Ready Your Kids for Change

88jm19
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 20:06:10 +0000

It does not matter what you do in college. What matters is who you become in college.

Perhaps I’m missing the point, but I feel what you do greatly affects who you become.

We have stressed with our children to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. Doing “things” in college not only pads your resume, it helps you to acquire/build skills and learn more about yourself. As you participate in “things” you meet more people…which exposes you to different viewpoints and possibilities.

…nothing - will guarantee a bright and secure future for our children. Those days are gone, if they ever really existed at all.

I’m in the camp that there have never been any guarantees. I believe in maximizing opportunities, while staying true to your values.

Those who learn to learn and keep learning throughout adulthood will be just fine.

This is the most valuable skill they can acquire in college.

I agree with this point, but in my opinion “learning to learn” can and should be “acquired” during the high school years. In college and beyond one can work on improving that skill set and applying it to more challenging material.

Two things come to my mind when I think about “learning to learn”…

The first has to do with the peer tutoring. In elementary school I think it was a useful tool when used in moderation. Then in high school, peer tutoring was a good way to get service hours while reinforcing knowledge obtained in previous classes…not a bad thing. (I always said that I became a better student once I began ‘learning how to teach’.)

The second situation involves my daughter. She had a questionable teacher for freshman year honors geometry. Instead of trying to get her switched from the class, we (my daughter and I) sat down with the book every day and for about the first month…reading every page, discussing and working through the proofs and homework problems. It was time consuming and took a lot of effort, but she soon said she didn’t need me anymore. She cruised through the course and her subsequent math classes.

The teacher, who didn’t teach, actually helped my daughter to teach herself. Sometimes it pays off to not rush in and rescue your child from a difficult situation. It really helped her confidence.