Think back to the eve of your 18th birthday. You were probably still in your Senior year of high school or had freshly graduated. At the stroke of midnight did a magic key appear unlocking all of the knowledge tools and information needed to be productive and successful members of society?
Of course not but fortunate for us all you had already mastered all of those skills as part of standardized PK-12 public school education system. You were 100%, without a doubt capable of participating in public elections, ready and eager to serve in the selected services and also perform at the highest level allowed in the public university of your choosing.
If this sounds like a pipe dream, it's not. As a society we place a lot of signifance on the anniversary of our 18th birthday but we aren't exactly doing enough to prepare our nation's young adults for the milestone. Our current model for education comes straight out of the Industrial Era where learners are pigeon holded into curriculums designed to sort, not to educate. We are trained early on to respond to chime of a bell instead of listening to the little voice inside our head that says "I need more time."
Over the next few months I hope to examine the role of social-emotional learning (SEL) with you and how designing learning experiences with skills such as self-regulation and reflection can lead to all of us being more prepared to thrive professionally and socially.
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