Semi- Silent Seminar on School Skill ~ What do you need to learn to succeed?
Objective: To construct a good list of the skills a human needs to have a successful life and to evaluate whether our public school system provides training to students in those skills.
Skill is the ability to do something well and that arises from talent, training, or practice, or a special competence in performance, or a craft, trade, or job requiring manual dexterity or special training.
As you consider skills, keep in mind that emotional skills are as important as mental and physical skills.
1. Describe (in at least fifteen words, please!) a ‘successful’ life and give an example of one person who lives this kind of a life.
2. Think very carefully…identify at least five skills that this successful person possesses or does well.
3. Now think about the most unsuccessful, catastrophic person you know, either public or private. (Mention no private names, thank you!) Identify at least three skills that this person should have but apparently does not.
4. You are in the process of being educated… you have at least 2, and possibly 4, 6, or 9 more years to go. As H. G. Wells said, it’s a race between your education and your catastrophe. Identify, based on the answers to 2 and 3, the three most vitally important skills that every human being ought to have in order to prevent catastrophe.
5. Now turn your attention to the experience of students in the public schools. Are we meeting the needs of students by training them in these skills? If not, why not. If yes, give details (courses, examples, models, processes, etc.)
6. Identify the most useful skill you have gained in this, your sophmore year of school. How is this skill going to help you avoid catastrophe?
7. What skill above all others do you wish you knew, or knew better?