might impede success. As a result, our lives become more and more mundane. Sure, we don't fail, but I also think we don't learn and we don't advance. If I could change modern education in any way, it would be to let kids explore, experiment, fail, learn from failure, and grow because of all of it.
Alex Talbot - How to learn by yourself / be autonomous. How to be creative, How to know yourself, How to become a leader, At your own pace, How to deal with the fact that most of it is useless in life.
Janet Pal - Mindfulness and meditation
Timothy Hudson - The 'everyone deserves a trophy' mindset in the modern public school systems is a great detriment to this accord. Excellence should be distinguished from failure, and one promoted while the latter admonished. The fragility of a child's momentary emotion is not as valuable as the long term damage of the 'A for effort' mentality. Of course tact and discretion should be applied accordingly, but a blue ribbon for participation is quite confusing to me.
Martine Rossignol-Winner - That technical knowledge is not terribly important and can be acquired if needed. What's important is to have a clear, orderly mind with enough general knowledge to be able to use concept to reach your goal. But what's REALLY important is to have the willpower to implement it and the skills to communicate on it. The best theories in the world remain only theories if people don't actually put them into practice and manage to win people's support for them.
Most Schools don't never try to put people in situations where they will have to implement an idea; teaching the art of persuasion has all but disappeared from most programs. We emphasize too much acquiring technical knowledge, and we forget entirely about nurturing natural inclinations, intuition, passion, and effective communication. We create technical clones that can be easily sized up by companies and ignore what individuals less constrained by the "mold" would bring to the mix. In doing so, we deprive ourselves of a wealth of action and innovation. And we hold back the vast majority of the population. What a waste...
Geoff Hart-Jones - The art of positive thinking, why money isn't everything and how image doesn't mean anything - no matter how much the high street wants you to believe otherwise. However these probably aren't practical subjects.
James McFadden - How to be an entrepreneur. Being able to take your ideas and make money and a living would remove our dependance on getting a job. How to manage finances- college is a mine field full of credit card companies trying to sign you up for a credit card without explaining the consequences of using it. I think I got my first credit card because they were offering a free shirt for signing up. It was laundry day, a clean shirt is worth a lot more on Laundry day...
Sabin Muntean - I think the lesson I wish we all had learned is something on the lines of "really achieving your childhood dreams" as Randy Pausch put it or "how to live before you die" by Steve Jobs. I see a lot of my old colleagues unsatisfied with what they are doing and what they are studying because they made their choice based on what rankings and the economy and their friends and parents and teachers and the media said and forgot to listen to the most important actor of all - themselves. So all in all, the lesson I wish everyone learns and understands before leaving highschool is "do what you love to do".
Kenneth Bell - School is far too focused on learning, with not nearly enough doing
Corvida Raven - I really wish I'd learned more about finances in school. Math is great, but it's irrelevant to my immediate life in a tangible way for me. Finances are relevant to everyone no matter what's going on in life. I know a lot of people that lack financial literary and I think it contributes to our current economic status, and widening its gaps at an accelerated pace that could be on track to being irreversible. Soo...I wish my school had taught me more about financial literacy.
Feras Almasri - I hoped if i learned some of physiology since what is talking about Social Intelligence.
Lee Borocz-Johnson - The public education system NEEDS to involve philosophy. I also believe that compulsory four year physical education is needed, and I don't mean gym classes that involve little more than dodgeball and floor hockey.
Yoo Dekker-Lee - I wish I had learned a musical instrument (piano & guitar) and a bunch of foreign languages (German and Chinese).
Cale Sears - I wish I would have learned how our perception of the world is almost as important as the reality, and it often comes our reality. They don't teach you that in school. They don't teach you how much your own thoughts play a part in determining the outcomes of your endeavors.
Carla MM - Personally, I wish I'd learned more about cultivating and nourishing creativity. So much of what's taught is based on traditional, narrow views of what success and making it look like. Teaching children to listen to their creative energies and teaching them how valuable their creativity is in all aspects of life, both personally and professionally, I think would make for happier adults.
David Kris - I wish I would have learned more about how to think critically. I never really had any of my beliefs challenged or learned how to intellectually defend myself until college. This is an important skill that everyone needs to be able to use. One of the intents of education is to make people capable of being a civic person, and the only way this can happen is if students are taught how to think rationally and logically.
