life skills for success in the 21st century

The importance of acquiring new life skills that are relevant in today’s context

Life Skills - for success in the 21st century

An overview

www.TimelessLifeskills.co.uk

http://www.TimelessLifeskills.co.uk


Dragon Slayer Curriculum

Once upon a time there was a kingdom that was over run by dragons




Dragon Slayers Curriculum

The people were terrorized by the dragons

They decided to create a new course in their finest University

A Masters course on the ‘Art of Dragon Slaying’





Experts from all the faculties were invited to create the curriculum for the new course,

Business faculty drew the syllabus on how to finance dragon slaying and to create business plans

Engineering faculty made sure that students would know how to build bridges and launch missiles

Humanities faculty emphasized the importance of learning ‘Dragonsay’ and ‘art of negotiation’





Two years later the first batch of students graduated and set-off to slay the dragons

Three of the students failed to get funding and went into other professions

One team of four could not find any dragons and they formed a company to train dragon slayers

The last two had no idea how to engage in a battle. They negotiated a truce and now manage the public relations for the dragon!





This story is an abridged version of Dr. Roger Schank’s article “Every Curriculum Tells a Story” http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0395.html

Dr Schank notes, “What went wrong in the dragon slaying curriculum is that there was no actual dragon slaying in it”

A curriculum should encourage learners to play ‘future’ roles they hope to play in life, based on their goals and aspirations




Saber-Tooth Curriculum

In similar vein, in the book ‘Saber-Tooth Curriculum’ author J. Abner Peddiwell, with tongue firmly in cheek, says

The first educationist, in the primitive age, was ‘New-Fist’, inventor of the first fist hammer

That time men caught fish with bare hands, clubbed the lazy woolly horses for meat and drove away saber-tooth tigers with fire





New Fist, who was a thinker, perfected these arts and thought of ways to teach these skills to children

Thus started the first school, with Saber-Tooth Curriculum

Conservative members of the tribe resisted these newfangled ideas about formal education

They said ‘Great Mystery’ who speaks in thunder and lightening never wanted children to be formally taught

However, since these skills were very useful and brought in more food, New Fist’s school prevailed





Time passed and conditions changed

A great glacier crept closer to the tribe’s valley

The once crystal clear streams became muddy and it became impossible to catch fish with bare hands

The ground became marshy and the lazy woolly horses went east to dry plains; instead came nimble antelopes

The saber-tooth tigers became extinct; to be replaced by ferocious glacial bears





Putting meat on the table became extremely difficult

However, a free thinker of New Fist breed figured that vines could be knit together to form nets and fish could be caught even in murky waters

Another discovered that the vine could be used to form a noose to catch the elusive antelopes

Yet another found that digging a deep pit in a bear trail and covering it with leaves and branches was an efficient way to trap the bears





These men proposed that the Saber Tooth curriculum be replaced with a new curriculum - fish-net making, antelope-snare construction and bear catching techniques

The sober majority were horrified. “What have these practical activities got to do with schools?” they said

The radicals persisted, “These activities require intelligence and skill - things we claim to develop in schools”

The wise old men were indignant. “Oh you free thinkers! If only you had some education yourself” they lamented...




Welcome to the 21st Century

Have the conditions changed in the 21st century?

Is the context different?

Do we need new skills to survive and thrive?




Why the need for different life skills?

21st century world is different

World is no longer complicated; it is now COMPLEX!

Jigsaw is complicated - difficult to solve but has a unique solution; Chess is complex - there is no unique solution

From global warming to career choices - the issues today have become complex





Rate of change is faster than ever before

Information is available in abundance

Memorization is neither possible nor required - technology allows easy storage and access

Deriving meaning and insights from information is what is key





Motivational drives may also be changing,

from ‘Learning to Earn’ (e.g. do an MBA if you want a good job)

to ‘Yearning to Learn’ and then also earn (by doing what you are passionate about and good at)





Success hinges on acquiring new life skills that are relevant in today’s context. Be it,

Financial Success

Social Success

Self-success

Positive self-image, high self-esteem

‘Beyond material’ success





In today’s complex, connected, information abundant, fast changing world what skills will make us really shine?

I have examined these skills in my presentation titled “What are key lifeskills?”





About the Author

Co-founder, www.TimelessLifeskills.co.uk

Co-founder, www.EnablingDimensions.com

Blog: http://atulpant.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading.

I welcome your comments.

- Atul





http://www.EnablingDimensions.com

http://www.EnablingDimensions.com

http://atulpant.blogspot.com

http://atulpant.blogspot.com

life skills for success in the 21st century

Documents

saber tooth curriculum

dragon slaying curriculum

new skills

sabertooth tigers

sabertooth curriculumtime

new curriculum fish

sabertooth curriculumnew

art of dragon slaying