- Roshan Jariwala
- Sydney Australia
- Australia
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What skills should future graduates possess ?
Revolutionizing higher education system, changing the paradigm, graduate skills gap, no doubt uber minds of this world are in Financial sector and responsible for GFC - moralizing, multiculturalism, technology, sustainability, et cetera, these are some of the hot topics. So how about we ask the same question that was asked in 19th Century during which the schooling system was build: What skills should future graduates posses as a responsible citizen and also as a drivers of the economy ? Answering this question might help us design the next generation of education system, what do you think ?
Topics:
education
Lynn Lee
Deborah Zotian
I've asked questions in my workplace on technology I'm not familiar with or don't completely understand. Sometimes the answers I get are - "Go look it up - the info is out there.' (I found information, but need clarification or an explanation on how it fits into the current situation.) "That's something you should know already" (If I knew the answer, I wouldn't be asking you) or "You know how to do that." (No, I don't, that is why I'm asking.)
Given these type of answers to what someone may consider a 'stupid/dumb' question will sometimes stop the person trying to gain the knowledge from asking more questions.
When someone tells me they are going to ask me a stupid question, I give them the response my father always did - the only stupid question is the one not asked.
Rafi Amin 20+
gale kooser 20+
When a person has common sense they have the ability to see a problem from many angles, ask informed questions & enlist the aid of others for more informed perspectives.
Too many people today have little or no common sense & it shows.
How you would teach this skill to college students is the million dollar question.
Trenton Willman
Tony Kuphaldt 10+
rafael tal
A cocktail of tastes, colors, smells, textures and sounds.
Learning is curiosity, excitement, doing, researching, investigating, erring, dreaming, a sparkle in the eyes, a struggle, motivation, potency, vision, feelings of failure, "Eureka".
rafael tal
The objectives of education can be expressed as how we would like to see the future adult in the 21st Century. What skills and qualities should he ideally convey with him into a variety of life-fields: at work, in the family, the community, society, his personal development and in his relationship with himself? What qualities would we expect to find in a graduate of the "Educational -Hive."?
a. A person who strives for excellence.
b. An adult in whom human values are securely rooted: moral/ethical values, empathy for others, honesty, general social awareness.
c. An entrepreneur, a member of a work-team, one who sees the "greater picture", one capable of working with teams from anywhere in the world, (beyond borders, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-conceptual).
d. A person with a wide variety of interests, able to gather and process information from different fields in order to create new information and, concurrently, able to delve deeply into matters…. (" T-shaped person" – Daniel Pink.)
e. A graduate equipped with the ability to make reasonable decisions at significant turning-points, both from a personal angle and regarding any future role he may undertake. Showing capability of handling stressful or uncertain situations, a person who does not recoil before difficulties – whatever they might be – who regards every obstacle as a challenge and a fresh opportunity.
f. A person with wide theoretical and practical experience in his own interest-fields and those related to them.
g. A person who throughout life continues to deal and delve into his professionalism and interest-fields.
h. An individual capable of analyzing and delving into the three familiar domains: Natural Science, Social Science and the Humanities
Varlan Allan 10+
James Turner 10+
Compassion. I think if we teach these things as well as the facts, history, and mathmatics we could have a generation of children that could change the world in a positive way?
Albert Ip
Compassion is a moral quality. I doubt if we can 'teach" that.
Creativity and imagination are notoriously difficult to teach because it is difficult to measure it. The current education system is broken because it is modeled on "academic" performance. To graduate, one needs to take some examinations and there is only recalls in examination. Creation and imagination are products which cannot be produced within defined time limits - and examination does have time limit.
To produce future citizen, the whole education system will need a complete change - do away with examination to start with.
Robert Galway 20+
2. How to learn on their own. Set their own ciriculum and plan for learning. Then execute it.
3. How to overcome adversity.
4. How to find solutions and answers for themselves.
5. An understanding that they should expect only what they earn
6. The ability to adapt to circumstances, determine what needs to be done, then get it done.
7. How to effectively communicate ideas, argue points and positions, employ critical thinking skills and then take action.
8. Maintain a positive attitude even in trying circumstances.
9. Look for opportunities to apply lessons learned in one area of life or a career to another area.
10. Take pride in the quality, thoroughness, and follow-thru on work assignments.
Susannah Johnson
Thomas Jones 100+
If you study thinking, there are distinctions made between different types of thinking. Critical thinking is one type and is considered to be, more or less, the foundation of "Western-style" thinking. It can be traced back to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It's useful but lacks a creative element.
In colloquial speech, critical thinking is often used as a general phrase for "better" or "more effective" thinking.
So, if that's how you are using the phrase, then, yes, it makes sense to become more effective at thinking.
Edward de Bono is generally considered the foremost authority on teaching thinking as a skill, he emphasizes the need for creative thinking, lateral thinking, parallel thinking, and so on (he coined the phrase "lateral thinking.") These other thinking skills tend to be more constructive than critical thinking which is primarily, well, critical.
