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Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills
3

Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

(OP)
Hi everyone,

I would like to ask some questions & start a discussion related to education, which is of course fundamental in self improvement and getting ahead. I don't expect the answers to be definitive, I'm just interested in hearing different opinions.

1. What do you feel are the most important skills and knowledge that a person should have in order to achieve success in the modern world ?

I think the ability to read, write, and speak well, along with good math and social skills, form a solid foundation to build on. Once the core foundation is formed, it seems a person could learn whatever they want if they apply themselves.

I am interested in hearing some opinions on what skills and knowledge (beyond a solid foundation as mentioned above) is most useful & valuable in the modern world.

Ideally, beyond  having a solid foundation, a person could simply learn what they find interesting and fulfilling, but as a practical matter, people generally do not get to do *exactly* what they want with their lives. Even if a person does have a completely satisfying career and life, it is always nice to have useful / valuable skills and knowledge to fall back on in case you decide you want to do something else, or in case something unexpected happens.

2. What (if anything) do you feel  should be taught in public high schools and colleges that is not currently being taught ?   

I feel that critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving should be a bigger part of the public school system. Students are generally taught to memorize facts and figures & take tests. The student may score well on a test, but 6 months to a year down the road, they often forget much of what they *learned*.

The goal is to really learn the information for the long term, so I think that not only study skills, but learning & thinking skills & techniques should be a larger part of the public school systems.

I feel that more time should be spent on teaching students what careers are available (the occupational outlook handbook is excellent). Students need to know what choices are available to them in order to make the best career decisions. Especially during the last two years of high school, I feel an actual full year class should be required that allows students to explore all of their career choices and provides counseling to help them decide what they want to initially try to do as far as a career is concerned.

I also think a course on social skills, ethics, and the value of having respect for other members of society should be required as these are all very important aspects of life & getting ahead. I know this is basically common sense & people generally should learn these things from family and friends, but I think they are important and seem to be somewhat lacking today, so perhaps it should be addressed to some degree by the school system.

I would appreciate any thoughts, opinions, or feedback you may have regarding my two questions and comments above.

Thanks
John

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

1.  The most important is skill is the ability to recognize what the actual problem is, be it technical or political.  The other skills are necessary, but not sufficient.  You can be a great talker, but if you have nothing to talk about...

2.  The things that schools no longer teach are how to identify the problem and how to decompose it into sufficiently small and solvable chunks, and how to apply multidisciplinary solutions to problems.   

TTFN

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RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

I agree with IRstuff.
Basic computer skills and file management are a huge plus.

In schools, I think they need to focus more on 3D for computer technologies. Hands on classes in high schools like woodworking, automotive, metal, etc, to help build cognitive skills that the young today have lost.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Most employers are dumb founded nowadays, they are blinded by youth and whetever it represents, communication skils, team player (understand slave mentality), etc..
 
Reading the want adds, they all look for the same candidate resembling ... Mr. Bond.

James Bond.




 

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

2
My MechEngTechnology Department Head friend would invite me to give a presentation on "what do Mechanical Engineers do?" to his incoming Freshmen Engineering Students.  I would summarize at the end of the presentation:

(1) If you're tough enough to survive it, then an engineering curriculum will train you how to be a trained problem solver

(2) the world will always need good problem solvers that can solve a wide variety of problems

(3) engineering as a career will provide you a rewarding & better-than-average lifestyle, but likely won't make you rich

(4) skills needed and used by engineers
    (a) Mech design
    (b) Elect design
    (c) Accounting & Finance
    (d) Public Speaking
    (e) Writing & Documentation
    (f) Sales & Marketing
    (g) Diplomacy

I told them they need (a) & (b) "analytical & problem solving skills" for success in Daily Work, but they really needed (c) through (g) "soft skills" for successful Career Growth.

All the students hated that.  surprise sad sadeyes surprise surprise mad shadessad sad sadeyes sadeyes surprise sadeyes mad surprise surprise surprise sadeyes sad mad sadeyes surprise sadeyes surprise

Now, I would probably add "foreign languages & culture" to the list.

The reality is that there is not enough time to teach the soft skills in an engineering curriculum.  Sometimes new employees are lucky enough to get a Mentor that can guide them along the way and acquire the soft skills.  But is very rare.

The best example I have of integrating soft skills was a Thermodynamics Lab class that was run like a Toastmasters Club.  Each week we all had speaking and presentation tasks as part of the lab.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

One underrated skill is the ability to read, write, and think in paragraphs.  Looks like you have that.

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

I'm not convinced that college makes you a "trained problem solver."  If you do well, you're trained at solving college problems, which, don't get me wrong, gets you a LONG way down the road.

Nonetheless, I've work exclusively with college-trained engineers and scientists, and not all of them are able solve the problems presented to them.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

people generally do not get to do *exactly* what they want with their lives.

Why not?  This statement seems to limit or create an excuse for settling for something less than what could be or could have been.  Perhaps a better way to think about this would be to say that "people do not get to have others do exactly what they want."
 

