A wide variety of skills are needed for success in life. A student goes through early childhood education, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, trade school, college, graduate school, post-doctoral programs, certificate programs etc. The main focus is always to equip the student with knowledge and skills necessary to perform competently in their chosen area of endeavor. In our myopic focus, on a narrow skills set, we frequently overlook the real engine that drives success – character. The traditional focus of policymakers on academic achievement as a marker of people’s talents can cause them to miss the importance of non-cognitive skills, also called character skills. There is now growing evidence that these skills which include …show more content…
Alongside basic standards and world class teaching, students should get a good "character" education. The shadow education secretary claimed evidence now showed that building skills such as resilience, curiosity, self-control and grit were more essential than academic achievement when it came to succeeding in life. Researchers and experts agree that the "ancient ideal" of building character has a key role in modern-day education. Resilience, curiosity, discipline, self-control, and grit; whether at school, home or work, the evidence seems to suggest that possessing these skills in abundance is a crucial determinant of life-long success. It is needed more than pure academic …show more content…
The higher education must resist the urge to believe that our only responsibility is to provide the subject specific content and leave the rest up to chance. Research tells us we remember best things we study first and things we study last. It is commonly called primacy and recency effect. So then, it is the responsibility of colleges and universities to be impactful in the arena of character development. Higher educations have the highest calling because we have the last opportunity to make a lasting impression.
Need for teaching character skills:
Educators frequently believe that character development is the role and responsibility of the family. Character strength and virtue are often considered soft-skills and difficult to measure; thus, not deserving of the educators time and energy. Comprehensive student development is the responsibility of every educator. Unfortunately, college is often the place where education becomes the most specialized with little emphasis on character.
College is often the last opportunity for our educational system to make a significant impact on the young people before we set them on to their career path. Thus, it is most critical that colleges equip them with the necessary character qualities that will enable them to not only perform competently but also, direct that competence for the greater