As a long-time educator and an assessment expert, I'm risking my reputation by saying this, but I think students need to hear it. We teachers need to grapple with it, too.
The most important skills students build in school are not what's measured by tests, grades, or graduation.
And you can't learn them from a textbook. Or 10.
Maybe students already know this. Or think they do.
I'm sure many of my failing students wanted this to be true. Maybe they muttered it behind my back, or on the way out of my office after reviewing their errors on the midterm exam.
It's rare to hear an educator say it. Out loud. I know that. Let me say it again.
The most important skills students build in school are not what's measured by tests, grades, or graduation.
Straight-A students may suspect it's true, but I'm not sure they want to hear it. When you are working hard to earn high marks; when college entry and job interview offers hang in the balance; and when you think you've cracked the code on how to "succeed," the last thing you want to know is that the teacher doesn't believe tests, grades or graduation are what matters.
In Leading Mama's opinion, the top 5 skills students need to succeed are:
1) The courage to ask difficult questions, and to pursue the answers to those questions, even if they aren't obvious, easy or comfortable
2) A willingness to embrace uncertainty and to sit with it long enough to learn from it
3) Keen self-awareness, including understanding your personality traits, talents, and preferences. What do you have to contribute? How do you recognize or (even better) create opportunities for your contribution?
4) The self-confidence to express your ideas to others -- including teammates, colleagues and authority figures -- and the social finesse to do so without alienating them
5) A deep commitment to a set of personal values that clarifies choices, guides decision making and makes life meaningful despite inevitable ups and downs
In school, students with these skills may be dismissed or even penalized. Standardized testing isn't set up to recognize or reward them. It is challenging to design assessments of these skills, especially "objective" ones. And busy instructors don't always look kindly on students who ask too many difficult questions. Questions that lead the class off on tangents. Questions the instructor can't answer.
But business and civic leaders know these skills make for success. And they are handsomly rewarded in real life. Students should know that.
This post inspired by a post from Mama Kat, by 20 years in higher education, and by the scholarship applicants whose essays I read last night.
Image credit: BOOKS
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