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

(OP)
Thanks for the replies guys, you have all made some good points.  

In response to Zapster...

Of course you can control your own actions, and you cannot control anyone else.

Nobody I know gets everything they want or has the perfect life no matter how hard they work or how positive their attitude is. That's not an excuse, that's just life.

I did not mean to imply that you should not try to live up to your full potential and work hard, but the reality is, everyone has to compromise.   

John

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Paraphrasing Pasteur, ( or was it the bad guy in "Under Siege 2"? )

"Fortune favors the prepared mind"

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills



I agree with most of John's views, but I'd like to add that developing abstract thinking, idealization, representation, and formalization is the key for being valid as a problem solver.

Then you'll need the language skills to understand theory and to communicate your solutions/understand the problem.

Everything else, like computer knowledge or language knowledge or whatever is just about getting those skills to good use.


 

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

A suggestion for an advert to replace one of our best who left several years ago:

"Wanted: Mild-mannered genius."

- Steve

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

In response to Zapster, I don't think people necessarily settle for anything less than what they want.  I think people don't get to do what they want because they simply don't know how to get there.

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Quote:

Paraphrasing Pasteur, ( or was it the bad guy in "Under Siege 2"? )

"Fortune favors the prepared mind"

Actually, it was Chance favors the prepared mind.

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

I once worked for a business owner who never learned to write (printing or cursive). He could read fine and could type fine but never learned how to write using a pen or pencil.

The company he owns is now worth millions of dollars and he manages 25 - 30 people in this business.

It's amazing to look around and see what skills you might be able to live without if you're lucky.

(I don't recommend this strategy because I also know a lot of other people who probably can't read or write, and they're homeless today.)

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills


Oh my gosh, a boss unable to write!

That sounded like the ultimate manager! I had a boss once that tried hard to forget writing, but he wasn't good enough at management and had to keep writing (unluckily for us)

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

1.  Communication is paramount to a successful career in any field.  Along this line is also networking skills.  These two skills will help you manage up and out.  Also, negotiation skills, something I am lacking, not only for contract terms but conflict management and general "getting you way".  Identifying the true problem is a good response to the question but I would expand on the matter and say having an open mind.

2. Public school needs to teach real life skills as well as better problem solving and people management skills.

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

The responses related to being well rounded in a raft of skills reminds me of what the architects do; they generally get a BA degree before entering architectural studies.

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

The most valuable skill that anyone can have is the ability to learn on your own from a book.  If you have this skill you can learn any other.  I was homeschooled from birth through high school.  Very early on, my mother concentrated on teaching me how to learn things by reading.  This is different from just reading or even reading comprehension.  As a result, I was able to go through calculus and physics on my own during my senior year - subjects that she never touched on in her education.   

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Good table manners are extremely important.  I am involved in a mentoring program at a local community college, and I think it is fantastic that the participating students take a seminar on the subject.  

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Being able to self educate like handleman says is valuable.  I get sick of being told people don't do stuff correctly because they don't know how/no one taught them when it's all written down in a procedure or standard etc that they've been told to look at.

KENAT,

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RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Good table manners?  Really?  I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement.  I don't think they're important at all.

I'm not sure if that was serious or not.

I think one of the most important characteristics is competitiveness.  It doesn't have to mean competitiveness with co-workers, but it can.  I've noticed that the culture of the engineering firm is one where on its surface, it appears that people are arguing a lot – at least the 'good' respected senior engineers seem to be.  I think that this is healthy because people are being competitive about understanding and solving problems effectively and efficiently, which is the name of the game.

At the same time, it is very important to have the soft skills to be able to mentor and encourage others to get better.  I've encountered engineers before where these ideas are very foreign to them.
 

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

In regards to education in general. I think that high schools should better prepare the student for the variety of majors in university. Although there were some good aspects of high school, for example in my high school we built a practical car similar to that of the FSAE student cars built by many universities. However, the manner in which most of the academic subjects were taught was not sufficient.

just a thought,

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

Coppola,
I agree and disagree, it starts much sooner than high school, it starts in elementary school, I'd say even before that, in Kindergarden.

When my kids were 4 years old and then pre-schoolers, I noticed that they were being taught time and money, this darn obsession with money in America.

The problem is that the kids did not know how to count to 25, and they were being taught to add nickels and dimes. The kids were taught how to tell time before they could count to 60.
No sir, you learn how to count to 60, know that one minute has 60 seconds, the hour 60 minutes and so on, before you can tell time.

I had to step in to correct the situation, the schooling was way off.

The point is: teaching things in a chronological order, THAT's the base for analytical skills development.
 

RE: Questions regarding education & zeroing in on the most valuable skills

cry22-
Yes I do see you point. I remember when I was in elementary school we only started learning basic math skills like adding and subtracting in grade 1. Even though it was in a very primitive manner, nothing chronological at all.
Now that I am a graduate student I have more of an open mind to social impacts on education.

cheers,

 

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