Today, we find most parents wanting their children to excel in academics. Competition is so intense that every endeavour is made to provide all facilities so that children excel in academics. Extra tuition and learning apps are provided by parents, so that their children can excel in academics. It is good that your children excel in academics. But in reality, experts have clearly said that just being good in academics does not prepare your children for the future. In this post, we talk about why Life Skills Are More Important Than Academic Excellence.
Many child experts currently disagree with the high stress given to academics in schools. Ideally, schools should be the place wherein children are enabled and guided to face their life. Moreover, there is also a constant mismatch in what students are taught in the classroom and what is the actual reality outside.
Research and studies have clearly indicated that students who graduate from universities are not ready to join the workforce. In short, it means that companies feel that these graduates lack some basic and key things like teamwork, good communication skills, ability to work and deliver under pressure and they need constant supervision to complete any task etc. Further, it would be interesting to note that most of these students have excellent academic grades. So how is it possible that someone who has excelled in academics is not equipped to handle real work life situations.
Educational experts and child psychologist agree that we need to make our educational system more interactive and appropriate for our children. It should help them to be confident, responsible, intelligent and better human beings.
Life Skills Are More Important Than Academic Excellence
Let us discuss some of the important points on why life skills are more important than academic success.
1.Teach your child to look beyond academics.
In today’s competitive world everyone is interested in scoring good marks and getting into a good college or university. We all want our children to get the best in life and academic success is the starting point in getting these dreams realized. There is nothing wrong with excelling in academics, but ensure that you don’t get caught in the rat race. Teach your child to look beyond academics. Teach them skills that will help them in their day to day life and become to be responsible adults for e.g teach them to resolve conflicts, make wise decisions, communicate effectively, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, respecting others even when you disagree etc. Most of these skills are used in our day to day lives and so we need to appropriately teach our children to develop these life skills.
2.Develop their inherent capability and creativity.
We see so much of technological advancement and automation today, that children need more than just academics skills to succeed. Many difficult jobs are already being effectively done by technology. Now we need skills like good communication, interpersonal skills, self-confidence, self-esteem, resilience etc.
In the pursuit of scoring excellent marks, many children are not able to pursue things that they like. For e.g. art, creativity, music, dance etc. It is important to encourage children to pursue things which they like and sure enough, they are bound to excel in them. Every society needs an architect, teacher, engineer, doctor, artist, painter, musician etc….. so encourage your child to pursue the area they love.
[content-egg module=Amazon template=grid]3. Do not let your child get adapted to a particular way of learning.
As children, they need to explore and learn. Today, most children know how the education system works. They do rote learning for exams and are hardly engaged in the learning process. Hardly we find children excited about new learning’s or things that they have discovered.
As a human being we have a curious nature and so it important to be curious and learn new things. Encourage your children to explore things rather than just getting top marks in exams.
4. Teach your children decision-making skills.
Children always look at their immediate needs and goals. Talk to them about their future, ask them to make a list of all their big decisions for next 10 years of their life. Talk to your teenagers about universities, career, values, character building and other things.
Sit with them and discuss the different career prospects. I am sure they will have a lot of questions with regards to their career. Give them your advice by telling them the options and pros and cons of a particular decision. Help them to make wise and good decisions by listing the pros and cons of each option. It will broaden their horizon and they will be able to see things in different perspective.
5.Teach them life skills.
Life skills is basically the ability to deal effectively with the situations and challenges of life. Life skills like empathy, self-control, critical thinking, good decision making etc., can help children lead a positive and healthy life.
Encourage your child to write a diary or journal to record their thoughts and feelings. Talk to them about real life situations and ask them what their decision would be in such a case. Empathize and stress on values and character building. Remember those who are strongly anchored on good values are happy and will become successful people in future.
In conclusion, I would just like to state that life is much more than just looking at academic excellence. Yes, encourage your child to perform well in academics but also try to develop them into good responsible adults. In this way, you will ensure that your children are ready to face life challenges and situations effectively.
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