how does homework prepare you for the future

Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

Comments & Discussion

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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How Homework is Preparing Your Kids for the Future

How homework benefits students in the short and long term.

• child development

Does homework prepare kids for the future?

According to research, students who put effort into their homework assignments improved the development of their conscientiousness. Conscientiousness is a personality trait that characterizes one’s ability to be responsible and reliable . Employers in the workforce highly value responsible and reliable employees, meaning homework does help prepare students for the future and is good for kids overall.

How much homework is too much?

Duke University reviewed more than 60 research studies on homework. The conclusion was that the relationship between the amount of homework students do, and their achievements are positive and statistically significant.

Homework for young students should be short and increase over time. The “ 10-minute rule ” is a good guideline for teachers to go by. The optimum amount of homework is 10 minutes per grade level. For example, a fourth grader should have 40 minutes a night, and a high school senior should have roughly 120 minutes, or two hours, every night.

Stanford research further backs up the “10-minute rule,” suggesting that 90 minutes to two and a half hours of homework is optimal for high school students. Any more than that ends up being counterproductive, resulting in stress and physical health problems.

The benefits of homework

Homework is beneficial because it helps students develop and improve vital skills  that they will use throughout their lives, especially self-regulation . Kids must manage distractions, manage their time, delay gratification, and set goals when they do homework—all these skills are incredibly important to learn to achieve success in life.

As a Time Magazine article states, comprehensive research suggests that students who did homework performed better in school. Additionally, Homework is thought to improve:

• Study habits
• Attitudes toward school
• Self-discipline
• Inquisitiveness
• Independent problem-solving skills

Homework is also helpful because it creates greater understanding between parents and teachers about what children are learning in school and any struggles they might have. It can help clue parents into the existence of possible learning disabilities, so children get help sooner rather than later.

It’s important for parents to explain the importance of homework to their children and encourage them to complete it. Co-parents should strive to relay consistent messaging surrounding schoolwork to their kids. TalkingParents offers several features that can help co-parents communicate about their child’s homework, including Secure Messaging and Accountable Calling . These tools keep all conversations documented, so you can reference anything you need to later.

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Science of mind

Why is homework good for your brain?

Did you know that homework has a profound impact on brain development? It’s not just about completing assignments; homework can actually improve brain function and enhance cognitive abilities.

Homework is designed to help students prepare for the future and develop skills that are essential for success in life. It offers several cognitive benefits, including the development of memory and critical thinking skills. By practicing and repeating new skills through homework, students can enhance their memory and retain knowledge for exams and future tests.

But that’s not all. Homework also helps students build suitable study habits, learn time management, realize personal responsibility, work independently, and improve their ability to use resources and conduct research.

Key Takeaways:

• Homework improves brain function and enhances cognitive abilities.
• By practicing and repeating new skills through homework, students can enhance their memory and retain knowledge.
• Homework helps students build suitable study habits, learn time management, and realize personal responsibility.
• Homework fosters independence and the ability to use resources effectively.
• Research shows that designing and assigning homework correctly can optimize its effectiveness as a learning tool.

The Cognitive Benefits of Homework

Homework is not just a task assigned by teachers to keep students occupied after school; it has far-reaching cognitive benefits and contributes to brain growth and development. Through various homework assignments, students have the opportunity to enhance critical thinking skills, memory retention, and problem-solving abilities.

One essential cognitive benefit of homework is its ability to challenge and develop critical thinking skills. By applying the concepts they’ve learned in class to real-life situations, students can deepen their understanding and improve their analytical thinking abilities. This practice fosters a deeper level of comprehension and encourages students to actively engage with the material.

Another cognitive benefit of homework is its positive impact on memory retention. Through practice and repetition of new skills and knowledge, students reinforce the neural connections in their brains, making the information more accessible and easier to recall. This improved memory retention helps students perform better on exams and enhances their overall academic performance.

Homework also plays a crucial role in developing problem-solving abilities. Assignments that require students to think critically and find innovative solutions to complex problems help cultivate their analytical and logical thinking skills. These problem-solving abilities are essential for success in various aspects of life, from academic pursuits to professional careers.

Overall, homework has a profound impact on cognitive development, providing students with opportunities to enhance critical thinking, memory retention, and problem-solving abilities. By engaging in regular homework assignments, students can nurture these essential cognitive skills and lay a solid foundation for their future academic and professional success.

Building Essential Skills Through Homework

Homework plays a vital role in building essential skills that are crucial for academic success and beyond. It provides students with the opportunity to develop effective study habits, learn time management, cultivate personal responsibility, and engage in independent work.

One of the key benefits of homework is the development of study habits. Through regular homework assignments, students learn how to plan their study sessions, set realistic goals, and effectively organize their time. By following consistent study routines, students can maximize their learning potential and improve their overall academic performance.

Time management is another vital skill that homework helps students develop. By juggling multiple assignments and deadlines, students learn to prioritize tasks, allocate their time effectively, and meet their academic obligations. These skills are essential not only for academic success but also for managing responsibilities in other areas of life.

Homework also fosters a sense of personal responsibility. Being accountable for completing assignments on time and to the best of their ability teaches students the importance of taking ownership of their education. It instills a work ethic that can significantly impact their future success, both inside and outside the classroom.

Furthermore, homework promotes independent work and critical thinking skills. Through assignments that require students to apply concepts learned in class, they develop their problem-solving abilities and deepen their understanding of the subject matter. This type of independent work encourages students to think creatively, analyze information critically, and develop their own perspectives.

By engaging in homework, students are actively building these essential skills that will benefit them throughout their education and beyond. The combination of effective study habits, time management, personal responsibility, and independent work fosters self-discipline, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning.

Testimonial:

“Homework has been instrumental in developing my study habits and time management skills. It has taught me the importance of setting goals and staying organized. Through homework, I’ve become more accountable and independent in my learning.” – Jane Smith, High School Student

Homework and Research Skills

When it comes to homework, research skills are essential for academic success. Homework assignments often require students to explore various resources, such as research papers, books, websites, and videos. By delving into these resources, students develop the ability to effectively use different information sources and enhance their understanding of the subject matter.

Research skills acquired through homework not only improve students’ academic performance but also prepare them to navigate the vast amount of information available in the digital age. By honing their research skills, students become adept at finding relevant and reliable information, analyzing different sources, and critically evaluating the credibility and validity of the information they come across.

Research skills acquired through homework contribute to academic success and prepare students for future challenges.

Through homework, students develop the persistence and resilience necessary to delve deep into a topic, locate relevant information, and synthesize their findings in a coherent manner. These skills are not only valuable during their academic journey but will also benefit them throughout their lives as they continue to learn and grow.

Moreover, conducting research for homework assignments instills a sense of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge in students. It encourages them to explore beyond the textbook and develop a broader perspective on the topics they are studying. They learn to ask questions, seek answers, and develop a lifelong love for learning.

Overall, homework assignments that require research skills play a vital role in shaping students’ intellectual growth, fostering critical thinking, and preparing them for the challenges they will face in their future academic and professional endeavors.

The Science of Homework Efficiency

When it comes to homework, there is a science behind ensuring its maximum effectiveness as a learning tool. Research has shown that the way homework is designed and assigned can have a significant impact on student performance. To optimize learning outcomes, homework should provide independent learning opportunities and present challenges that facilitate deliberate practice of essential content and skills.

One factor that can greatly affect the efficiency of homework is task switching. Constantly switching between homework and distractions like social media can significantly prolong the time spent on assignments. To overcome this, it is crucial to encourage students to delay gratification by using social media as a reward after completing their assignments. By eliminating distractions and focusing on the task at hand, students can deepen their learning and complete their homework more efficiently.

Adopting a scientific approach to tackling homework can lead to improved academic performance. By implementing strategies that optimize learning, such as organizing study sessions, setting goals, and utilizing resources effectively, students can enhance their understanding of the subject matter and improve their overall learning outcomes. By prioritizing uninterrupted focus and disciplined work, students can transform homework into a valuable learning experience that prepares them for success in their academic endeavors.

Source Links

• https://www.crispebooks.org/
• http://www.math.usf.edu/~mccolm/pedagogy/HWgood.html
• https://www.edutopia.org/blog/homework-sleep-and-student-brain-glenn-whitman

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Rethinking Homework for This Year—and Beyond

A schoolwide effort to reduce homework has led to a renewed focus on ensuring that all work assigned really aids students’ learning.

I used to pride myself on my high expectations, including my firm commitment to accountability for regular homework completion among my students. But the trauma of Covid-19 has prompted me to both reflect and adapt. Now when I think about the purpose and practice of homework, two key concepts guide me: depth over breadth, and student well-being.

Homework has long been the subject of intense debate, and there’s no easy answer with respect to its value. Teachers assign homework for any number of reasons: It’s traditional to do so, it makes students practice their skills and solidify learning, it offers the opportunity for formative assessment, and it creates good study habits and discipline. Then there’s the issue of pace. Throughout my career, I’ve assigned homework largely because there just isn’t enough time to get everything done in class.

A Different Approach

Since classes have gone online, the school where I teach has made a conscious effort as a teaching community to reduce, refine, and distill our curriculum. We have applied guiding questions like: What is most important? What is most transferable? What is most relevant? Refocusing on what matters most has inevitably made us rethink homework.

We have approached both asking and answering these questions through a science of learning lens. In Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning , the authors maintain that deep learning is slow learning. Deep learning requires time for retrieval, practice, feedback, reflection, and revisiting content; ultimately it requires struggle, and there is no struggle without time.

As someone who has mastered the curriculum mapping style of “get it done to move on to get that next thing done,” using an approach of “slow down and reduce” has been quite a shift for me. However, the shift has been necessary: What matters most is what’s best for my students, as opposed to my own plans or mandates imposed by others.

Listening to Students

To implement this shift, my high school English department has reduced content and texts both in terms of the amount of units and the content within each unit. We’re more flexible with dates and deadlines. We spend our energy planning the current unit instead of the year’s units. In true partnership with my students, I’m constantly checking in with them via Google forms, Zoom chats, conferences, and Padlet activities. In these check-ins, I specifically ask students how they’re managing the workload for my class and their other classes. I ask them how much homework they’re doing. And I adjust what I do and expect based on what they tell me. For example, when I find out a week is heavy with work in other classes, I make sure to allot more time during class for my tasks. At times I have even delayed or altered one of my assignments.

To be completely transparent, the “old” me is sheepish in admitting that I’ve so dramatically changed my thinking with respect to homework. However, both my students and I have reaped numerous benefits. I’m now laser-focused when designing every minute of my lessons to maximize teaching and learning. Every decision I make is now scrutinized through the lens of absolute worth for my students’ growth: If it doesn’t make the cut, it’s cut. I also take into account what is most relevant to my students.

For example, our 10th-grade English team has redesigned a unit that explores current manifestations of systemic oppression. This unit is new in approach and longer in duration than it was pre-Covid, and it has resulted in some of the deepest and hardest learning, as well as the richest conversations, that I have seen among students in my career. Part of this improved quality comes from the frequent and intentional pauses that I instruct students to take in order to reflect on the content and on the arc of their own learning. The reduction in content that we need to get through in online learning has given me more time to assign reflective prompts, and to let students process their thoughts, whether that’s at the end of a lesson as an exit slip or as an assignment.

Joining Forces to Be Consistent

There’s no doubt this reduction in homework has been a team effort. Within the English department, we have all agreed to allot reading time during class; across each grade level, we’re monitoring the amount of homework our students have collectively; and across the whole high school, we have adopted a framework to help us think through assigning homework.

Within that framework, teachers at the school agree that the best option is for students to complete all work during class. The next best option is for students to finish uncompleted class work at home as a homework assignment of less than 30 minutes. The last option—the one we try to avoid as much as possible—is for students to be assigned and complete new work at home (still less than 30 minutes). I set a maximum time limit for students’ homework tasks (e.g., 30 minutes) and make that clear at the top of every assignment.

This schoolwide approach has increased my humility as a teacher. In the past, I tended to think my subject was more important than everyone else’s, which gave me license to assign more homework. But now I view my students’ experience more holistically: All of their classes and the associated work must be considered, and respected.

As always, I ground this new pedagogical approach not just in what’s best for students’ academic learning, but also what’s best for them socially and emotionally. 2020 has been traumatic for educators, parents, and students. There is no doubt the level of trauma varies greatly ; however, one can’t argue with the fact that homework typically means more screen time when students are already spending most of the day on their devices. They need to rest their eyes. They need to not be sitting at their desks. They need physical activity. They need time to do nothing at all.

Eliminating or reducing homework is a social and emotional intervention, which brings me to the greatest benefit of reducing the homework load: Students are more invested in their relationship with me now that they have less homework. When students trust me to take their time seriously, when they trust me to listen to them and adjust accordingly, when they trust me to care for them... they trust more in general.

And what a beautiful world of learning can be built on trust.

Take Control of Homework

Find the right college for you, don't let it control you..

Although very few students love homework, it does serve a purpose. Homework helps you:

• Reinforce what you've learned during the day.
• Build study habits that are essential in college.
• Prepare for your classes.
• Get a sense of progress.

