What are parents and schools doing to prepare children for life?

Teaching important life-skills to children is a responsibility that is neglected. Would you say it is the responsibility of parents or the school?

The school believes that it's the responsibility of the parents and the parents believe it is the responsibility of the school.

So who carries the burden? - The child

This leaves a child in a place where they have to take on this responsibility.

If children are taught life-skills early on, failures, detrimental emotional states and other negatively impactful experiences can be avoided.

Do we even know the impacts of social media that our children seem to be addicted to, almost as a dummy to soothe their emotions?

The important life-skills that are suited for today’s modern world include:

• Inventive problem solving

• Communication

• Teamwork

• Networking

• Figuring out complex situations

• Perseverance

• Resourcefulness

• Being able to stand up to failure

• Being bold or appreciated the wonder in nature

• Goal-setting

• Learning how to learn

• Finding passion and purpose in life

• Figuring out how to make the world better

The list can go on…

The problem is that our schools were designed by very farsighted people that anticipated a world that was changing and that was back in the 80’s. During that time Henry Ford was needing a school to promote efficiency and routine, to fit with the ‘assembly-line’ requirements of manufacturing. The system has not changed much in decades and what worked then, does not work now. There was a report in 1983 about education ‘Nation at Risk’ and that report had a telling sentence ‘ If the education system had been imposed on us by a foreign country we would declare it an act of war’. Just as a committee changed the education system to fit in with the manufacturing and assembly line needs, it needs to change now to fit in with the current needs of society.

The world is different now, technology is taking over many aspects of our lives. We need a system that encourages creativity, innovation and boldness.

What we need to do now, especially furthermore after the global pandemic, is to use that as a wake-up call to teach our children essential life-skills.

Parents are tossing the responsibility to schools and schools have a standardised system not equipped to handle the modern demands of society.

As parents, as educators and as global citizens, we need to find a way to teach our children life-skills.

Kea Academy in the UK has chosen to teach life-skills over the course of the summer period in the form of a ‘summer camp’. They are looking to measure the benefits that students aged 11-17 can have by just attending a summer camp for two-weeks. The academy aims to bring a modernised approach to teaching life-skills through project based learning, theory and practical application of making a difference in the world.

For more information on Kea Academy, please visit www.kea.academy For schools regarding partnerships: please contact info@kea.academy