What Teachers Fail To Teach Us

Here’s What Many Teachers Often Fail To Teach Us:

They fail to teach us to be leaders.

They fail to teach us to be creative.

They fail to teach us to be critical thinkers.

They fail to teach us important life skills and coping skills.

They fail to teach us to be financially literate.

They fail to teach us money management.

They fail to teach us tolerance.

They fail to teach us to be loving and kind.

They fail to teach us interpersonal communications and negotiation skills.

They fail to teach us to be compassionate and empathetic.

They fail to teach us life skills.

They fail to teach us entrepreneurship.

They fail to teach us personal finance.

They fail to teach us civic affairs.

They fail to teach us etiquette and manners.

They fail to teach us character development.

They fail to teach us job hunting and career management.

They fail to teach us time management.

They fail to teach us team building and conflict resolution.

They fail to teach us about technology and technological skills.

In other words, America needs an educational system that inspires, excites and stimulates students more and gives them more of the pragmatic knowledge and practical and creative skills they need to compete in an increasingly competitive global environment and complex society. This need for is not due to the fault of any individual, teacher or school. It is simply due to the simple fact that America and the world has changed - and our educational system has not changed fast enough to keep pace with it. Teachers have had their hands tied by Draconian laws set out by uninformed policy makers whose current political agendas for the most part do not favor teaching any of these important values. Things like art, social studies, science, and physical education have suffered greatly so reading, writing and math test scores can be high enough for teachers to keep their jobs in today’s system.

Too many teachers are sticking to traditional rhetoric and resisting more fully incorporating technology. The knowledge and the methods used by academia are sometimes far behind social and cultural advancements rather than leading them. Teachers today can use online classes and test-taking, podcasts, YouTube videos, and social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to facilitate discussions and increase students' interest in topics. In addition, they can make use of distance learning modules, as a form of online teaching. By becoming educated in various technology, students can be exposed to a more multimodal universal world and teachers can foster a more well-rounded global learning environment.

Soft skills have also lost out due to the current focus on other subjects. Preparing students for becoming productive citizens in a democratic civilized society has been almost abandoned by our nation in exchange for preparing students for standardized tests that are then inappropriately used to label (and often mislabel) students and evaluate (and often undervalue) teachers. 

Our educational system instead should be one that provides them with the theoretical and pragmatic learning they need - and deserve - to fulfill their maximum potentials. Its curriculum should feature practical and vocational learning alongside theoretical studies. While providing our students with a strong common core foundation of essential skills and knowledge, the educational system must allow young persons to develop their own unique particular talents and aspirations. We must help them to discover what they enjoy and are good at as well as who they want to be in life---plus provide them with the professional and personal skills required for future career and life success.  

P.S. Anything else that YOU would add?

Note: If you are already teaching your students these things, that is wonderful! If not, please consider finding creative ways of integrating them into your instruction!

The author, Dr. John B. Charnay, CEO of Charnay and Associates in Greater Los Angeles, has extensive experience teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels at leading universities throughout the greater Los Angeles area, including USC, UCLA, CSUN, FIDM, Woodbury and Pepperdine. He is a leading leadership coach and career coach. Additionally, he is a top fundraising advisor and an award-winning public relations professional who has been a strategic PR and philanthropy advisor to many famous celebrities and Fortune 1000 CEOs. To meet him and ask for his support, invite him to be LinkedIn (email in profile) and contact him today!