College life involves a lot of adjustments for students. Will you have homework in college? Yes. And it can be one of the most daunting tasks you face there. Out-of-the-classroom learning is part of the college experience and essential for academic success. The good news is that learning some homework tips now will make it easier to do college homework later.

Set the Mood.

Create a good study area with everything you need (e.g., a calculator). If you don't have a quiet place at home, try your local library.

Know Where to Begin.

Make a list of everything you need to do. Note all deadlines. Do the more challenging assignments first so you don't have to face them at the end.

Study at the Same Time Every Day.

Even if you don't have homework every night, use the time to review notes. If sitting down to work is part of your everyday routine, you'll approach it with less dread. Also, you'll become a pro at using time productively.

Keep Things in Perspective.

Know how much weight each assignment or test carries. Use your time accordingly.

Get More Involved.

Keep your mind from wandering by taking notes, underlining sections, discussing topics with others, or relating your homework to something you're studying in another class.

Organize the Information.

People process information in different ways. Some people like to draw pictures or charts to digest information, while others prefer to read aloud or make detailed outlines. Try to find the methods that work best for you. Ask your teacher for recommendations if you're having trouble.

Take Advantage of Any Free Time.

If you have a study period or a long bus ride, use the time to review notes, prepare for an upcoming class, or start your homework.

Study with a Friend.

Get together with friends and classmates to quiz each other, compare notes, and predict test questions. Consider joining a study group.

Communicate.

If you have concerns about the amount or type of homework, talk to your family, teachers, or counselor. They can help you understand how much time you need to allot for homework and how to manage your tasks.

Celebrate Your Achievements.

Reward yourself for hitting milestones or doing something unusually well.

Related Articles

What Will The Future of Homework Look Like?

Author: Ben Greenwood

Posted: 21 Jun 2021

Estimated time to read: 7 mins

The aim of homework has always been to increase students’ academic ability. But with a raft of research now showing that there’s much more to this than classroom teaching and tests, could the future of homework ring in a new era for extracurricular learning? 

Homework in the 21st century is a far cry from the black and white photocopies of textbook pages that I experienced when I was at school. Both technology and attitudes have moved on since then. 

The modern student has never known a time without the internet or smartphones. This is often posed as a negative (the stereotype of the screen-obsessed teenager springs to mind here). But with around 82% of job roles now requiring some form of technological ability , being a digital native has become a huge advantage in the modern job market. 

The challenge for schools then is to harness these skills and apply them to learning and homework. To teach students that their ability to learn how to use a new OS in a couple of minutes or find a way around the school’s firewall can be applied to other academic subjects too. 

It’s about drawing the real world and the academic world together with the power of tech and mentorship. And it doesn’t have to be as complex as it sounds!

What needs to change with present-day homework 

It has its critics, but homework can be a really useful tool for students, not just academically, but for wider life skills too. But when assignments have been thrown together simply to satisfy the school’s homework policy, it’s likely that the student isn’t going to get a lot out of it.

Good homework assignments need to have a purpose and to add value to the student’s learning journey. Instead of dismissing homework as a relic of the past, we need to look at it as an ever-changing, evolving practice. 

Beneath the workings of an electric car, you’ll still find the same brakes, wheels and chassis designs that have been around for decades. Why? Because they work. All they needed to bring them into the 21st century was a little innovation around them - homework is the same.

By using the technology and new pedagogical ideas of the present day, we can give our students a new and refreshing take on homework. 

How tech is used for homework

One common criticism of technology in homework is that it can be a distraction or a hurdle to the lesson the teacher is trying to teach. This is sometimes true. Students like to get their hands on tech, it’s what they’re comfortable with. So when given the opportunity to use it, without a meaningful and challenging goal, they will likely use it for something else. 

A more considered approach to using tech is needed. Whilst we know how powerful online learning platforms are, students still need to learn within their physical environment too. With young people today spending more time online than ever before, real-world learning is crucial to their development. 

Some schools have begun setting homework, delivered online or via an online learning app, that suggests activities like chess with an adult or reading for an hour at home. Whilst this might seem basic or trivial, these activities help students to get back in touch with their physical environment. 

Balancing home and school life

The pandemic fast-forwarded attitudes to distance learning and blended learning. This meant what was previously a pipedream for schools, successful home learning, quickly became a reality. 

That’s not to say that we should all switch to distance learning and close the schools, we’d have some pretty unhappy parents to deal with if we did. And despite the success of distance learning, the benefits of classroom learning still outweigh learning from home. Teacher-led learning is not something we should be trying to replace. What it did show is that our approach to home learning in regards to homework was out of date. 

In March 2020, whole timetables were pushed online. Students learnt from pre-recorded videos and interactive webinars. It proved that students can learn at home effectively. This strengthens the argument for flipped learning as a realistic approach. 

By giving students the tools they need to learn successfully at home, we can better prepare them for classroom learning and even change the way we weight lessons in favour of home or school. But don’t be tempted to make an onus out of home learning - studies have found that too much homework (more than 2 hours per day) can be counterproductive to a student’s development.

Giving teachers the freedom to create 

Two things limit a teacher’s ability to create engaging and exciting homework tasks:

• Inflexible homework policies 
• Lack of time

We know that our teachers are passionate about teaching and that they spill that passion into their work. If they aren’t creating engaging homework tasks, it’s not because they don’t want to. 

The confines of the school’s homework policy, or a lack of time to create meaningful tasks, means that teachers often have to use quick and easy tasks copied from teacher message boards, or crusty old worksheets from another age.

By saving teachers time and by giving them the flexibility to create the kind of homework they see fit, you allow internal development to flourish in your school. Then, through homework workshops and sharing best practice sessions, you can ensure that the very best ideas are replicated throughout school.

This makes for more engaged students, happier teachers and a more successful and transparent school. 

What we can do to make homework better serve students

- more flexibility for teachers.

Teachers need the freedom to create engaging tasks, to be part of the changing tides in the education system. Post pandemic education is going to be quite different to what we knew before, and the people who are there to guide our students through it need to be able to adapt and evolve with the times.

Allowing teachers to be more flexible might include: 

• More working from home
• Setting adequate allotted time for lesson creation during the working day 
• Allowing more freedom with homework tasks - mixing academic and life skills
• Promoting sharing tasks and best practices between colleagues

Make school tech ‘invisible’ 

Tech makes learning more accessible and has improved school organisation, parental engagement and students’ accountability. Homework tracking software keeps tabs on who has completed their homework and even gives schools access to detailed analytics so they can fine-tune their approach.

But with so much tech at our fingertips, it's easy to get carried away. Just because you can set an online ebook version of An Inspector Calls, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Blue light can be damaging to our eyes, but on a deeper level than that, students are missing out on the physical activity of reading. 

School tech has dramatically improved the way we work in schools - there’s no denying it. But we shouldn’t let it seep into every aspect of teaching. As Chris Lehman, pioneer of the school 2.0 movement, puts it, “Technology [in schools] must be like oxygen; ubiquitous, necessary and invisible.” 

Don’t shut out the world

Earlier we touched on the all-encompassing aspect of technology and how it can sometimes shut out the real world. Avoid this by merging homework tasks with home life as much as possible. 

Instead of looking at homework as an extension of schoolwork to be done at home - instead view it as an extension of home life that is more focussed on learning. Family time and home life is a hugely important part of a child’s development and it should be approached with empathy and sensitivity. 

When creating a homework task, think of a child spending time with their siblings or parents and consider whether this task is important enough to take them out of that bonding time for half an hour to an hour. Alternatively, you can provide tasks that actively enrich this time at home. 

Homework activities that involve the whole family or an adult can actually have a transformative impact on students’ learning. Studies have found that students whose parents are actively involved in homework tend to be more confident in school, have higher self-esteem in general and receive higher grades than those with less involved parents or guardians. 

Try creating assignments that require interaction with others and take place in the real world. Perhaps an interview with a relative, a flashcard game or a DIY project that parents can get involved with.

Conclusion 

The future is still a little foggy for homework, as it is for education in general. But if there’s one takeaway from this blog it’s that learning at home will always be an important part of a child’s development. Similarly to not setting homework at all, setting unengaging, difficult or thoughtless homework will drive students away from learning in general - something we can’t afford to do after so many months of missed lessons and disrupted study. 

The key for schools will be using technology to streamline the administrative duties that come with homework, but to continue innovating when it comes to the actual content of their homework tasks. Whatever happens, the next couple of years have the potential to transform the education sector - what we do now could decide how the future of teaching and learning looks.

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The Case for Homework

• Posted September 29, 2016
• By Matt Weber

This fall, the start of the new school year seemingly brought with it a trend of teachers forgoing homework assignments in order to allow their students more time outside of school for family and play. A number of these announcements took off on social media, with many parents supporting the stance and wishing that their own child's teacher would follow suit. While few would dispute the importance of family and play time for young children, it may be shortsighted to believe that eliminating homework altogether is the answer.

"All children should be doing homework," says Duke University Professor Harris M. Cooper , who has researched and wrote on the topic for over 25 years. While Cooper acknowledges that an excess of homework is both unnecessary and potentially detrimental, the upside of homework is too great to ignore. Not only is it important in reinforcing skills learned during the school day, it also teaches time management, study skills, and independent learning, as well as keeps parents connected to their children's learning.

"Really good homework assignments" in subjects such as math and science, says Cooper, also highlight skills children use in other areas of their life — in sports, games, and everyday tasks like grocery shopping with their parents. "A really good teacher is one that takes the skills that [their students] are learning in the abstract — or more abstract — in their classroom, and uses homework to show them these are the skills they need to enjoy things they do even more," says Cooper.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Cooper evaluates the dissatisfaction with homework practices and discusses all of the reasons why, for children, homework is essential.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

An education podcast that keeps the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and communities

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The public education system in the US has been the same for over a century, with teachers talking at students and giving them tests. But at Iowa BIG, teens address their community’s most pressing needs — and the results are benefiting them and their town.

In 2012, some members of the community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, asked, “What should school look like?” To explore the question, they created the Billy Madison Project (yes, named after the Adam Sandler movie in which a misbehaving adult goes back to school), which brought 65 adults, including local leaders, to a high school to re-experience student life. All 65 of them went through an entire school day, complete with desks, lectures, textbooks, bells and permission slips to use the bathroom.

At the end of the day, they were asked, “What do you think?”

Regardless of income, gender, age or politics, each participant reached the same conclusion: “We can do much better.”

They decided to create a program that made learning more meaningful — where students could choose how they use their time and what they pursue, and where curriculum is integrated across disciplines and integrated with the community. So, in the fall of 2013, they launched Iowa BIG . It started with just a dozen students; 207 are currently enrolled (and there’s a waiting list to get in).

This “school” has no building or curriculum. Its students attend their regular school part-time, and commit several hours a day to Iowa BIG, where they work with over 100 local organizations (businesses, nonprofits and policy groups) to identify problems they can help solve. The heart and soul of the school day is the work these students do to improve their community.

Iowa BIG draws students from three Cedar Rapids school districts. These districts have historically viewed each other as rivals, but Iowa BIG has united them and the wider community; students, teachers and local organizations now view themselves as a team.

Assessment at Iowa BIG is different and meaningful. The community partners meet frequently with students and their teacher, providing no-nonsense feedback. There’s no ambiguity about their goals — the teens need to keep working until they solve the partner’s problem, or fail.

“Students develop their work plan, organize it into tasks, and learn and do what’s required to make progress. Individually or as teams, they work on their own for long stretches,” says Troy Miller, who cofounded Iowa BIG. “Faculty track progress and hold them accountable for completing work, not class attendance or checking off boxes.”

The program doesn’t work for every kid. To date, some 15 percent have left and returned to normal school, but as Iowa BIG cofounder Shawn Connally says, even these kids end up learning life lessons “an order of magnitude more important than turning in an essay on time.”

Of its roughly 500 graduates to date, some 97 percent who applied to college were admitted to their first choice. Since Iowa BIG students still participate in their normal schools, they’re able to list AP courses and extracurricular activities in their college applications.

“But Iowa BIG students also have a résumé worth looking at,” points out Connally. One was waitlisted at the Air Force Academy against long odds. In pleading his case, he emphasized his real-world experience with BIG, how he struggled with team dynamics, and what he learned about leadership. He got in. These distinctive experiences, as Connally puts it, “have a lot more value to many employers and colleges than a good SAT score.”

Many Iowa BIG students also get great summer jobs. “This year, we had a junior in high school who got a summer position at the University of Iowa Hospital, beating out 17 undergrads and 13 postgraduates. Without his Iowa BIG experience, he wouldn’t have been able to get that internship,” say the program’s founders. “We can’t take credit for his intelligence, but we can take credit for giving him opportunities to be exposed to things that will take him to the next level.”

“With the traditional model of education, learning is static — not much has changed in roughly 125 years. With this model, learning changes every day,” they continued. “Plus, these kids get to know their community in new ways and appreciate it. That’s really important. We have kids who used to call this place ‘Cedar Crapids.’ Now, one student away for college told us, ‘I’d be a fool not to come back to my network.’ ”

Kyle came to Iowa BIG to learn how to start a business. While at BIG, he started a monster.com-like website, and though the site eventually failed, he won a competition with it and raised some money. In his second year, he worked with a large local company, analyzing their distribution data using his coding and database skills.

