Let’s Empower Students for Promising Futures by Taking Learning ONE step Further! By Jerry Jones

When I was in elementary school and middle school I can remember asking my teachers, “Why do I need to learn this?” I am sure that my teachers did not enjoy hearing this type of comment coming from me or any other student; but I wasn’t being flippant. While my teachers, in many cases, just wanted us to comply and do our worksheets and our assignments, I really wanted to know “when” and “how” what my teacher was teaching me would come in to play in my life. 

 When I was in college and taking my introduction to education classes, I remember learning about Jean Piaget’s and John Dewey’s theory of Constructivism; “which states that learners construct meaning only through active engagement with the world (such as experiments or real-world problem solving)…Information may be passively received, but understanding cannot be, for it must come from making meaningful connections between prior knowledge, new knowledge, and the processes involved in learning.” (Constructivism as a theory for teaching and learning By Saul McLeod, 2019).

Eureka! I cannot agree more. Students need to be actively engaged in their learning, not merely consumers of knowledge, but producers of knowledge if students are going to effectively construct knowledge. It just makes sense that if we provide our students with opportunities to be actively engaged in the process of learning, we are going help them to understand (and enjoy!) and learn at a significantly deeper level than having students simply memorize facts.

But, having students actively engaged is not enough. In Will Richardson’s TED Talk entitled “The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools” he asks the question, “What conditions need to be present in order for kids to learn in a sticky way?” He gives the following conditions for powerful learning: Safe Environment, Personal Investment, Real-World Application, Fun, Relevance to their lives, Social, Interesting Questions, Positive Environment, Real Audience, Passion, Teachers/Mentors, Autonomy and Agency, Challenging, Not Time Constrained.

It has given me great pleasure to see more and more of these conditions taking place in schools. It is common to hear terms like project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, hands-on learning, immersive learning, phenomena-based learning and other similar iterations that are helping students become more engaged, more passionate, and ultimately helping students learn at deeper levels.

I recently had the opportunity to speak at a conference entitled “Education in the 4th Industrial Revolution” facilitated by Alomaja Adebayo, (YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/D5l6SaAtVKA), and after speaking to these points and showing an iMovie of the students at the school where I am principal engaged in the type of learning that Will Richardson describes, I asked, “But why?” 

While anyone who sees students engaged in this type of learning will quickly see that it is more engaging, more fun and more interesting; but why else is this type of learning so important and so necessary? 

For, me, I went into education to help students achieve their potential and to help students create a future of their choosing: a future that is filled with success, contribution to society and fulfillment. And If we really want to help students be prepared for their futures and successful in school and in life, then we have to, as George Couros writes in his excellent book, Innovator’s Mindset, “pay attention to the skills companies are seeking.”

So what skills are companies seeking? For some time now, we have been seeing a shift in jobs, from the kind that “require routine manual and thinking skills…to jobs that involve higher levels of knowledge and applied skills like expert thinking and complex communicating” (Trilling, Fadel).

In interviews with higher education and HR professionals, US News reports that the following soft skills emerged as essential to employers: Leadership, Teamwork, Communication skills, Conflict resolution, Problem-solving, Flexibility and adaptability, Social and emotional intelligence, and Time management (“How to Find College Courses That Teach Soft Skills, Experts say work ethic alone isn't enough, as employers are looking for candidates with a range of interpersonal skills.” Moody, April 10, 2019 US News & World Report).

Separately, a World Economic Forum report gave reported the following top 10 skills needed by employers in 2025.

Top 10 skills of 2025

1. Analytical thinking and innovation

2. Active learning and learning strategies

3. Complex problem-solving

4. Critical thinking and analysis

5. Creativity, originality and initiative

6. Leadership and social influence

7. Technology use, monitoring and control

8. Technology design and programming

9. Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility

10. Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation

Both lists look much the same: So the answer to why we need to teach in ways that engage, challenge and empower our students is that we need to prepare our students for their futures!

While, it would be easy to stop here (maybe easier would be a more appropriate word, in that nothing about quality teaching is easy), and say, “We are providing students deeper learning opportunities that help give students the skills that they need for their futures and this will suffice.” I believe, however, that we need to take this ONE STEP further. We also need to begin to teach students about careers.  In my opinion, if we help give students the skills that they will need, but we do not teach them about the careers that they can someday apply these skills towards, we are really coming up a step short. 

Ed Hidalgo, Chief Innovation and Engagement Officer in the Cajon Valley Union School District has said that, “the new opportunity agenda must include a strong system of advising and early career exploration so that young people are knowledgeable and empowered to choose pathways that are right for them, rather than having pathways chosen for them.” In Cajon Valley under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. David Miyashiro, the school district “has developed…career development and well being program…that helps every child develop self-awareness and make connections to careers that fit their unique strengths, interests and workplace values.” (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cajon-valley-usd-and-beable-education-form-comprehensive-partnership-to-integrate-the-world-of-work-curriculum-with-beables-life-ready-literacy-system-301152317.html)

Talk about empowering! And, according to recent research that tracked young people over a dozen years, these efforts are likely to pay off. Findings highlight the critical importance of childhood and adolescent interest development for guiding career trajectories and outcomes." (Adolescent Vocational Interests Predict Early Career Success: Two 12-Year Longitudinal Studies,https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348788389_Adolescent_Vocational_Interests_Predict_Early_Career_Success_Two_12-Year_Longitudinal_Studies). 

Just last week, one of the teachers at my school shared how she got to see some of our previous elementary students at a high school graduation celebration. One of the observations that she shared with me was the number of students who were not sure what they wanted to do, what they wanted to major in and what direction they wanted to pursue even though one would assume from this high achieving demographic that this would not be the case. Why? Because in American education, we have a tendency to, wait to give much thought to career exploration. Can you imagine how much time, money and frustration could be saved if we helped students find their talents, interests and possible career direction earlier? What if we started this process in elementary school, like Cajon Valley is doing. As a father of two teenagers, I would be incredibly grateful if career education was explicitly discussed, taught and explored sooner so that they would have a better idea of what to do to pursue their career interests.

 If we, as educators, can continue to foster “sticky” learning so students learn at a deeper level and thereby gain the life and career skills that they will need for their futures, AND we begin teaching students about numerous careers, starting while they are young, can you imagine how motivated, excited, passionate and self-directed our students will become?

To quote World of Work, “Students…will not only know the how and what, but they will understand the why to everything they are learning. With each lesson they have at school, children will see how the lessons involving everyday subjects relate to a new field and why it is important to learn those skills and values.” I am excited for our students as we learn to tie all of these elements together and integrate great teaching and learning with career development. Let’s Empower Students for Promising Futures!