Another school year is fresh in its term. By the end of it, thousands of fresh high school graduates would hit the streets, some to pursue higher education, while others content to eke out a living. In just about all cases, parents and potential employers find the end-products after twelve long years of institutionalized study wanting. So what are the skills most parents would want their children to acquire after the long years at school; skills that would enable them to take care of themselves without further coddling? Training for some of those skills should start during the early school years, while others can be acquired closer to graduation. Let's then look at the shopping list: Language skills: Besides Arabic, most parents would like their children to have fluency in one or two other languages. Although English is today the preferred option with most parents, other languages can be encouraged as well. Mastering a foreign language opens new worlds. Time management: Defined as “the process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity,” it is a factor that is sorely lacking in our society. Schools must make serious efforts to implant such skills in the minds of their students, the absence of which could lead to some unproductive citizens. Cognitive and critical thinking skills: These are virtually absent throughout the school years as our students are not encouraged to think and speak out their views. The curriculum by and large favors the rote method of learning with one-way communication between teacher and pupil. Graduates without such skills are often unable to demonstrate basic common sense. Appreciation of the arts: Be it drama or painting or music, such skill encourages the brain to expand in its appreciation of the beauty around us and widen narrow perspectives often observed in people without an inkling of the arts. Budgetary training and fiscal responsibility: Money does not grow on trees, right? Try telling that to our school children. They need a reality check with some instructional training and workshops on money management. Information technology: Although many of today's school children know how to use a PC to chat or watch video clips, very few are adept at using programs such as word processors, spreadsheets, search engines and various other analytical programs. The skills acquired would go a long way in their professional lives. Driver's education/training: This could be started during the last two years of high school to acquaint future motorists with laws and proper ways of driving. Heaven knows we need it. Besides classroom training, there could also be driving tracks or courses for preparing the kids to actual road training. This training must be made mandatory for all graduating students. Auto shop: Along the same vein, students must be required to attend auto workshops to learn basic vehicle maintenance such as changing tires and oil, and battery replacement, among others. Such knowledge would encourage some of them to value their future vehicles. Home maintenance: Workshops at schools can be designed to help students with simple skills in household maintenance such as fixing a leaking pipe, replacing a burnt lamp or socket, or painting a room. Self-sufficiency in such skills will place a lot of charlatans out of work. General knowledge: Woefully inadequate as most educators would attest. Children who can show adequate general knowledge about the world around them grow to become confident adults. They can easily connect and answer questions on most topics. So why not hold intra-school competitions on general knowledge and get their minds working and buzzing? CPR and first aid: Insignificant as it may appear, such skills have been known to save lives. And rather stuff some unproductive courses down the minds of unwilling students, why not teach them practical methods on how to help during emergencies and lend a skillful hand. Inter-personal skills: Since our curriculum in the past depended primarily on the rote method, it stifled critical thinking and along with it inter-personal skills. These social skills are the life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with other people, individually or in groups. Such ability could be fostered through debates, workshops and task oriented projects. People who possess strong inter-personal skills have been known to be successful in both their professional and personal life. Physical education: This is a required subject in most curriculums of the developed world. Its primary intent is to explore, encourage and develop budding athletic talents and yet it is denied to most of our female students. Even our men are left to kick an odd ball around without any structured athletics program. Where will our future Olympians come from? Discipline: Although discipline begins at home, it must also be reinforced at school. I have been disappointed with the lack of it in a few schools I had visited, especially in some of the primary schools in which such traits get imprinted in the personality of the young. Parents and educators must together promote an atmosphere of discipline, as society needs structures to function. There may be other skills I have not covered, but for the most part if you give me a graduate with the skills I had outlined I would be grateful. Remember, most parents spend a good fortune in the institution they call their children's school. They want the best, and for their children to be the best. Today, in all honesty, are they getting what they have paid for?