“The VP asked him what he was planning to do for the summer, and he said, ‘Probably wait tables.’ The VP said, ‘No, you’re going to work for us.’ He was hired as a full-time data scientist writing code to analyze their business data,” says Miller and Connally. “When he took a computer science course at his conventional high school, he failed. Now he is getting paid a healthy salary to do something that’s an ‘F’ on his transcript.”

As an Iowa BIG freshman, Isaac designed underwater submersibles, helped his school system optimize practices for students who experienced severe childhood trauma, and designed and programmed drones — all in seven months . He says, “I also had a project where I was researching genomes of different mushrooms and how to promote the commercialization of new species. A lot of my projects have been around making small apps and websites. Through that, I’ve been introduced to several coding languages — TSS, THP, HTML, Arduino.”

When he was 15, Isaac organized a summer class for middle-school kids, introducing them to the skills he learned through BIG: coding, Photoshop, making websites, building drones. He was paying it forward to other kids, while making three times the minimum wage.

Connally adds, “As a teacher, I watch Isaac doing things he thinks of as coding projects. Students often don’t explicitly see how other subjects are integrated into their learning. I think about his ACES [childhood trauma] project: He’s reading texts above grade level, contacting resources in the community, interviewing adults, and understanding information. This psychology project is actually three or four classes … The buckets don’t fill at the same rate, but overall they fill faster and deeper.”

Miller shared a powerful explanation for how he ended up at Iowa BIG: “I left a well-off school district for one that has all the classic urban problems: poverty, economics, race relations. These are issues I care deeply about. But after years of telling these students that if they can just struggle through, then they will get a job and get out of poverty, I realized: That’s not true. These subjects and tests are not designed to cut the poverty cycle,” he says.

“As an instructor, I need to keep a pulse on what employers genuinely want, and be giving skills to students who don’t have parents who can do that . Otherwise, I’m just prepping them for high school courses that will prepare them for some intro college course that will prepare them for more advanced college courses that basically prepare them for nothing. Meanwhile in college, they are accumulating huge amounts of debt and will probably drop out, falling right back into the poverty trap.”

Because BIG is so different, some in the education field view it cautiously. Miller says, “Some pushback comes from people who believe everything has to work on a set timeline, all English classes need to read certain books. In their value system, they are right, but that’s not my value system and it’s not the value system of business.”

“It’s baffling to me that more parents don’t advocate for their kids. It’s fear — fear of change, fear of what it will mean for college, and a lack of vision,” he concludes. “I don’t think it’s going to come from within the school. The community needs to step up and say: Our students are not being prepared the way they need to be.”

Your local school might not be up for something as ambitious as Iowa BIG, but you can start small with help from School Retool (a nonprofit created by Stanford University’s d.school ), the Hewlett Foundation (funder of the Deeper Learning initiative), and design firm IDEO .

School Retool’s mission is to help schools create cultures of innovation. Their “Shadow a Student” campaign has enabled thousands of adults, usually principals, to walk in a student’s shoes for an entire day and then share reflections with their community. Drawing on these resources, you could invite community leaders to your school to shadow a student or a teacher. Like the civic leaders in Cedar Rapids, they could become your staunchest allies.

Excerpted from the new book What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America by Ted Dintersmith. Copyright © 2018 by Ted Dintersmith. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.

Watch Ted Dintersmith’s TEDxFargo talk here:

About the author

Ted Dintersmith is focused on bringing innovation to US education. His four-decade career spans technology, business, public policy and education philanthropy. He was the executive producer of the 2015 documentary “Most Likely to Succeed,” which exposed the shortcomings of conventional education in America, as well as the co-author of the companion book “Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era.” During the 2015-2016 academic year, Dintersmith went to all 50 states and visited 200 schools. His book “What School Could Be” showcases some of the standout classrooms and schools that he found.

• future of classroom education
• future of education
• Ted Dintersmith
• United States

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Does School Prepare Us for Life? (According to Education Experts)

School has always been seen as the stepping stone to the real world, meant to teach us life’s lessons and prepare us for any challenges that come our way. But is that really true?

Does school prepare us adequately for the demands of real-world responsibilities, or does it only provide a limited view of what lies beyond its doors?

To shed light on this matter, experts weigh their opinion on whether or not school really prepares us for life.

Iqbal Ahmad

Founder and CEO,  Britannia School of Academics

I firmly believe that education does indeed prepare us for life

For many students, going to school is an essential aspect of life. It helps us prepare for experiences in the future by putting us through countless hours of challenging exercises and experiences in the classroom.

Many people have stated that kids are becoming more and more prepared for the later stages of their lives as a result of multiple technological advancements and a huge increase in the options available in today’s education.

In contrast, others think that a school’s monotonous routine limits students from discovering their inner selves. These pupils are never instructed to pursue their gifts, even though some may have had the aptitude to become a pianist or have a passion for the arts.

Instead, they are required to adhere to a curriculum; if they do not, they are told that they will fail in life. Is that so? Are you doomed to failure if you don’t succeed in school? Are all the folks who did well in school and received straight A’s leading prosperous lives?

Let’s look at a few of the many things school teaches us, which help us throughout our lives. The school days are crammed with information, covering everything from English to Mathematics. All of these involve teaching, memorization, comprehension, and testing of the students.

In addition to grades and exams, the school offers a broader curriculum that includes character development, citizenship training, and personality development.

I firmly believe that education does indeed prepare us for life.

Self-discipline

The first lesson we learn at school is self-discipline . We develop the ability to follow directions and stick to a schedule. We also develop a sense of respect for time and punctuality.

In addition, we are taught how to plan and use our time efficiently. We also follow and respect laws and guidelines. Disciplined children will become disciplined adults and succeed in their future endeavors.

School strengthens our determination and perseverance

Additionally, the school strengthens our determination and perseverance.

We develop the ability to meet school requirements. We learn to adhere to deadlines and turn in our homework on time. We also gain the ability to handle pressure and stress.

Students learn how to overcome challenges in school. Character-rich students will be better equipped to handle future obstacles in their careers and personal lives.

Confidence and teamwork

Co-curricular activities are an integral element of a student’s life. They aid in shaping kids’ personalities and characters so that they develop confidence. They aid in developing the kids’ leadership abilities. Students get the ability to collaborate and support one another. They also pick up on positive principles.

Students gain the ability to put forth their best effort, participate productively, and accept both success and failure with grace. As students, we learn the values of fair play and good sportsmanship.

Additionally, co-curricular activities teach kids commitment, loyalty, and responsibility. When they are older, they will be dedicated to meaningful work and working effectively in teams.

Social interaction and diversity

The school is a little community. Regular social interaction is a great way to get ready for life in the outside world. Students have the chance to connect with classmates from other backgrounds, creeds, and races while they are in school.

They develop tolerance, acceptance, and understanding. The pupils can collaborate and socialize with one another while working, and it supports togetherness and encourage an open mind.

Now, let’s have a look at how school doesn’t prepare us for real and practical life.

Students who lack skills are unable to function in modern society

It is fair to argue that recent high school graduates lack any skill set. Therefore, they are unable to function in modern society.

If they learned anything throughout their high school years, it was from the part-time jobs they took on to supplement their income. Otherwise, the school makes no effort to teach the children the necessary abilities.

This is because there is nothing in those school texts that teaches students how to apply their theoretical learning in the real world!

After graduating from college, students’ core issue is a lack of understanding of how money functions.

You won’t learn how to handle, save, or make money through investments in any of your classes. Even after doing well in their math and financial courses, many students struggle with managing their funds.

Ashley Shannon

Education Specialist, Satchel Pulse

Majority don’t believe schools are truly preparing students for life after education

Did you know that the average US student spends around 1,260 hours a year in school? Given that there are 12 years of obligatory formal education, the amount of time a student would have spent in school by the age of 18 is colossal. 

For this reason (and many others), school is a crucial part of a child’s life, and every child deserves to get as much value out of their education as possible. 

Related: Why Do Schools Exist?

In addition to the academic value, such as learning math or a foreign language, by the end of 12th grade, students should feel that their time spent in school has holistically prepared them for their next steps in life. But is our current education system achieving this?

What do studies show? A major aspect of life for most people is the world of work, and according to many employers, this is an area for which most students leaving our education system are not fully prepared. 

In 2021, the Econotimes published that two out of five employers believe school and college graduates are unprepared for employment. 

Similarly, 22% of students say that they are  “not at all”  prepared for future employment, while only 5% of people in the US believe high school graduates are prepared for work. 

These statistics show that the overwhelming majority do not believe schools are truly preparing students for life after education.

SEL gets young learners future-ready

These low percentages don’t just point to a skill deficiency in academics and work experience but rather a holistic view of a student’s career readiness. 

In a separate study , employers were asked which skills they deemed to be vital for young learners to gain so that they could thrive in the working world. 

79% of the skills ranked as the top priority for these employers are classed as social-emotional skills, such as communication abilities, ethics, punctuality, honesty , and teamwork (Cunnigham & Villaseñor, 2016). 

When asked about the most prominent skill gaps they’ve experienced when hiring, 42% of the skills mentioned are also classed as social-emotional.

These results are clear indications that in order for schools to prepare students for life truly, they must understand the importance of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL is one of the most effective ways to get young learners future-ready and prepared for whichever direction they go in throughout their lives. 

When children begin developing SEL skills from a young age, by the time they reach adulthood, they are more likely to have the following: 

• Stronger self-management 
• Self-awareness
• Responsible decision-making
• Social awareness
• Relationship skills

These abilities have been outlined by  CASEL  (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) as not only an integral part of a student’s academic journey but also their human development. 

Subsequently, when schools are not making efforts to nurture these critical skills in young learners, they’re also not truly preparing them for life.

Matthew Spaur

Director of Marketing, EQuip Our Kids!

School prepares us for life, of course

At school, we learn literacy and numeracy skills, science and history, plus, if we’re lucky, some health and arts as well. We also learn about friendship and social status and peer pressure and bullying and struggle, and disappointment. All those are part of life, too. 

But better questions to ask would be:

• Does school prepare us for all of life?
• How well does school prepare us for life? 
• How could school better prepare us for life?

School is not life

Because we are social creatures, most of our life, and most of our success in life, is not based on academics. 

Our life consists of relationships — with ourselves, with our teachers, with our colleagues, with our families and neighbors, and with fellow citizens. Our ability to thrive in those relationships determines a large part of our life. 

Relationships are especially true in the world of work, something for which school is supposed to prepare us. Daniel Goleman, the author of  “ Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ ,”  found that 90 percent of career success comes from our emotional intelligence, not academic intelligence. 

The National Network of Business and Industry Associations defines four categories of employability skills. Only one of those categories, Applied Knowledge, relates to academics. 

The other three categories cover Personal Skills , People Skills , and Workplace Skills . These vital non-academic skills include:

• Decision making 
• Problem-solving
• Conflict resolution

Even straight-A students need these skills in order to succeed in school and work, and life.

Schools can teach life

How can schools address all those non-academic personal, people, and workplace skills that help us succeed in the workplace and, incidentally, in the rest of life? 

For decades, some schools have been including social-emotional learning, or SEL, in their curriculum. It’s a jargony name for the research-proven methods to teach the personal, people, and workplace skills we all need to thrive in school, work, and relationships. 

Schools that fully implement SEL see incredible results: 

• Greater academic achievement
• Lower disciplinary problems
• Higher test scores 
• Graduation rates

Research also shows that young adults who have received SEL instruction experience:

• Less poverty
• Workplace conflict

These adults have higher rates of mental and physical wellness, creative collaboration, and happiness. They even pass along their social and emotional smarts to their children. 

Not enough schools teach all about life

Currently, only a quarter of schools teach the personal, people, and workplace skills that cover the vast majority of our lives. That alone is tragic. 

Even worse, today’s youth are suffering through a national mental health crisis, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association. 

If we want all our children prepared for all of life, then we need all our schools to start teaching all the skills needed in life. 

Many businesses and organizations say that they want workers with these great personal, people, and workplace skills. 

It’s time that businesses demand that all schools teach these skills, just like businesses have demanded that schools teach STEM skills. The first day on the job is a late start on learning personal and people skills. 

Parents, too, can demand that their schools teach a curriculum that covers all of life, not just academics. They’d find it’s a great reinforcement to the life lessons that they teach at home. 

Robert Wallis

Principal, Education and Curriculum Manager, Outward Bound Canada

Within the current system, it is difficult

Classroom schooling does a great job of training students in technical skills, scoring on written exams and tests, and preparing them for the jobs of the past. Still, there are much better alternatives for teaching students  “life skills”  — those skills that will be increasingly in demand in the future of work. 

As jobs become more reliant on life skills — social and emotional skills ( SES ) rather than technical skills, the mainstream education system has, in the last two years, tried to catch up to address this need, but within the current system, it is difficult. 