There is a lot of material available for teaching thinking as a skill (a lot of it developed by de Bono) and, as you imply, learning to think it is well worth the effort.
shrishti choudhary
a good question led to the invention of air planes (positive thinking) but at the same time
a bad question led to the discovery of parachute (negative thinking)
sometimes BAD questions are also important......... for survival :)
Steve Rosos
Y-Q Tham
Thomas Jones 100+
Albert Ip
Munkhdelger Tsedenbal
do.
Catherine Tibbels
Amy Peach
Baasandulam Oyundalai
Mark Lafrenz
Albert Ip
As I am reading through the discussion from top to here, the focus has been on 'soft knowledge' - the ability to communicate, be compassionate, be patient and so on.
Science and mathematics are not easy subjects. If you compare the number of hours of lectures and/or experiment and/or tutorial of a hard science undergraduate major to social sciences and/or art major, the difference should tell an important point. Productivity - driver of economy - is based on science.
As a side point, R&D should stand for first "repeat & duplicate". Before anyone can make an improvement, one must master the best current practice. There are lots of hard work involved.
shrishti choudhary
Soft skills refer to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements to excel professionally and have a successful career ahead.”
Soft skills fulfil an important role in shaping an individual’s personality. It is of high importance for every student to acquire adequate skills beyond academic or technical knowledge. For decades college professors as well as educators frequently complain about a lack in soft skills among students from tertiary education institution. A recent outcry in this regard came from the British Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR)“They go on to explain that candidates are normally academically proficient but lacking in soft skills such as communication as well as verbal and numerical reasoning.” (AGR, 2007) Already more than 40 years ago the German Engineering Association (VDI) recommended that 20% of courses of the educational curricula should be soft skills.
ok ans me one thing can anyone even with the brilliant set of mind and thoughts could ever become a successful leader without being connected to the people who could actually consider him as a leader. in order to connect to the people you need to have effective communication skills, don't you? you need to convey what you think, what you mean, what you aspire, what positive change you gonna bring as a leader etc... if you wont be able to connect with the people, would they ever feel to be leaded by you? communication bridges the gap between people even in worst situations. a good leader needs to motivate, coordinate, communicate etc. alongwith technical stuff.
Albert Ip
How many leaders do we need in a team of five or six? Was G. W. Bush a good leader, committing USA (and sadly my country Australia) into an illegal war?
I guess it all depends on how one measures success. If the sole objective of getting an education is to lead, to earn more money - which is quite a common objective these days, yes, focusing on soft skills will help one achieve the the "success" objective easier and faster.
20% of the whole curriculum on soft skills is hardly a major fraction (80% is) or a major attribute. You mention that you are a computer science graduate. You may know that to write a program, you need to sit down and write codes. If that's your job, your soft skills of befriending your co-workers may not be the best skills the project manager would appreciate. Of course, the ability to communicate, to collaborate and solve problem together are essential skills. But at the end of the day, a programmer is paid to write codes. That's why 20% focus on soft skill is appropriate - not a major fraction and definitely not the only quality we should be producing our graduates.
shrishti choudhary
shrishti choudhary
Albert Ip
Yes, education is more than just professional training. Moral and ethnic are important if not more important.
Danielle Widmar
Mitch McCarthy
Rodrigo Datahan
Clara Zeinfeld
ASHISH V
shrishti choudhary
Albert Ip
The ability to ask GOOD question is MORE important than just ask questions. One needs to learn to ask good questions. Stupid questions can be a time-waster for the team trying to solve a problem. There are obvious stupid questions which should not be asked - "can I go to the toilet?" is just one of example. :-)
ASHISH V
in short - thoughtfulness & self inquisition should be the skills posses d by graduates.
Albert Ip
However, my point still stands. We have to learn to ask good and relevant questions, to the team or to oneself. Irrelevant and stupid questions are waste of time whether it is asked to a group or to oneself.
As I have pointed out earlier, good questions imply several characteristics:
1. one has done sufficient research in the problem to know what questions have already been asked and what are the answers to those questions
2. understand the context in order to ask relevant questions
3. ability to think "outside the box" to ask questions from angles which have not been tried before.
4. questions which imply logical fallacies are irrelevant questions and should not be asked.
The above list may be extended further.
The point is that asking question involves a cost - to the group or to oneself. We do not have unlimited time (at least we are still limited to our life span) and we should learn to ask good and relevant questions. Not ANY question.
shrishti choudhary
Albert Ip
"Responsible" - an important quality for our future citizens. A responsibility for "whom"?
Making tons of money for oneself and leaving the planet in deep trouble for the coming generation is not responsible and we have seen lots of "graduates" doing just that in the past decades. Should good moral be part of the essential requirement of graduates? I would hope so.
You may have missed my point when I quoted the obviously irrelevant question as a counter-example to demonstrate the invalid assertion that asking question is MORE important than asking GOOD question. I think I have made the point across too strongly. :-)
Thomas Jones 100+
QUOTE: "... a blanket statement for asking questions irrespectively of whether the question is good or relevant [is not good.] ... stupid questions are stupid questions when the circumstance does not call for it.
