Let’s be frank— today’s education system is fucked.
A lot of people may have a crisp diploma in their hands, but the world after school is a completely different animal. Studies have shown that although 70% of college students believe they have the skills necessary to thrive in the real world, only a third of employers agree with them.
The truth is, the education mechanism we have now is nearly outdated, and it isn’t as impactful as it used to be. But how did it come to this? What skills are you missing out on? Perhaps, diplomas have now become less valuable because some professional skills aren’t getting taught in college.
In this article, we are going to dive a little deeper into the crucial skills that schools don’t teach you. Let’s get the ball rolling!
1. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Learn
The education system has only spoon-fed learners’ knowledge and information without teaching them how to learn first. This is one of the primary reasons why the education system is flawed.
Everyone is getting taught the same knowledge because materials are decided by whoever decides the curriculum. Hence, many people struggle to learn new skills aside from the ones they have learned after school.
Education stops when people leave college, and since the curriculum seldom gets updated to reflect current times, there is a tendency to get stuck in a curriculum that does not work.
2. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Manage Resources
Effectively managing resources drives project value, which leads to more projects delivered on time, keeping customers and clients happy. You have an overabundance of resources at your disposal, from your energy and time to your money and connections.
From your energy to your money and connections, you have a surfeit of resources at your disposal. The more satisfactory you are at managing these resources, the better the chances you have of turning your ideal life into reality.
3. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Put Things Into Practice
There are a lot of clever book smarties out there, but only a few of them succeeded in putting anything into practice in real life. If you just completed college, your experience or practice is technically zilch.
Even if you present yourself in front of the interviewers as someone who has gone through four years of hardships in college, there’s a big chance that they’ll only decline your application if they see that you have nothing to offer when it comes to experience.
Formal education doesn’t really prepare us to do things in the real world. And even when it does— it’s only on the surface level. You would have to riddle things out by yourself.
4. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Wing It
We are all guilty of procrastination. School is pushing us to wing it despite the deadline being in three hours, and you haven’t accomplished anything just yet. Winging it means being confident enough in your skills and in achieving a satisfactory outcome without precisely comprehending what you are doing.
When you procrastinate, what you are doing is like jumping off a clip and knowing how a parachute operates on your way down. Figuring out a lot of things and winging them is a crucial skill that is necessary for almost every project.
5. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Trust The Process
Perhaps, you have already heard this quote, “If it takes longer than you want, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.” This perfectly explains why we need to trust the process. Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. You will always find yourself stuck in difficult situations, and you need to endure those times.
There is no forthright line toward success. Hence, when you are on a short descending trajectory, it is necessary for you to zoom out and examine the whole situation in a wide-angle style. As long as you regularly add plus one to do whatever you have set your eyes on, the process will take care of itself.
6. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Collaborate
Attaining effective collaboration in an organization is never easy. In fact, about 86% of employees believe that a lack of collaboration in a workplace can lead to failures in the workplace.
Let’s face it. There was never a case where everyone had equal input. Most of the time, there was always someone doing 80% of the work while the rest were simply piggybacking off them. Or, if not for piggybacking, the world thrives on people collaborating to make something greater than themselves.
Our whole survival as a human is based on people assembling in tribes and cooperating with each other for safety and food. Hence, it doesn’t make sense why schools promote competition rather than competition.
7. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Quit
Quitters often get branded as losers in school. And so, many students force themselves to waste years of their life just to finish what they have started — even if they no longer really delight in it.
Just for your record, keep in mind that you are not obligated to finish everything that you have started. If you begin reading a book and find it uninteresting halfway, you can toss it aside if you want to. If you start a project and realize that you are not yet competent enough to finish it, then drop it.
The popular adage that “winners never quit” isn’t always true in every situation. In fact, a lot of winners often quit finding that one thing they can win.
8. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Find Alternative Solutions
There are numerous ways to say the same thing, and there are numerous routes to getting the same outcome. Unfortunately, schools only teach that there is only one correct answer, and it is strictly how the teacher says it.
When learners just eat up knowledge without thinking for themselves, there will be no chance for them to develop critical thinking. It drives people into a habit of waiting for someone to tell them what the right answer is instead of working hard to figure things out by themselves.
9. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Deal with Mental/Psychological Problems
Mental health greatly impacts many areas of life, including relationships with other people. Schools must understand that teaching mental or psychological problems is essential as it leads to better outcomes for the physical and mental health of adolescents and children.
In the U.S., about 25% of the students are taking some sort of prescription drug. Perhaps, this may be because there is no one teaching youngsters how to deal with stress, anxiety, and any other problems that affect behavior and mood.
These mental problems are often treated as normal, but not because these issues are common does not mean that they have no concerns at all. Such conditions can be controlled if healthy coping mechanisms are taught in school.
10. School Doesn’t Teach You How to Stand Your Ground
School environments are based on compliance and power — you have to sit where you are told to sit and do what you’re asked to do. You have little to no power in anything, so it’s hard to stand your ground. Unfortunately, this translates to waiting for other people to tell you what to do.