One issue is that we use a very old model of teaching — especially in high schools — where students learn separate subjects, sit within the four walls of a classroom, and are subject to the outside influence of  “the schedule,”  where bells force students to leave the classroom just as deep learning begins, or lessons are unnaturally drawn out to fill time. 

This type of learning is often contrived, can be irrelevant, and provides little opportunity for student engagement except for a very small percentage of students who respond to this type of learning.

As a result, employers consistently state that entry-level workers often lack the necessary social and emotional skills needed in the workplace. 

The Conference Board of Canada has even stated that it doesn’t help that the jury’s still out on whether social and emotional skills can be taught in the classroom. 

I agree; it’s incredibly difficult to teach social and emotional skills in the classroom, but it’s much easier outside the classroom: one proven, high-quality, and impactful education model is outdoor experiential education.  

Outdoor experiential education provides a fast-track method for acquiring SES by placing students in real-life, relevant situations — both physical and social. They work together to solve problems in situations for which there’s no set solution. 

Outdoor experiential education not only improves key  “Skills For Life”  but also provides additional benefits for mental health, physical health, nature connection, sensory stimulation, and opportunities for social interaction that are difficult to achieve in a traditional school setting.

Canada has a long and proud history of outdoor experiential education — and has some of the best  “outdoor classrooms”  in the world. 

Organizations like the YMCA, Outward Bound Canada, and numerous outdoor education centers have been delivering SES programs for over 80 years — programs that have seen significant budget cuts in recent years. 

So why are we trying to reinvent things when we already have the solution?

In a recent article , Natashia Singh and Outward Bound Canada called on the Federal Government of Canada to invest in community-led programs that provide outdoor educational and recreational opportunities to youth disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including historically and currently marginalized communities. 

In addition, they urged provincial education ministries across Canada to include outdoor education in their strategic plans and to make quality outdoor education programming available to all public school students. 

Perhaps then we can meet the needs of employers and students alike.

Vice President of Education, Kiddie Academy Educational Child Care

Character essentials learned at school prepare children for life

School prepares us for life from both an educational standpoint and a life skills standpoint.

In school, children learn more than just math, science, social studies, and writing; they learn character values and soft skills like developing empathy, problem-solving and creative thinking that will set them up for the future. 

In a recent Kiddie Academy  survey  of 2,000 parents, we found that parents’ early memories from school are more than just learning school subjects (56%). They’re also based on building friendships (55%), developing creativity (53%), the feeling of having a teacher invest in them (48%), and playing (47%). 

These results show us that beyond educational opportunities, the most formative moments of school are also social and emotional skill-building and creative growth both through play and instruction. 

Parents should look for a curriculum starting in early child care that combines important elements of hard and soft skill development. 

The survey also revealed that 73% of parents say they learned more life and social skills during their early school years versus their later ones. 

Children start noticing cues from birth, like when a baby smiles back at a caregiver, which makes it very important to focus on social development early on. 

Big life skills like learning to share, compromising, resolving conflict, making friends, trying again, and more are all things that are learned in a group environment. 

Even our youngest children in an educational childcare setting can learn life essentials that will help form the people they become.

Elizabeth West, M.Ed.

CEO, EWC Consulting

College prepares us for life’s challenges and teaches lessons for a lifetime

Since my expertise is in college, I absolutely believe that college prepares us for life’s challenges.

First of all, it is a pivotal time — I call it a 4-year incubation period for adulthood. You learn not only the academic skills necessary for living but the life skills needed to withstand disappointments and develop coping mechanisms.

College is the time to discover and practice the social and intellectual tools needed to be successful in life .

From your first day on campus, you are learning skills in emotional agility. Having to negotiate your personal space with your roommate — who may even be a perfect stranger — teaches you life skills such as resilience, collaboration, and conflict resolution.

When you first set foot in the classroom, you are considered an adult. You will be handed a syllabus that may include the assignments for the entire semester. This challenges you to lean into your time management skills as well as organizational strategies.

Related: 65+ Time Management Tips for Students

The academic agility piece may also come into play later on in your first year of studies as you may discover that your dream major may not be all it’s cracked up to be. College is full of these types of epiphanies and opportunities for repositioning.

There is no doubt that college is one of the toughest, most rewarding times in our lives.

There is a quote from the Today Show’s Al Roker, where he talks about how his life has been enriched by his college’s hands-on learning: “Every day…I use what I learned at Oswego State.” College teaches you lessons for a lifetime.

Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA

Adjunct Professor and Faculty Adviser, The University of Tampa

When done properly, education introduces you to “real life”

As a public relations professional who has now been teaching for two decades and preparing future communication professionals for  “life,”  this is a critical question that must be asked by anyone seeking advanced education and answered by those offering the opportunity. 

When done properly, education introduces you to  “real life,”  requiring responsibility on the part of the student to perform required tasks in a timely and correct fashion and, on the part of the teacher, requiring that lessons be designed to reflect the realities of the workplace.

As an educator, my main quibble has been with those of my colleagues who are only knowledgeable in the academic aspect of education,  “listen and repeat,”  with oftentimes no expectation of genuine understanding. 

I found my own classes as I was pursuing various college degrees to be much more beneficial when the person teaching that particular class had actually worked in that area, knew both the challenges and the opportunities and could present factual evidence of success.

My own classes are structured around a  “This incident has occurred. How will you handle it? What will you do? And why?”  

I know, having observed my  “disciples”  as they have progressed over the years, that this approach prepares them for that inevitable day in the workplace when something unexpectedly goes  “kerflooey,”  and they are tasked by their supervisor with handling the situation. 

I have received countless  “Kirk, this is what happened, and this is what I did!” emails as validation.

Yes, theoretical,  “what-if”  education is helpful in learning to problem-solve. But realistic, hands-on learning gives you the tools for success in the workplace.

Dr. Leena Bakshi McLean

Founder and Executive Director, STEM4Real

School can and should prepare us for life and our lived reality

There are talks about adding courses such as “life skills” or “how to do taxes.” While those courses are definitely needed, I believe educators can infuse life and real-world experiences into our everyday schooling. It is vital that we bring in the cultural capital that our students can contribute to their learning environment.

For example, if we are learning about photosynthesis, this can be an opportunity to connect to agriculture, farming methods, and even the Cesar Chavez Farmworkers Movement.

Not only does this provide a real-world perspective for students, but it also brings the learning to life. There is now an application for these concepts.

Educators must shift away from rote memorization and isolated facts and towards inquiry-based instruction that involves critical thinking and application.

We use the formula Standard + Hook + Society . We know that there is a list of standards that teachers must address, and we must marry those standards to an engaging hook that can captivate students’ interests.

We then discuss how to apply the learning in our society and the local community. This can be through project-based learning and even incorporating Youth Action into your lessons.

Students must see themselves in the learning, and the best way to do that is to create culturally responsive learning experiences. When students see themselves in their learning, they can truly apply their schooling to life.

Garrett Smiley

CEO and Co-Founder, Sora Schools

Today’s school system isn’t properly preparing students for modern life

Unfortunately, I don’t think today’s school system is properly preparing students for modern life. We live in a dynamic, complicated, volatile world—much different than 150 years ago when the current school system was designed. 

As our civilization creates more technology, the consequences of our actions increase. Because of this newfound power and responsibility, our children face systemic, global challenges such as the climate crisis, nuclear proliferation, and the rise of misinformation. 

Related: How Important Is Technology in Education

Responding to them will require creative and collaborative leadership from the next generation of students. 

An education system built for the Industrial Revolution (mechanistic, time-bound work, memorization above problem-solving) is no longer suitable.

Instead, schools should be grounded in real-world problems and focused on fostering: 

Critical thinking

• A growth mindset
• A student’s worldview (meaning-making)

Jennifer Finley

Content Manager, Academic Influence

The school lays the foundation for many essential skills in adult life

Many people have argued for years that school and college do not prepare us for life because we don’t always use the knowledge we learn in subjects like algebra or trigonometry later in life.

Although much of the content we learn in school is irrelevant, many skills, such as critical thinking, writing, and speaking in front of groups, are of great value for careers.

Even if you don’t use any specific knowledge in your career, the school lays the foundation for many essential skills in adult life, no matter what occupation or profession you choose.

Although school teaches us different things, it provides us with skills and information that can be used in virtually any career or life path.

Students with good interpersonal skills have successful careers

Developing interpersonal skills is important for students for better learning, expressing themselves to others, developing personality , and improving academics.

It is considered that students who have good interpersonal skills have successful careers and personal life too.

For example, by allowing you to work on multiple assignments and activities in your daily life, you develop both problem-solving, critical thinking , and time-management skills. As in many projects, you build communication skills if these are collaborative tasks.

School prepares you for life by teaching you and allowing you to practice and develop the following interpersonal skills.

Active listening

It is necessary for students to pay attention to their teachers in class. Students can only ask their teachers questions if they listen attentively when their teachers give notes and important points orally.

During your career, active listening helps you make informed decisions, resolve problems, and build trust with your colleagues. Understanding and absorbing all the necessary information is essential to a team or organization’s success.

Related: 50+ Reasons Why Listening Is Important

Public speaking

Various activities, such as debates, group discussions, recitations, and spelling competitions, allow students to improve their public speaking skills. They gain more confidence and can connect with others as a result.

In your professional life, being able to speak at events and conferences is a good way of building credibility and setting yourself up as an authority in your career.

Related: Why Is Public Speaking Important for Leaders and in Business?

Empathy and sympathy

The ability to understand and empathize with others helps students build good relationships with teachers, parents, classmates, and friends, and they also receive support from them whenever they face difficulties.

In the workplace, an empathic leader can boost productivity, morale, and loyalty by making everyone feel like part of the team.

Related: Compassion vs Empathy vs Sympathy. What’s the Difference?

When students participate in group activities, they should confidently participate in every task for their team and direct their team members accordingly. Any organization needs good leaders to build strong business teams.

Communication

Students must learn to communicate with their teachers to express themselves. This includes gestures, signs, facial expressions, and body language, all of which are part of communication.

Later in life, you can establish yourself as a valuable company member by communicating clearly at work to avoid misunderstandings and develop strong relationships with your workmates.

What about professional success? While they might not be as specific as coding or understanding taxes, these are highly desirable skills for almost every employer.

Critical thinking is crucial if you’re in a management or leadership position. Time management is an essential element of project management, which practically every worker needs to succeed.

Meeting deadlines

After high school, you’ll still have deadlines to meet, and many of those deadlines will overlap.

For example, you might have to pay your electric bill, phone bill, and rent all on the same day, or finish a project at work just before your family arrives, so you need to prepare them for them.

You begin developing this skill at school when you learn how to balance deadlines to complete tasks on time.

You aren’t supposed to memorize useless information in school. The goal is to take the facts seriously, discuss them intelligently, and draw your own conclusions. You will use these skills when making important decisions, such as where to live and what career you should pursue.

Related: What to Do If You Don’t Know What Career Path to Choose?

To be more effective at their jobs, employees need to be able to use critical thinking skills to solve problems.

Your team’s performance may determine your success as an employee. Even though you may not like group projects in school, teamwork will always be a part of your life.

Attendance and being punctual

You’ll be better prepared for the real world and the responsibilities you’ll face as an adult if you establish the habit of attending school and being on time.

Even though people can learn and develop these skills in other aspects of their lives, like growing up with several siblings or practicing sports, it’s in the school where they have the most opportunities to learn and develop these and many other similar skills.

Beverly Gearreald

College Counselor and Community Manager,  Transizion

The best schools and teachers do prepare students for life through the knowledge students gain, the skills they master, and the relationships they build.

The knowledge that is gained helps prepare students for life

One of my favorite teachers was my high school calculus teacher. I’ll be honest — I don’t use calculus on a day-to-day basis. I likely never will.

However, we had several weeks of school after APs were done, and my teacher knew there was no point in teaching us more calculus. So, he didn’t. He instead taught us about budgeting, compound interest, and other applied math skills.

While not every teacher has the time or the inclination to do this, he did. I’ll forever remember that he took the time to help every student he taught about personal finances, not just math.

The skills you will master are helpful

While in university, I learned how to titrate chemicals to determine the concentrations of solutions. I’ve never used that skill since.

However, my wet labs involved working with a partner. The curriculum required us to work on different elements of the same experiment simultaneously if we were to gather the necessary data in time. This ability to divide tasks cooperatively between two people is still something I use today.

Whether I’m working with a co-worker or parenting my son, using the power of two to achieve goals twice as fast is something I can attribute to my university education.

Relationships you build might prove useful

Networking is both overrated and underrated. There are people who claim networking is everything. It isn’t. Other people claim that networking is useless. It isn’t.

The fact of the matter is that somewhere between 70-80% of jobs are filled through networking. This usually means having the right skills and knowing the right person. Going to school, particularly undergraduate and graduate school is a great way to build that network.

Related: What Are the Benefits of Business Networking? (80+ Benefits)

Not everyone in that network will prove useful to you, nor will the relationships you build be useful to everyone else. However, knowing the right person can be an amazing gift in your life, and the school can definitely help you make those connections.

