Today’s Schooling, is it Good Enough?

Throughout Tony Wagner’s article, “Rigor Redefined,” Wagner grasps our learning and describes the “seven survival skills,” that he believes are the keys to becoming successful in the real world. Within his article, Wagner worries about today’s schooling techniques and wonders if the techniques being taught to the students are good enough to help us become successful in the real world.

When I was reading Wagner’s article, “Rigor Redefined,” the question, “Are we going to be well prepared for the future,” came to my mind. I believe that right now, schools and teachers are teaching us everything we need to know about the world and how become successful in the future. They’re teaching us how to read, write, and communicate, but I think that the schools need to teach us a couple other things as well. To become successful, we do need to know how to read, write, and communicate, but we also need to learn to think for ourselves and know how to analyze information that is given to us. Schools need to teach us critical thinking, problem solving and oral communication techniques that will benefit us in the future. I personally think that all schools should teach the fundamentals of Math, English, Science, and History, but also put some time and devotion into what Wagner calls the, “Seven survival skills.” For example, our English class is teaching us how to think for ourselves and how to comprehend information that’s being taught to us. Within our English class we do lots of activities that help us learn to use the “Seven survival skills.” The skills that are taught to us in English class also help us in all of our other classes as well. This is why I think all schools around the world need to teach the skills that our English teachers are teaching us at Arapahoe High School.

Everyday around the world, children go to school to learn how to become successful in the future. However, the schools aren’t doing their jobs if all they’re doing is teaching the children how to read and write. Schools need to teach the “Seven survival skills,” if they want their children to become great students in high school and eventually collage. I know that I’m going to need to graduate from collage in order to become the person I want to be in the future, and the only way to ensure that I’m ready for collage is to be taught the “Seven survival skills,” and how to use them to my advantage. In order for us to do very well in school, we all need to be taught more than just how to read and write. We need to be taught the “Seven survival skills,” which are the keys to becoming successful in the real world.