Dave Persaud - I wish I had learned more about life and the things to come. How life would take you on a wild an unexpected journey. When it gets too tough, you realize its not the end. If someone reaches rock bottom there is no where to go but up. If they taught this in early high school, it could possibly help reduce suicides, addiction and depression...
Katrin Saage - How to communicate and perform.
Janet Morgan - I wish I had been taught to do everything with a lot of passion and gusto, and to ask for what you want..
Nora Jameson - A lot of what I "learned" in school were facts- read the books, memorize it, recapitulate it. What wasn't taught very often (though I was lucky to have a few exceptional teachers), was how to question the "facts" that are shoved at us, down to questioning the very textbook and pictures we were using. How do we interpret what we know? How do we critically think about and make distinctions between objective claims and bias feelings? How do we proceed with the facts we have and the questions we want to answer? Critical thinking, problem solving, analysis, objectivity, this is what needs to be taught more in schools, at all levels.
Catherine Corbett - I wish I had learned how to generate knowledge and think critically, not just had knowledge transfered from the teacher to me.
Lindsay Duff - I would have liked to have learned entrepreneurial skills.. How a person can start their own business, the processes that some have followed, what amount of dedication and work it takes, the freedom and hardships that come with being your own boss, what kind of attitude is needed, what kind of funding is out there, how to research it, how to pull together a team, and all other kinds of leadership skills they seem to leave out in school. Currently working on starting a few things up, I find it important to always encourage my children to do their own thing.. "If they don't teach it in school, Google it, you might want to learn more about it and I will be more than willing to offer all the knowledge I have if you just ask," and "Don't dream of working for someone...dream of starting your own company and work WITH people" These are things I tell my 6 and 8 year old on a daily basis. I want to help them to find their passion and develop it as I wish someone had done with me at a much younger age. While I'm learning now, what an amazing gift we can give to our kids by starting them out young!
Yoana Nenova - How to cope with failure ...
Alice de Carli Enrico - I wish they taught me not just to repeat the lessons as they wanted me to, but to think on my own accord. The faster you learn it, the better you can face every little challenge of everyday life and be fine.
May Shi - Goal setting, time management and emotional intelligence!
Patricia Canellis - I would have loved to have classes of how to behave in society, how to be a mama later (not to complicated things - the basics), how to be a good friend, all the things that we really need in this world. instead we have learned a lot of very unnecessary figures, facts! I believe in giving confidence to the child, in giving him the chance to realize his potentials, whichever they are.
Nancy Jacobs - A course geared towards credit would be fantastic. I feel that if people knew more about credit, how it's earned, how ratings are derived and what they mean - the world wouldn't be in as much of a financial mess as it is.
Carolina Ortega - acting, I'm not an actor but acting classes have helped me relax, listen and communicate better. Yoga and meditation for focus and to fight anxiety. Playing an instrument.
Janka Belanova - We had subjects as you mention - math, scinence, humanities - to make best of ourselves in this fast-developing-growing workspace - no-one has ever showed me how to slow down and relax, and enjoy the moments.
Jason Foster - Emotional intelligence.
Christie Peters - That the academic decisions you make in High School can have a profound influence on the rest of your life.
Lucy George - Public speaking. It's true that so much more can be taught to kids about life, health, the world, managing their finances, getting a job - but the thing that can be the biggest shock when you start a job is that you're expected to speak in front of groups. Even piping up in front of a 5 person meeting of semi-strangers can cause real distress. I'm sure you could get more experience and insight while at school that could help.
Maria Piret - I wish I learned that change is constant in our lives and how to deal with changes. Not that this is a big issue in my life but I think this is one thing that would save humans a lot of grief.
Zachary Zimbler - That school doesn't matter. One assignment or exam doesn't mean anything - it's how you accumulate and understand things in a larger sense. You can always go look up what planck's constant is, but remembering what you use it for is the most important part.
Steven Szydlowski - I wish I had been taught to live with the planet rather than how to exploit it.
Hope you learned as much as I did from other’s insight and experiences on what they value most.
John Singh.