AJ Silberman-Moffitt

Senior Editor,  Tandem

In many ways, school prepares us for life

Though my school days are long-past, for me, teaching others is never-ending. I often instruct people on accomplishing things that enable them to do their jobs.

Theoretically, this prepares them for life. But does a school do the same? Does school prepare us for life?

Elementary or primary school

The school experience for many children begins in elementary or primary school. Though some can go to nursery schools or daycare, many do not.

As kids enter school, they learn how to behave properly around others. Though the difference between right and wrong typically begins at home, schools continue to teach these lessons.

Additionally, grammar school is where the basics of education are taught. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important subjects that students need to master to excel when they move on to their next school.

Students learn the basics of communication, problem-solving, and time-management skills.

Middle school

As children enter puberty, this frequently coincides with when they attend middle school. Their elementary school crushes have seemingly become more serious overnight.

These students pay more attention to the opposite sex while they continue to learn social acceptance in the process.

Further, they continue to learn the basics deemed necessary for them in life. At this age, they are progressing with their communication, problem-solving, and time-management skills.

High school

Now that these kids have become young adults, even becoming old enough to drive while in high school, they continue learning. In addition to their academics, they are more completely integrating the communication, problem-solving, and time-management skills they have learned.

How they manage these skills in high school will probably highly impact their behavior once they hit adulthood.

College and technical schools

Students who choose to continue their education at a college or technical school will study to become proficient in a subject. The skills they learn aren’t as broad as they are more focused on helping the student start a career in their field of study.

But what about the other facets that are necessary for life?

For example, we learn how to do basic math, but are all students prepared by their schooling to create and follow a budget? Even credit cards might not be fully comprehended by individuals.

Kids might know they can use a credit card to “buy now, pay later,” but do they fully grasp that the bill needs to be paid in full at the end of the month to avoid interest, which can accumulate quickly?

Though in many ways, our schooling prepares us for life, there are still ways in which schools cannot ensure students are fully prepared. This only means that there is room for improvement in the educational system where real-life scenarios can and should be inserted into the curriculums.

This will ensure that students are not only prepared academically for life but mentally as well.

CEO and Co-Founder, Dreambound

It depends deeply on what you put into it and the program you choose

Education is deeply important , not only for job prospects and career mobility but also for preparing you with essential life skills. The extent to which school prepares you for life depends deeply on what you put into it and the program you choose.

It’s important to go to school with an open mind and a heart for self-improvement. Here’s how school might prepare you for life:

You learn more about yourself

​When you get past high school into higher education, you can study virtually anything—there will be a degree or program for you. While the freedom might be exciting, it’s also overwhelming.

It might be the first time that you have to make a real choice for yourself that can have lasting impacts on the rest of your life. This is when you start to evaluate what you value in life and what you enjoy doing.

If you love helping people, being a Certified Nursing Assistant or working another role in healthcare might be the field for you; if you like working with your hands, maybe a career in welding or plumbing; if you like working with computers, you might want to pursue IT or computer science.

Beyond subject matter, you might realize that you prioritize work-life balance over pay or any number of other tradeoffs.

When you start your schooling in this area, you might even realize that you don’t like the field as much as you thought you did!

School is a period of self-discovery when you can learn more about yourself, the world, and what you care about. You’re given the freedom to make mistakes and change your mind. This is invaluable in the real world, where you don’t have as much of a luxury as to make the wrong choices for you without consequences.

You learn to work hard

School can be a tough time for many. Classes are fast-paced, you often have to study many things in tandem, and you don’t get as much support as you need in order to understand the material fully. This is when you learn work ethic.

When you have a midterm, final, or important homework assignment, you learn to sit down and focus on the material so you can be successful.

Work ethic can take you incredibly far in your life; not only is work ethic the characteristic employers value most, but work ethic also gives you stability where others might not.

You meet many different people

Depending on your degree and type of school, your school will bring together a plethora of people with different perspectives. For many, this could be the first time they met a person who looks different from them or shares different beliefs.

Being exposed to these different types of people and beliefs broadens your horizons, shaping how to think about the world and sharpening your mind.

School is also where you can make a lot of social mistakes. High school students, for example, are just figuring out their way around the world and are learning how to deal with conflict, people who dislike them, and how to be vulnerable with their friends.

Most people are around the same age and are working on growing themselves—giving you the space to figure out the same skills too.

Susan Gentile, RN

Nurse Practitioner,  ChoicePoint

It’s up to us to keep learning after we graduate

School is an important part of our life. It gives us a safe place to learn, meet new people and find new interests. We also learn how to interact with others, solve problems and work together as a team. School is important because it teaches things that will help us later in life.

We learn new skills at school, meet new people and develop our personalities. We make friends and build memories with them. It helps us grow and develop, learn new skills and get to know more about the world around us.

We learn how to communicate with other people in different ways. This is how it helps us grow as people. But many people ask whether it really prepares us for life.

School is a good start, but it is up to us to keep learning and growing through our experiences in the real world. We can take advantage of this time in school by studying harder, working harder, and making new friends with different backgrounds than our own.

School will not always be able to teach us everything needed for success on the job market when we graduate from college or university, so it’s important that students continue their studies after they graduate from high school or college.

The consensus is that school doesn’t prepare us for life, so it’s up to us to keep learning after we graduate. We have to be able to learn new skills and adapt to change.

While there are many ways to learn and grow in life, school isn’t one of them. But what’s important is that we take this knowledge as an opportunity to make sure our future doesn’t consist solely of sitting in classrooms all day long with no real-life skills outside those learned at school.

Ryan Huggler

Owner, Landscape Legends

School prepares us to do as we’re told

As students, we are told exactly what to do from the time that we’re supposed to be in class to what we have to do in the evenings (homework).

As a student that is still in college, I value education very much, but the traditional school system mainly just teaches people how to follow the rules.

This is great for creating good employees but not for teaching people how to think outside of the box and understand the core characteristics that it takes to get what you want in life outside of work.

You only learn how to put together budgets if you’re a finance major or take business classes, and you are never formally taught basic conversation skills. This may sound stupid, but the education system just expects us to learn on our own through trial and error.

I believe in learning through trial and error, but the whole point of going to school and learning from a teacher is to learn from their expertise and help us advance even further through society.

The education system is built for a certain type of person

If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant, or engineer, schooling will 100% help you accomplish your professional goals, but for someone like myself who is driven to pave my own path, it doesn’t make sense.

90% of what I have learned about life that I deem valuable and actually helps me prepare for my future has been self-taught.

If skills like basic communication, basic handyman skills, cooking, self-defense, and mental health were the core of the High School curriculum, I believe students would be better suited for life. That’s not to say that Math and English, and history aren’t important, but couldn’t they be taught in a more applicable way?

Additionally, the average college teaches way too much fluff. I believe that a much more targeted approach to one’s major throughout all four years of college would be way more beneficial from a skill development perspective as well.

The average college graduate has knowledge of theory but no real experience that is worthwhile.

As a marketing student, I have taken one singular marketing class and only have two semesters of college left.

At the same time, I also run a marketing company for landscapers and have learned every applicable marketing skill that I know by spending $10k on more targeted training programs. Let’s cut the fluff.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of school.

The purpose of school is to provide students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for life after graduation. It is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to be successful adults.

School offers students opportunities to explore their interests and develop their individual strengths. Through courses in math, science, language arts, social studies, and other subjects, students gain an understanding of the world around them and learn how to think critically about various topics.

Additionally, many schools offer extracurricular activities such as sports teams, clubs, and after-school programs which give students a chance to pursue interests outside of academics while also learning important life skills such as teamwork and communication.

At school, students are taught important values such as responsibility and respect for others. They learn how to work together cooperatively and manage their own time effectively. Additionally, they are taught the importance of making ethical decisions and understanding different points of view on issues.

By providing an environment where these values can be nurtured and practiced, schools help students become more aware citizens who will make meaningful contributions to society in adulthood.

Does school adequately prepare us for life?

When considering the question of whether school prepares us for life, there is no single answer since it depends on individual experiences and perspectives. For some, school does provide a strong foundation for life skills such as problem solving, communication, and time management.

Additionally, many educational institutions offer courses in career exploration and guidance to help students make informed decisions about their future.

On the other hand, many people argue that the traditional approach to education in school settings fails to adequately prepare students for the realities of adult life. While core academic subjects may be necessary for success in college and employment opportunities, other life skills like financial literacy or managing relationships are not always taught in classrooms.

Moreover, schools are often focused on teaching students how to do well on assessments rather than how to think critically and solve problems creatively.

Ultimately, it is important to recognize that while school can provide an important basis of knowledge and foundation of skills relevant to adult life, there is also room for improvement when it comes to giving students the tools they need to succeed out in the real world.

In order to make sure students learn more than just academics but also key life skills such as resilience, self-advocacy and confidence building, schools should focus on providing tailored learning experiences that reflect the world outside of their walls.

Are there any benefits to the traditional school system?

The traditional school system has been around for a long time, and while it may not be perfect, there are certainly some benefits to it. Here are a few:

• Structured learning : The traditional school system offers a structured environment that can be helpful for students who thrive with routine and predictability. They know when they will have classes, what subjects they will be studying, and when they will have breaks.

• Socialization : The school system offers students the opportunity to socialize with their peers in a structured environment. This can be helpful for developing social skills, making friends, and building a sense of community.

• Access to resources : Schools often have a wealth of resources that students can take advantage of, such as libraries, computer labs, and sports facilities. These resources can be helpful for students who may not have access to them at home.

• Accredited curriculum : The traditional school system offers a standardized and accredited curriculum, ensuring that students are receiving a quality education that is recognized by colleges and employers.

• Qualified teachers : The school system employs qualified teachers who have been trained to teach a specific subject or grade level. This can be helpful for students who need additional support or guidance in their studies.

• Preparation for the future : The traditional school system prepares students for the future by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in higher education or in the workforce.

What can students do to supplement their education outside of school?

There are plenty of ways for students to supplement their education outside of school! Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Read : Reading is a great way to learn new information and expand your vocabulary. Try reading books on topics that interest you, or explore different genres to see what you enjoy.

• Watch educational videos : The internet is full of videos on a wide range of topics, from science and math to history and literature. Check out YouTube or other video platforms to find educational content that interests you.

• Take online courses : There are many online learning platforms that offer courses on a wide range of topics. Some are even free! Try platforms like Coursera, edX, or Khan Academy to find courses that align with your interests.

• Attend workshops or seminars : Many community organizations and businesses offer workshops and seminars on a variety of topics. Check out local events listings to see what’s available in your area.

• Volunteer or intern : Volunteering or interning with an organization related to your field of interest can be a great way to gain practical experience and learn new skills.

• Join clubs or organizations : Joining a club or organization related to your interests can be a great way to meet like-minded people and learn new things. Look for clubs or organizations at your school or in your community.

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The Editors

Education Needs To Prepare Students For The Future Of Work – Here’s How

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By Darshan Somashekar

The downfalls of traditional education are well-documented: universities are  expensive ,  out of touch , and  inaccessible to many students , to the point where  nearly half of millennials say college wasn’t worth it given their debt .  Only 11% of business leaders believe  graduating students are adequately prepared for the workforce. For students interested in tech and job placement, bootcamps and other non-traditional education platforms have  surged in popularity . Meanwhile,  college applications have dropped , with  25% of students postponing college because of the pandemic .

But I don’t see these trends as the death of traditional education—I see them as possibilities to create a  better  education system. Having worked in the edtech industry for more than 15 years, I’ve seen how companies can provide excellent learning opportunities in a way that’s cheaper, more convenient, and more aligned with the needs of the modern workplace.

Here are a few lessons that colleges, universities, and even high schools could learn from edtech to create curriculums that better serve students now—and long into the future.

1. Drop the major; make it easier to test and iterate

One of the most powerful things higher ed can do to support today’s students is move away from the major. Asking students to spend four years focused on one subject is a tough sell—that’s a lot of sunk cost if they end up changing their mind, or if the options available to them post-graduation are wildly different due to the rate of change in the job market.

One of the benefits of a liberal arts education is the opportunity to explore. So why not lean into that? Removing or reducing major requirements, making it easier for students to change their course of study, integrating more modern subjects into the curriculum, and creating opportunities to test out real jobs are just a few ways schools could help students try on lots of different hats.

One of my favorite examples of this in the edtech industry is  Paragon One , which helps universities provide students with 8-week remote “externships” at top tech companies to quickly learn about the different roles available to them.

By encouraging this kind of testing and iteration, schools can help students spend four years sussing out the skills and interests they want to carry forward into the next 40+ years of their careers. Moreover, it teaches students  how  to shift into new roles, finding their transferable skills and quickly learning new ones. In a future where very few people will have just one career in their lifetime, that flexibility alone becomes a valuable asset.

2. Provide better incentives (and more useful outcomes)

The way students are evaluated in traditional education is pretty backwards when it comes to preparing them for the future of work. There’s a reason very few edtech companies use grades as part of their learning structure—grades force students to focus on short-term outcomes instead of real, deep learning. Moreover, they don’t really prepare students for how they will be evaluated in their future jobs.