I understand. And intellectually, this makes perfect sense, but the thing is, we cannot really be sure what questions are good or relevant until after we ask and answer them.
And I agree, we should try to be appropriate as to when we ask, who we ask, how we ask and so on. (For example, in our company, we set up sessions for asking "stupid" questions.)
QUOTE: "Graduates should be 'mature' enough to understand this and not make a blanket statement as the first post in this thread."
I respectfully disagree. I think they should be mature enough to ask stupid questions. (And the fact that the original post does not explicitly state a contextual domain does not mean one is not implied.)
From personal experience, I have learned some very useful things because someone asked me a "stupid" question (at the wrong time, in the wrong venue, etc) and it forced me to look at things differently - and profitably.
So while I understand and accept your position, I would prefer to err on the side of the stupid question, rather than on the side of propriety.
I would also like the people I hire to do the same.
Personally, I like stupid questions.
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Thomas Jones 100+
Asking "stupid" questions can be quite useful. And the idea that we have to ask "good" question causes us to self-edit (so we don't look stupid) and, as a result, we miss lots of possible creative discoveries and insights simply because we limit ourselves to smart questions.
Edward de Bono's lateral thinking is based, in part, on the act of asking "dumb" questions. For example, asking what would happen if cars had square wheels, led to the development of modern suspension systems.
Albert Ip
When we are looking for creative ideas, any questions should be asked - that's a methodology rather than an attribute of responsible graduates.
Thinking skills - logical, lateral, creative - are essential for success in the future economy - but still a blanket statement for any question under ALL situations missed the point. When the situation calls for it, we can use methodologies as suggested by de Bono and others. But stupid questions are stupid questions when the circumstance does not call for it. Graduates should be "mature" enough to understand this and not make a blanket statement as the first post in this thread.
Lynn Lee
Albert Ip
shrishti choudhary
"TO FIND ANSWERS TO THE TOUGHEST QUESTIONS, WE NEED OPEN-MINDED AND CURIOUS PEOPLE WHO DARE TO ASK THEM"
Albert Ip
Allowing students to ask question is again, not the same as asking questions as a graduate at work. Encouraging students to ask questions is not the same as encouraging graduates in working situation to ask stupid question.
There is stupid question. I have given an example already. The example I gave would be inappropriate in ANY standard. So, asking question (including stupid question) is NOT what we would want from graduates. However, I do not deny the need and ability to ask GOOD questions and I also support suspension of judgement during brain-storming. But this is a technique for brain storming. After the brain-storming, good questions count and stupid questions are waste of time.
Once upon a time, almost everyone on Earth would say Earth was flat. Knowledge is not a popularity contest. I respect people's disagreement with my view, but I still have not seen a compelling argument as to why asking ANY question is a good graduate attribute.
Thomas Jones 100+
I think we take your point: There are "stupid" questions; and then there are "idiotic" questions.
A stupid question might be: "Why is the computer beige?" When all computers where beige. Or: "Why are the wheels on the bottom of the car?" Or: "Why do we build buildings from the bottom up?" Or: "Could we give our product or service away for free?"
[Those are all "good" stupid questions.]
An idiotic question might be: "Did you dye your hair?" Or: "Have you put on a little weight?" Or: "How many cents in a dollar? (Unless it's from someone familiar only with Yuan.)
The point I am making is: If we worry too much about asking "good" questions, we won't ask enough questions.
By the way, I am not talking about this from an academic perspective. I train managers. And one of the hardest things for me to train them to do is ask questions. They are terrified of looking stupid. They are also terrified of making their bosses look stupid. So they don't ask any questions just in case the question they actually want to ask are seen as stupid questions.
Albert Ip
I can understand the position you are coming from.
Here is a point for your consideration.
Consider the following two situations; playing golf with your boss and with your best mates. Are these the same situations?
In work place, no matter how we "train" workers to ask questions, they won't ask questions - because of the same situation illustrated in the above scenarios.
To get workers to ask questions, we need to ensure the identity of the workers are saved and hence questions will NOT jeopardize their jobs or careers. There is only so much that we can suspense judgement and suspense judgement of questions' validity and usefulness. Asking stupid questions or smart questions are not good for office politics.
But as a discussion of graduate quality, I am still waiting for an example of how a stupid question can help. The de Bono example was for brain storming. I like an example in a group process in which a stupid question actually helps in solving a problem.
Thomas Jones 100+
Hi Albert,
If you understand the benefits of being able to ask stupid questions (because you will not be ridiculed for doing so) then you understand my point. Anonymity is one way to make that possible but a better way is simply a change in attitude - making it okay to ask ANY question.
Examples are not necessary (although I have provided one or two - without transcribing the actual questions.)
"Does the earth move?" was considered a stupid question when it was first asked.
Einstein did not ask "smart" questions, he asked "simple" questions. (Jacob Bronowski)
You can probably think of some examples on your own; a time when a stupid question led to an insight.
I understand your point. You understand my point. I think we're good.
Albert Ip
Comment deleted
shrishti choudhary
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