Why our students are failing at life

While stumbling around the internet, trying to find some inspiration, I came across a post saying that diversified education is useless, that we should just be teaching students what they need for their careers. This is a common viewpoint from those unfamiliar with education or the long-term effects of such an approach. This was my response.

Educating only to the subjects which apply directly to a chosen profession has been shown to have a number of drawbacks in the long term. It was piloted in a number of schools around the world in the last few decades.

First, it assumes that what one wishes to do upon entering 9th year is what will actually make one happy throughout life. Exposure to varied subjects allows us to discover our interests. The work-around they tried to fix this was aptitude testing, which forced students into a path based upon what the test said they were good at. Imagine having your career choice made for you based upon what you were best at in 8th grade.

Second, research has shown conclusively, time and again, that a well-rounded education, including both the arts and sciences, has shown to have a positive impact in both overall learning ability and higher order thinking skills like critical problem-solving and application.

Finally, there's the less analytical and more human approach. If we educate only in, or heavily in favor of, the sciences over the arts, we create students capable of doing amazing things but without the understanding of empathy for one another to determine when and if they should be done. If we favor only the arts, we run the risk of creating those who come up with innovative ideas but lack the ability to enact them.

A large part of the reason that students these days don't understand that the world can change is because they've been taught by our culture that history is useless. This has robbed them of the most imperative thing history teaches us: change is possible. By neglecting English, they're losing the ability to accurately share information and, with the loss of literature, a sharp decline in empathy, as literature is one of the most effective ways we have to "see" the world through the eyes of those in other circumstances than our own. The effects of these losses are readily apparent in the listlessness, hopelessness, apathy and isolationism that are running rampant in the upcoming generation.