Instead, institutions should look for more meaningful ways to encourage learning and provide feedback.

The edtech world often turns to gamification because  games make learning more fun , thereby encouraging deeper engagement. They also help people better retain information, encourage creative problem solving, and provide shorter feedback loops to help students improve as they go—all skills that are valuable in the workplace, too.

I’m also a fan of project-based learning as a way to create more useful incentives in the education system. Most bootcamps are centered around the student creating a project or set of projects during their tenure. This model has so much value: It shows students the real-world applications of the topics they’re learning in the classroom—helping them see  why  they should learn it. It gives the teacher an opportunity to provide robust, constructive feedback like a manager might, rather than standalone grade. And students walk away with something tangible they can include in their portfolio or on their resume. 

3. Make virtual or hybrid school the norm, not the exception

If there’s one thing COVID has taught us, it’s that the remote or hybrid workplace is here to stay. So shouldn’t that be true of the  remote, digital-first classroom , too?

For years, edtech has been paving the way for new models of education that allow students to learn wherever and whenever they want, and has proven that it can work. Nearly every bootcamp has a virtual option. MOOCs allow students to pick up new skills on a schedule that works for them. One of my favorite examples of late is  Quantic , the world’s only accredited MBA built for mobile-first learning.

I see no reason for traditional education not to follow suit. Going digital-first is a win for everyone. For schools, it can help them cut costs to compete with the edtech alternatives that are popping up left and right. For students, it can make education more accessible (both financially and logistically), and—perhaps more importantly—teach them the critical skills they’ll need to succeed in the remote workplace of the future, like virtual collaboration, personal time management, and strong communication.

Yes, these are big changes. But if traditional educational institutions want to ensure they’re preparing students for the future of work—and that  they  have a place in the future of education—then they’ll need to learn what’s working from the edtech industry and make some moves to follow suit.

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Are High Schools Preparing Students for the Real World?

For today’s high school students, change is the only constant. They navigated a global pandemic that challenged their mental health and social structures . They will graduate into a job market filled with upheaval following the COVID pandemic. In the face of so much uncertainty, it’s more important than ever for our students to graduate with the necessary life skills to meet whatever challenge they’ll encounter.

We polled our community of students, teachers, parents, and employers from across the country about whether high school is preparing students for success in the real world. More than 300 people responded, and overall, most don’t think high school is successfully preparing students for real life.

This tracks with 2022 data from a survey by Cengage , finding that 65 percent of employers were struggling to find talent. The respondents revealed a contradiction: even though they required college degrees, they ranked skills training credentials (43 percent) and real-world experience (28 percent) more important than a two- or four-year degree (26 percent) when considering an entry-level candidate. High schools can play an important role in providing more of those experiences through internships, apprenticeships, and work-based learning.

We used the results from our audience poll to launch a series of conversations with different education experts about how high schools can better prepare all students to graduate with the skills and opportunities to pursue the futures of their choice.

Does school prepare students for the real world?

When we asked students in our audience poll to rank how prepared they feel for the real world on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest rating, only 30 percent rated their preparedness at a 4 or a 5. This is a low number, not even a third. That wasn’t surprising to the educators and researchers we spoke with, especially considering students’ recent lived experiences.

“‘The real world’ is undergoing rapid change, which can be daunting as well as exciting. Near the end of 2022, the world got an up-close look at how artificial intelligence can now craft essays and poetry, write code, even pass the bar exam. Imagine trying to envision the world in ten years, in 20 years, if you are a teenager thinking about how to prepare for the ‘real world’ after high school.”

– Craig Jerald, XQ Consultant and former vice president for policy at the College Board.

This uncertainty is clear in the job market students will face after graduation. A 2021 report from McKinsey & Company on the future of work after COVID-19  showed how jobs performed by humans are becoming increasingly automated. The pandemic accelerated this shift: the report found that up to 25 percent more workers than previously estimated may need to switch occupations.

At the same time, a significant number of high school students will graduate and immediately enter the workforce. A 2020 report from the National Center for Education Statistics  found a third of all high school graduates are not going straight to a two- or four-year college . This trend   appears to be on the rise as a result of the COVID pandemic, as even fewer high school grads head straight to college. Those students, in particular, will need to graduate with work-ready skills.

Do High Schools Prepare Students for Careers?

Yet, high schools overall have not adapted to the changing workforce. Most comprehensive high schools don’t provide adequate opportunities for students to gain real-world experience through career and technical education programs. As a result, students don’t get the chance to develop their skills or explore potential career paths. This might be why only 7 percent of the adult, non-student respondents to our audience poll rated high school students’ preparedness for the real world at a 4 or 5, the top two scores. They’ve experienced or witnessed the lack of preparation as employers, colleagues, or educators.

In school, students face outsized pressure to succeed on standardized tests. But these tests often do a poor job of reflecting what young people actually know and are able to do, while also failing to encourage the kind of meaningful, engaged learning students need to succeed in real-world situations. “Students are sitting in our high schools the same way that they did 100 years ago when we have internship opportunities, we have career pathways that can be explored in 9th grade,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in 2022 on the podcast version of “The Problem with Jon Stewart.”

“We’ve gone so far away from thinking about how students learn in community, how they learn in collaboration with one another independently. ​​I can’t tell you how often I’ve learned by arguing with somebody.”

– Jose Vilson , executive director of Educolor.

Vilson, a veteran New York City teacher at Educolor , agrees with other educators and labor experts who say high school should give students authentic opportunities to develop in-demand skills like critical thinking, adaptability, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. 

This need was amplified by the declining 8th grade scores in civics and U.S. history on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP (also referred to the Nation’s Report Card)—meaning they weren’t prepared for the higher level work required in high school.

The average score dropped 5 points on the NAEP US history assessment between 2018 and 2022. This continued a trend of declining scores that began in 2014. Just 14 percent of 8th grade students scored at or above the NAEP proficient level in US history. And the average score on the 2022 civics assessment declined by 3 points since students last took the test in 2018. Only 22 percent of 8th graders scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level in civics.

“Education leaders and policymakers must create opportunities for students to gain the knowledge and skills they need to catch up and thrive,” said Beverly Perdue, National Assessment Governing Board chair and former North Carolina governor when the results were released in May 2023. “The students who took these tests are in high school today and will soon enter college and the workforce without the knowledge and skills they need to fully participate in civic life and our democracy.”

In another distressing sign, the NAEP Long Term Trend assessment found math and reading scores for 13-year-olds also fell in the 2022-23 school year to some of their lowest levels in decades.

Are High Schools Preparing Students for College?

Why is it important to prepare for life after high school?​

High school should prepare students not just to meet the future but shape it. No high school curriculum can prepare students for every challenge they might encounter. But the experts we spoke to agree: by preparing students with adaptable, real-world skills and competencies, schools can set students up to pursue lives of choice and purpose.

Are High Schools Preparing Students for the Future?

XQ defines these skills through our research-based  Learner Outcomes : concrete, relevant knowledge and skills that students can apply to succeed in a 21st-century context. By designing learning around these goals, schools can prepare students to meet the future. Drawing on research, existing academic and social-emotional frameworks , and practical expertise, we’ve identified a set of competencies and sub-competencies  that align with our learner outcomes.

-Lauren Bierbaum, Head of Data, Research, and Evaluation at XQ Institute.

Washington Leadership Academy (WLA) , an XQ school in Washington, D.C., uses the learner outcome Masters of All Fundamental Literacies  to prepare students for high-wage STEM jobs. At WLA, all students take four years of computer science, with opportunities to build their skills through real-world internships. WLA also challenges students to take on meaningful issues in their community and supports them as Original Thinkers for an Uncertain World , another learner outcome. For example, one class of students focused on the question, “How do social justice movements work?” ultimately creating a guide for the next social justice movement. After four years of computer science, including computational art and computational music, 2022 WLA graduate De’Von said he felt “probably more prepared than any other kid in America” as he graduated and headed to Morehouse College.

De’Von’s experience is an example of what can happen when high schools design learning around relevant skills and competencies. XQ has identified six research-based Design Principles for successful schools—which include Youth Voice and Choice .

“Most high schools don’t provide students with much voice, choice, and independence in what and how they learn, nor do they ask students to work collaboratively in teams that tackle authentic problems or challenges,” said Jerald. He examined data on the 1,721 graduates of XQ’s 16 original Super Schools and found that “about 84 percent said they felt prepared for their future, and half of those students cited collaborative skills they developed in high school as a big reason why.”

– Keri Rodrigues , president of the National Parents Union.

Crosstown High , an XQ school in Memphis, Tennessee, prepares students for life after high school through a curriculum that’s built around competencies . Located in the Crosstown Concourse, Crosstown High shares space with businesses, non-profits, health facilities, and civic groups. Through close collaboration with community partnerships —like working with a local graphic designer to design logos for a student-run business, or collaborating with a local elementary school to design a sensory walk for kids—students gain exposure to a wide range of future options and develop a sense of their own future goals.

These experiences position students with the confidence and self-knowledge they need to meet the challenges of the future. As Crosstown 2022 graduate Ava explained: “What I’ve realized in my past four years here is that learning isn’t just English, math, science, and history. It really is learning about yourself, learning about how you interact with everybody else in the environment around you.”

How do you prepare students for the real world?

T hese are among the most important skills cited by the U.S. Department of Labor , which also lists professionalism, networking, and enthusiasm.

– Dan Domenech , executive director of the American Association of School Administrators .

T he best way to teach these real-life skills is to give students opportunities to develop them in real-world contexts. As noted earlier, schools can provide these opportunities through Community Partnerships   another one of XQ’s Design Principles . Through partnering with cultural institutions, local businesses, nonprofits, and colleges and universities, schools can give students the opportunity to apply their learning outside the traditional classroom environment.

– Chelsea Waite , senior researcher at the Center on Reinventing Public Education .

Waite has been studying different designs for learning at many types of schools with the Canopy Project . “The division of ‘high school’ and the ‘real world’ is a real culprit here,” she said when asked about the low levels of confidence students and adults in our poll expressed about the ability of U.S. high schools to prepare students for the future. “No one can be adequately prepared for a new stage of life when nothing about their current reality resembles what they’re about to encounter. High schools can, and should, be places where students are living and learning in the real world, and learning to navigate the systems and institutions they’ll encounter throughout their lives.”

This is why XQ encourages nontraditional approaches to when, where, and how high schoolers learn—a design principle we call Smart Use of Time, Space, and Technology . Schools can break away from science, history, and other single-subject periods, the way the XQ school  Purdue Polytechnic High School in Indiana has done, by combining different subjects in longer blocks with project-based learning and through partnerships with local industries and nonprofits.

Círculos —an XQ school in California’s Santa Ana Unified School District—uses community partnerships to prepare students to succeed after graduating, most of whom are first-generation Americans and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Past projects have focused on public arts, reducing community consumption of single-use plastics, problematic representation of Black and Latino people in the media, and drought preparation in California. Students develop and pitch ideas for these projects based on community needs. In doing so, they develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and practice communication by presenting their ideas to partners.

Rodrigues, of the National Parents Union, said more high schools should be looking outside their walls for ways to give students important learning experiences. “These are the skills that kids really need to be able to access opportunity” beyond their educational background, she said, referring to “the skills to keep a job and to be successful in a job, and to blossom and thrive.”

All the things that we want our kids to do, but we give them no practice,” she added. And frankly, having that real-world experience where [you see] what it’s like to actually be in the workforce and have those real-life examples, you also get the opportunity to figure out—is this what I really want?

Domenech pointed to High School District 214 in Cook County, Illinois as an example of breaking down the barriers between high school and the real world to give students valuable, hands-on experiences. The district’s innovative Youth Apprenticeship provides concrete job skills and training to students beginning their junior year of high school. Domenech described the goals of the program: “You want to go into medicine? Well, guess what? You’re going to spend a couple of days a week in the hospital, trailing a nurse or trailing a doctor and finding out what it’s really like.”

Students in the program receive paid job training, as well as college coursework and mentoring. Ultimately, students who complete the program receive an apprenticeship certification or a youth apprenticeship certification in addition to up to a year of college credits. Student Edin Hozic described a cybersecurity internship in an article for the district’s blog : “It gives us hands-on experience. We can really see what these industry professionals are doing and how they are using these programs to secure these networks and systems. I really value the overall experience we gain here.” 

More schools are following suit. Maryland will invest $12 million of pandemic stimulus funds into expanding access to apprenticeship programs in high school through a new grant program, Maryland Works . Currently, only 7 percent of Maryland high school students graduate with apprenticeship credentials; this investment will help Maryland meet its ambitious goal of graduating 45 percent of students with apprenticeship credentials by the 2030-31 academic year.

• Engage students in real-world projects with industry partners
• Use rigorous coursework to prepare students for real jobs
• Align design principles with internships

What skills do students today need to be successful in life?

– Yolanda Fordham Director of the Liberty Partnerships Program at NYU .

In New York State, the Liberty Partnerships Program (LPP) provides students with services designed to improve their ability to graduate from high school and enter postsecondary education and the workforce. This is especially important for students at risk of dropping out of school. Fordham, who directs the LPP at New York University, said, “Services begin with a socio-emotional assessment, followed by intervention strategies provided in partnership with the school. Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) are developed with students to generate academic, college, career, and personal goals. The PLP is revisited at least three times per year.”

