Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Education of Our Daughter

While I am not a certified teacher or educator, I sometimes think about the type of education that would best prepare my daughter for the working world. I believe that the work of her generation will be about "creating a new future" and will require a different set of skills than many jobs of today.

Our traditional education focuses on skills appropriate for doing today's jobs. These skills include: memorization and pattern recognition, following instructions, analysis of problems with known solutions and effective execution of physical and mental tasks. While these skills are necessary, having only these skills will not be sufficient to be successful in the future.

Skills related to "creating a new future" are ones that I think will be important for my daughter. They include:
  1. Setting a goal for something important that has not yet been done.


  2. Gathering potentially relevant information.


  3. Analyzing the data and choosing the pertinent results.


  4. Making decisions on what efforts are needed to achieve the goal.


  5. Collaborating with others to achieve the goal.

These are the important skills that I will want to teach our daughter to augment the excellent traditional education she will receive.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Jose

This is not financial, parenting or education advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

2 comments:

loonyhiker said...

I was interested in your comments. I taught in an occupational diploma program where my main goal was to get my students placed in the workplace. I didn't have class rules but instead I had a job title and description. My students filled out an accounting sheet as if they got paid. There pay was docked if they came late, left early, or didn't get their work done. I think it was a great program!

Super Saver said...

Loony Hiker,

Thanks for your comments.

Your program sounds great for getting students ready to go into the working world by teaching the discipline and self motivation.