9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn?

I usually tend to think twice when I come across statements like “kids should do this” and “teachers must do that” and “the educational system needs to”. Why would a certain so-and-so believe that they have the ultimate answer and the best solution to these issues, when thousands of bright minds are struggling to solve this puzzle? And why should we do something, just because someone says that we “should”?

For this reason I was a bit suspicious when I first read the title of the article 9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn, written by Leo Babauta in 2012.

However, I decided to read it anyway, to see what “kids should learn” now, in Babauta's opinion. I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised. Babauta’s reflection on his own education in the 1980’s and on his kids’ education in the 2000’s led him to the unsettling conclusion that back then, as well as nowadays, the schools prepared the kids for a future they couldn’t even imagine. Who can tell what the world will look like in 2030 or in 2050? Therefore, with his wife support, he decided to homeschool their children, actually to “unschool” them, as he says, and further explains it as “teaching them to learn on their own, without us handing knowledge down to them and testing them on that knowledge.” He made it his goal to teach his own children the following set of skills (which I thought were very similar to the IB Learner Profile and Attitudes, by the way, but due to the homeschool setting could lack the social factor in some regard):

• Asking questions (IB Profile - Inquirer)
• Solving problems (IB Profile – Thinker)
• Tackling projects (IB Profile– Risk-taker)
• Finding passion (IB Attitude - Enthusiasm)
• Independence (IB Attitude – Independence)
• Being happy on their own (IB Profile – Reflective, Attitude - Confidence)
• Compassion (IB Profile – Caring; Attitude - Empathy)
• Tolerance (IB Profile – Open-minded)
• Dealing with change (IB Profile – Well-balanced, Attitude - Confidence)

There were a few statements in his article that got my attention and triggered my self-reflection. 

• “Not knowing can be a good thing — an opportunity to find out, without relying on established methods that might not be optimal.” I learned to acknowledge my “not-knowingness” in many situations and in many domains, although it has required a strong will and a determined readiness to admit my ignorance and to purposefully ask for help. This has led to many valuable learning experiences, however, and to an increased and continuous enjoyment for learning, which was worth all the initial pain.
• “What drives me is not goals, not discipline, not external motivation, not reward … but passion.”  During my time as a language student in Austria, a couple of professors told us (more or less jestingly) that the best way to learn German is to fall in love with a native German speaker. The passionate desire to communicate and to be with the person one loved had proven to be more efficient than university lectures and experienced professors! But isn’t that the good old way we all function? Our passions drive us! “Wherever your heart is, that's where you will find your treasure.” (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist) Or the reverse of the medal: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Jesus Christ, The Bible)
  
• “Compassion…is one of the most essential skills ever.”  This statement came like a fresh shower on a hot summer day. I wouldn’t have expected it, given the heat of Babauta's initial tone. “We need (compassion) to work well with others, to care for people other than ourselves, to be happy by making others happy.” This was probably the statement that spoke to me the most. It is an idea you don't hear that often in our self-centered, self-reliant society. And since it had such a strong impact on myself, I am not going to insist on it, but I am going to let you meditate, self-reflect and think about how you can reach happiness “by making others happy”.