This personalized approach to supporting students’ social-emotional wellness aligns with another XQ Design Principle: Caring, Trusting Relationships . “Research tells us that having even just one close relationship at school can do wonders for supporting students’ learning and development,” said Bierbaum.

For example, at Da Vinci Rise High School , an XQ school in Los Angeles, California, students build relationships with adults through advisory group meetings, one-on-one personal check-ins, and wellness hours. RISE serves students navigating foster care, housing instability, probation, and other disruptive circumstances. Focusing on relationships helps these students build real-world social and emotional learning  (SEL) skills around mental health and self-care, like meditation and mindfulness.

Schools can also empower students with real-life skills by giving them more responsibility for their own learning. That’s the idea behind youth voice and choice: giving students a say in what and how they learn. Experts believe students need a chance to develop these tools in high school in order to succeed wherever they go next.

“Consider that students from PK through 12 have their time more or less managed for them,” said Vilson. “And students are generally never too far away from the class that they have to go to next. So, they hear a bell, and they generally know that they have to go to another class and that they have to follow a program. …So then when they get to college, they’re pretty much told, ‘Hey, here’s the schedule, but there’s not going to be a bell.” 

At Grand Rapids Public Museum School (GRPMS), a district school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that partners with XQ, students take leadership over their own learning. Located inside the home of the former Grand Rapids Public Museum, the school’s students have a high degree of freedom in completing projects, often in conjunction with community partners. For example, students designed and built their own rockets while learning about the history of the Space Race. Learning at GRPMS is competency-based : students progress through content based on their mastery of the material, not the time they’ve spent in their seats, and students play a leading role in guiding and evaluating their own learning.

Jerald summed up the core tenets behind GRPMS’s approach to teaching real-life skills alongside academics: “Position learning within the broader community, require students to interact with adults outside the school as part of their learning, and challenge students to engage in interdisciplinary, collaborative projects with real-world connections. High schools need to do that as an integral part of their core instructional model, not as just one special class or an extracurricular activity.”

The success of this approach is borne out in the student experience. One 2022 graduate, Aeden, told XQ, “It would definitely help you develop more in your time management skills as well as … in your cognitive thinking.” He added, “From my understanding of traditional schools, that isn’t something that is usually emphasized a lot because there’s a specific structure you have to follow.”

Another GRPMS graduate, Christopher, expanded on this concept: “I talked with some people from research professions at Grand Valley State University and learned more about what they did to get where they are and what they do as scientists and just overall how they function in society,” he said. “And that’s helped me a lot just understanding how disciplined I need to be, working with time management, but also just preparing me to learn on my own, since it was a completely self-led project.”

The consensus from our community and from expert perspectives is clear: too many of today’s high schools aren’t preparing students well for real life. Their students graduate without the skills to set and achieve their goals for the lives they want to live, in terms of career, post-secondary education, or their role in their community.

It’s impossible to predict every challenge students will face when they enter the real world. But success stories from high schools across the country show that, with creativity and bold thinking, school leaders and teachers can set students up with the skills, adaptability, and resilience to meet whatever the future holds. To better prepare students for the real world, schools can:

• Build community partnerships that connect students with real-world contexts  
• Increase opportunities for self-directed learning, where students learn crucial life skills like organization, problem-solving, and critical thinking
• Integrate social and emotional learning (SEL) to support students’ mental health and cognitive development

At XQ, we’ve designed a series of open-sourced tools to help schools prepare students for the demands and challenges of the real world. Our research-backed Design Principles are foundational to the design of XQ schools across the country, and can help school leaders rethink how to better design their school structures. We have also developed the Design Principles Rubric to help teams assess where they are in their design journey. 

Likewise, the XQ Learner Outcomes are research-based, comprised of concrete, relevant knowledge and skills schools can use to support and plan student outcomes. XQ’s 37 Competencies can help educators identify the granular skills students will master as they prepare for an ever-dynamic, increasingly complex 21st century world.

To start a conversation about how to transform your school, watch this video and check out XQ In a Box .

For more on how high schools can prepare students for the future, explore our posts:

• High School and the Future of Work , a policy guide
• How Schools Use SEL to Prepare Students for an Uncertain Future
• ​​From the Classroom to the ‘Real World’
• ​​How LAB Internships Are Setting Up Scholars for Success Inside and Outside the Classroom
• How Youth Climate Activist Jerome Foster II Became the Voice for One Million Young People
• Project-Management for the Brain: Teaching Executive Functioning Skills for Students
• How Going to High School in the Pandemic Affected Us When We Got to College
• High School Graduates: Preparing for Your Next Step , tips for students

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Center for American Progress

Preparing American Students for the Workforce of the Future

• Report    PDF (116 KB)

Ensuring Every Student’s Readiness for College, Career, and Civic Life

CAP is embarking on a research effort that focuses on preparing students for civic life and the workforce of the future.

College, Career, and Civic Readiness, Education, Education, K-12, Workforce Development +1 More

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Mishka espey.

Senior Manager, Media Relations

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Sarah Nadeau

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Government Affairs

Madeline shepherd.

Director, Federal Affairs

The United States has failed to prepare all students for college and their careers. That failure has enormous consequences and has led to inequitable educational, economic, and civic opportunities that are disproportionately borne by Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students and workers. 1 These students’ and workers’ rates of dropout, remediation, under- and unemployment eclipse those of their white counterparts—not to mention the ever-widening wealth gap between whites and communities of color. These communities of color also vote at lower rates than whites, leading to a government that is less responsive to their needs. 2

Today, a new threat is already worsening these gaps. As the coronavirus pandemic devastates America’s health, economy, and workforce, a comprehensive recovery will likely be slower for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students and workers, whose jobs are less likely to offer remote work or employment benefits such as paid family or sick leave. Whether the threat is old or new, the remedy lies in addressing three systemic gaps in education. From early grades, students are not prepared across a wide range of skills; students are not exposed to a rich set of career preparation activities; and school accountability systems are not oriented around successful career and civic outcomes. 3

This issue brief lays out a framework for a K-12 education research agenda that will uncover policy solutions for how best to prepare students for college, career, and civic life in a rapidly changing workforce and society. Through a range of research reports, CAP will dig deeper into three systemic gaps in the education and workforce training systems that hinder students’ career and civic outcomes. Specifically, this research will address the lack of:

• Early exposure to career options, particularly in grades K-8
• Holistic preparation for college and careers in the future workforce and civic life across academic and socioemotional factors
• Orientation of school accountability systems around the outcomes of college and career readiness as well as the attainment of good jobs

At a minimum, the policy solutions to address these gaps will include the integration of laws, regulations, and funding for K-12 schools, higher education, and workforce development to build streamlined pathways to good jobs. They will involve the development of ecosystems of schools and local employers to expose teachers, students, and their families to a broad range of careers. And they will lead to the creation of local accountability systems that hold schools accountable for this more expansive approach to preparing students for the future.

Before discussing these three topics in more detail, this brief provides insight into CAP’s new research approach, which aims to be more responsive to community needs and desired solutions. Then, it highlights the importance of taking a systemic approach to preparing students for the future of work and civic life, as students need a broad range of skills and experiences that schools alone cannot provide.

Community conversations

CAP will embark on a series of community conversations across the country in areas with a high proportion of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations. These conversations will be a unique way to collect data about the needs and potential solutions for the communities this research is intended to affect. The conversations will focus on how community members define the future workforce; how they learn about new industries and occupations; how well their schools help students prepare for this future; and how their schools should be held accountable for preparing all students. CAP’s eventual policy recommendations will be informed by students, parents, educators, advocates, policymakers, and employers.

Why preparation for college, career, and civic life requires a cross-systems approach

When students are prepared across a broad range of knowledge, skills, and abilities, they not only get better jobs, but they also engage more actively as citizens—especially in activities such as voting and community participation—which leads to greater voice and influence in society. 4 However, schools by themselves cannot instill the complex set of skills and abilities that adequately prepare students for their careers and civic life. It will take resources and knowledge that come from broader parts of the community. For example, with employer engagement, education may more adequately reflect the career preparation and training needed for current and emerging local industries. Likewise, local community organizations can also be partners in engaging students civically.

Collaborations must center on preparing students for good jobs—the kind of jobs that afford economic security and participation in civic life as opposed to occupations that require few skills, pay low wages, or are vulnerable to outsourcing. Research shows that workers in good jobs are also more engaged as citizens and are better able to influence the laws and policies that affect their lives. 5 Achieving consensus on the defining characteristics of good preparation, good jobs, and good citizenship in the 21st century is a critical first step. Most states have definitions of college and career readiness. 6 However, these definitions often focus on college readiness, lack sufficient detail to guide daily interactions with students, and are not connected to good future jobs.

Without consensus on the skills needed to secure good jobs and become good citizens, schools and their local partners will not develop structured pathways for students to progress from education to training and, ultimately, careers.

What is a good job?

While characteristics such as benefits, pay, opportunities for advancement, and organizational culture contribute to what good jobs look like, there are other factors as well. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defines good jobs as those in which employers adhere to three principles: 1) Good jobs exist within an ecosystem where high-quality jobs can flourish; 2) they prevent labor market exclusion and protect workers from risk; and 3) they adapt to the work of the future. 7 A recent Gallup Poll outlines 10 dimensions that characterize good jobs: level of pay; predictability and stability of pay; stability and predictability of hours; ability to work remotely; job security; employee benefits; career advancement; enjoyment of work; a sense of purpose; and the power to change unsatisfactory aspects of a job. 8

Early career preparation

The first topic in CAP’s future of work research agenda is early career preparation. CAP’s previous work shows that most schools lack the strategies and resources to expose students to careers and industries, especially in early grades. 9 The effects of this gap are enormous. Most students enroll in high school course pathways that lead to a dead end and leave students ineligible for their desired postsecondary options. 10 Moreover, factors outside of school—such as students’ socioeconomic status—end up playing a greater role in student choices when they are not sufficiently informed and guided in school.

Research shows that students’ life circumstances—including income level, gender, and immigrant status—have a stronger influence than their academic performance on their career aspirations and workforce outcomes. 11 Student perceptions about certain industries form when they are as young as 10 years old and remain unchanged at the age of 14. 12

These data are not surprising, as students’ circumstances also affect the quality of career preparation experiences that are available to them. Educators in the United States are only just starting to agree about the importance of early career preparation programs and what those programs should look like. 13

Educators and students in low-income communities lack opportunities to learn about jobs in the future workforce. The reasons vary by community, however, as many low-income communities lack a diverse pool of employers, and many low-income schools lack relationships with employers. This long-standing inequity creates an imperative for local employers to engage with schools to create a variety of high-quality education and career preparation opportunities beginning in early grades. These can include advising on curricula to reflect industry needs, hands-on learning, student advising or mentoring, excursions to job sites, and career talks. Because parental values and expectations also greatly influence students’ career choices, parents must be included in this effort. 14

Holistic preparation for college and careers in the future of work

The second topic of CAP’s future of work research agenda is holistic preparation for college and careers in the future workforce.

Research and practice have led to consensus on the different dimensions of readiness all students need for college and future careers. These include academic mastery across a range of subjects, technical training either in a specific field or in cross-cutting skills such as computer literacy, and 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and collaboration. 15 Most states include these in their definitions of college, career, and life readiness, and some elements of these definitions are included in states’ school accountability systems. 16 However, what’s missing are specific systems to develop these skills equitably across all students and ways to measure students’ attainment.

Nearly every aspect of how Americans work has changed over the past 50 years. 17 From the types of jobs we perform to how we perform them, there are ways in which we work today that were unimaginable even 20 years ago. This change in work and the types of jobs Americans perform looks different depending on one’s perspective, particularly to those historically locked out of the kind of jobs that promote economic prosperity. This will be even more true as advances in technology drive how we do business and as the digital divide widens. 18

Too many people will be left out of the future of work. They lack opportunity to develop the critical academic, technical, or cross-cutting skills that allow them to participate in this evolving workforce. For example, Black people are overrepresented in support roles—such as in food service, truck driving, and clerical roles—that are most often affected by advances in technology. 19 Across three cities—including Gary, Indiana; Columbia, South Carolina; and Long Beach, California—Latinos are sometimes at even higher risk of job loss due to automation. 20 Without addressing persistent deficiencies in preparation, the United States will continue to exacerbate the wealth and opportunity gap that is currently at its highest level in 50 years. Given the interdependent nature of the economy, these gaps hurt everybody.

Accountability for establishing and maintaining high-quality pathways to good jobs

The third topic in CAP’s research agenda is how to hold schools accountable for the outcomes of all students—starting in early grades—in the future workforce and civic life. Today’s school accountability systems focus too narrowly on reading and writing as measured by test scores. These systems incentivize schools to focus on test scores rather than the broad range of academic and social skills as well as career preparatory experiences that students need to be prepared for life and future work.

Early career preparation must be holistic—meaning it must support the development of academic knowledge and skills, technical skills, and 21st-century skills—in order to set students up to be competitive for future good jobs. Accountability for pathways to these jobs must involve formal and sustained collaboration among education and workforce systems. It must also include employers. This type of accountability extends far beyond what can be captured in test scores, which account for more than 50 percent of current school accountability systems. 21 Accountability systems drive administrator and educator behaviors, so the next generation of accountability systems must provide an incentive to drive behaviors that better prepare students for tomorrow’s workforce. 22

Educators and employers together must identify what systemic changes will result in the development of seamless pathways from education to training, and to good jobs of the future. They will likely need to measure the benchmarks discussed earlier such as early career preparation and holistic readiness. To address historic opportunity gaps, they will also need to measure how they use their resources to close such gaps both to improve the return on investment and to advocate for additional resources from local, state, and federal funding sources.

The disparate effects the coronavirus crisis has had on the U.S. economy emphasize the importance of building systems of accountability for pathways to good jobs. The mishandling of the crisis led to historic unemployment rates in most states in the months after March 2020. 23 Unemployment rates for Black and Latinx workers are usually higher than white workers, and they are currently double or triple their comparative rates from one year ago. 24 Together, Black and Latinx workers represent 36 percent of all essential workers in service industries, and many of these jobs offer low pay and no benefits. 25 Black and Latinx individuals also voted at rates that were, respectively, 6 and 18 percentage points lower than that of white voters. 26 Voter suppression and gerrymandering are historic causes of these low rates. There are also data linking income level with voter and civic participation. 27

The U.S. education and career training systems should produce better outcomes than they are currently producing. In order to do so, local communities must measure and be held accountable for instilling the dynamic set of skills and abilities that students will need to secure good jobs of the future. Some of these skills come from early and regular exposure to different industries, occupations, and working professionals. Education and training should also prepare students to engage civically, and measuring students’ abilities to do so should be a part of local accountability systems.

There are significant gaps in how schools prepare all students for good jobs in the future workforce. As noted in this brief, these gaps exist in three areas: early career preparation, holistic preparation, and accountability for establishing pathways to good jobs. CAP expects that communities know these gaps exist and want them remedied.

Ensuring that these critical elements are thoroughly addressed requires formal and sustained collaboration between schools, colleges, and local employers, with federal and state governments leading the way. CAP will propose critical changes to education and training laws and resources, as integrating these elements will help to sustain these collaborations. There are issues related to policies, budgets, and curricula that are governed independently but must be interwoven and aligned to ensure that seamless pathways are developed for students.

For many, this type of collaboration will present an entirely new way of working together—but if carried out with intentionality, it will result in a brighter future for all students.

Laura Jimenez is the director of standards and accountability for K-12 Education at the Center for American Progress.

• The New Teacher Project, “The Opportunity Myth” (New York: 2018), available at https://opportunitymyth.tntp.org ; Chad Stone and others, ”A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality” (Washington: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2020), available at https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality .
• Joshua Littenberg-Tobias and Allison K. Cohen, ”Diverging Paths: Understanding Racial Differences in Civic Engagement Among White, African American, and Latina/o Adolescents Using Structural Equation Modeling,” American Journal of Community Psychology 57 (2016): 102–117, available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajcp.12027 .
• Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Strategy Group, “Destination Known: Valuing College and Career Readiness in State Accountability Systems” (Washington: 2017) available at http://edstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Destination-Known.pdf ; Livia Lam, ”A Design for Workforce Equity: Workforce Redesign for Quality Training and Employment: A Framing Paper” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2019), available at https://americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/10/16/475875/design-workforce-equity/ ; Krista Mattern and others, ”Broadening the Definition of College and Career Readiness: A Holistic Approach” (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2014), available at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED555591.pdf .
• Orin M. Levin-Waldman, ”Income Inequality and Disparities in Civic Participation in the New York City Metro Area,” Regional Labor Review 15 (2) (2012), available at https://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/academics/colleges/hclas/cld/cld-rlr-fall12-incomeinequality-waldman.pdf .
• Anne Mishkind, “Overview: State Definitions of College and Career Readiness” (Washington: College and Career Readiness and Success Center at American Institutes for Research, 2014), available at https://ccrscenter.org/sites/default/files/CCRS%20Defintions%20Brief_REV_1.pdf .
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Good Jobs for All in a Changing World of Work“ (Paris: 2018), available at https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/good-jobs-for-all-in-a-changing-world-of-work_9789264308817-en#page1 .
• Jonathan Rothwell and Steve Crabtree, ”Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States” (Washington: Gallup, 2019), available at https://www.omidyar.com/insights/not-just-job-new-evidence-quality-work-united-states .
• Meg Benner and Scott Sargrad, “Creating Strong Building Blocks for Every Student: How Middle Schools Can Lay the Foundation for Rigorous High School Pathways” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2020), available at https://americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2020/08/05/488493/creating-strong-building-blocks-every-student/ .
• Laura Jimenez and Scott Sargrad, “Are High School Diplomas Really a Ticket to College and Work?: An Audit of State High School Graduation Requirements” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2018), available at https://americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/04/02/447717/high-school-diplomas/ .
• Anthony Mann and others, ”Dream Jobs? Teenagers’ Career Aspirations and the Future of Work” (Geneva: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2020), available at https://www.oecd.org/berlin/publikationen/Dream-Jobs.pdf .
• Kate Torii, ”Why school kids need more exposure to the world of work,” The Conversation, July 29, 2018, available at https://theconversation.com/why-school-kids-need-more-exposure-to-the-world-of-work-100590 .
• Advanced CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education, ”Broadening the Path: Design Principles for Middle Grades CTE” (Washington: 2020), available at https://careertech.org/resource/broadening-path-middle-grades .
• Kristen Anne Jungen, ”Parental Influence and Career Choice: How Parents Affect the Career Aspirations of Their Children” (Menomonie, WI: University of Wisconsin-Stout, 2008) available at https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/42711/2008jungenk.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y .
• David T. Conley, ”Four Keys to College and Career Readiness,” Education Policy Task Force: Council of State Governments, October 21, 2011, available at http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/kc/system/files/conleyPDF.pdf .
• Mishkind, ”Overview: State Definitions of College and Career Readiness.”
• Andrew Lisa, ”50 ways the workforce has changed in 50 years,” Stacker, February 11, 2019, available at https://thestacker.com/stories/2481/50-ways-workforce-has-changed-50-years .
• Emily A. Vogels and others, “53% of Americans Say the Internet Has Been Essential During the COVID-19 Outbreak” (Washington: Pew Research Center, 2020), available at https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/04/30/53-of-americans-say-the-internet-has-been-essential-during-the-covid-19-outbreak/ .
• Kelemwork Cook and others, ”The guture of work in black America,” McKinsey and Company, October 4, 2019, available at https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-black-america .
• Casey Leins, ”Cities Struggle to Prepare African Americans, Latinos for the Future Workforce,” U.S. News and World Report, August 21, 2019, available at https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2019-08-21/cities-struggle-to-prepare-african-americans-latinos-for-the-future-workforce .
• Samantha Batel and Laura Jimenez, ”School Accountability in First-Round ESSA State Plans” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2017), available at https://americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2017/08/04/436963/school-accountability-first-round-essa-state-plans/ .
• Laura Jimenez and Scott Sargrad, ”A New Vision for School Accountability” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2017), available at https://americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2017/03/03/427156/a-new-vision-for-school-accountability/ .
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ”Local Area Unemployment Statistics,” available at https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/lauhsthl.htm (last accessed July 2020).
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ”Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey,” available at https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpsee_e16.htm (last accessed July 2020).
• Celine McNicholas and Margaret Poydock, “Who are essential workers?”, Economic Policy Institute, May 19, 2020, available at https://www.epi.org/blog/who-are-essential-workers-a-comprehensive-look-at-their-wages-demographics-and-unionization-rates/ .
• Jens Manuel Krogstad and Mark Hugo Lopez, ”Black voter turnout fell in 2016, even as a record number of Americans cast ballots,” Pew Research Center, May 12, 2017, available at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/12/black-voter-turnout-fell-in-2016-even-as-a-record-number-of-americans-cast-ballots/ .
• Randall Akee, “Voting and Income,” Econofact, February 7, 2019, available at https://econofact.org/voting-and-income.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here . American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.

Laura Jimenez

Former Director, Standards and Accountability

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• Future of Work

Although we cannot predict with certainty the types of jobs that will exist in the future, we know that today’s students will need a variety of skills, “21st century skills.” However, these are skills that our students need today. Knowing this, we must ask ourselves what are the best ways  to provide all students with ​authentic​, ​​​unique​,​ and innovative learning experiences that will foster the development of these essential skills? How can we prepare students for jobs which may not exist yet in our ever-changing world?

As an educator of 25 years, I have seen a lot of changes in ​education. Popular discussions in learning communities focus on ​teaching methods, ​the classroom “space,” homework and grading policies, and whether students need a college degree to be successful in the future. When I was in high school, attending college was the natural progression after graduation for most students. My high school had students divided into different tracks​: business, college prep, and ​vo-tech. ​Within each track, students ​followed a specific course of studies, with little room for “electives.” The goal was to prepare most students for college or entering the workforce after graduation. To do so, meant following a standard curriculum.

​Looking at the changes we have seen in the areas of education​ and work, I think the best action we can take is to offer specific types of learning experiences for all students. If we provide ways for them to more actively learn and explore the world, then hopefully, and ideally, no matter what they ultimately decide to do, they will have skills, real-world awareness, and flexibility that will have them well-equipped for a constantly changing system.

Learning: How Can Students Learn Best?

In a speech  about the future of learning, Alan November, international keynote speaker and author, said we have to “teach students ​how to learn.​”​ I have often noticed when students are given an open-ended task to complete, rather than a traditional assignment or assessment, they have a lot of questions and give “I don’t know” responses. Students have become used to being able to find one right answer to questions. To best prepare them for the future, we have to help them develop the persistence to push beyond basic recall of content and instead engage in productive struggle and deeper levels of thinking.

A recent article  listed five essential Montessori conditions for creating an innovative workplace. The conditions are:

• Dedicating time for creative projects,
• Rewarding innovation and divergent ideas,
• Empowering employees to make decisions,
• Allowing for failure, and
• Measuring what matters most.

I think that these conditions should be fostered in the learning environment we create for and co-design with our students. There are different school structures, programs, and teaching strategies that would align well with these essential conditions and provide students with the right preparation and skills for the future, now. If we provide more innovative learning opportunities for all students to build independence and have more choices in how and what they are learning, it will lead to better content retention and higher student engagement. Students will begin to see learning as a process, rather than a finite learning experience. I believe that these five types of learning experiences would facilitate this transition.

1) Project-based learning .   With project-based learning (PBL), students ​develop the skills to work independently or collaboratively, to come up with an essential question that does not have an easily found or specific answer, and which engages students in sustained inquiry. PBL promotes critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, and enhances the learning potential for each student as they design their own learning path. Students need more real-world experiences, where they can assess needs in their community and brainstorm ways to effect changes that will positively impact others beyond their classroom walls.

In my Spanish courses, I chose to implement project-based learning because it created more independent, student-driven learning. It broadened cultural awareness as we connected globally with students in Spain and Argentina and interacted with one another using different digital tools and sharing our experiences. Each student group has questions and curiosities, and through these authentic connections, we give our students an opportunity to learn about life beyond their own school and community. When students have the opportunity to create something of personal interest and to experience productive struggle when seeking answers to challenging questions, we better prepare them for an uncertain future of learning and work.​ An additional benefit is that students can then share their learning in the community or even at tech showcase events or professional development for teachers, to show the benefits of PBL from their perspective.

2) Artificial intelligence .   Several schools in the country are now offering courses in AI. In Pittsburgh, the Montour School District  launched the country’s first middle-school AI program in 2018. During the opening showcase  event, Justin Aglio , Director of Innovation for Montour, stated that approximately 40% of the jobs in the future will be replaced by artificial intelligence. With that being the prediction, students would benefit by learning about artificial intelligence and discussing the ethics surrounding its use. Students can learn how to use AI for good, become problem designers and create their own AI, rather than possibly being replaced by AI in the future of work. By giving all students the opportunity to understand, explore and design AI, we will foster innovation and provide all students with experiences and competencies that prepare them for the changes that AI might bring.

3) Maker education and coding .   There are many ways students can develop skills for the future in coursework related to a STEAM curriculum or courses focused on coding. These experiences should be available for all students during their K through 12 education. Having opportunities to explore new technologies can lead students to discover their personal interests and experience more meaningful learning. Students can figure out what they may be interested in, become curious for learning, engage in hands-on learning, problem-solving, and troubleshooting. Classes which blend in STEM or STEAM curriculum will build the core skills that students need, especially when it comes to technology. We need students to understand how things work, how to iterate and design new technologies. Even in a world where there are countless apps available, many of which complete complex tasks, we still need humans to keep our technology relevant and competitive.

4) Place-based   learning .   According to a recent Getting Smart  post , place-based learning is “anytime, anywhere learning that leverages the power of place, and not just the power of technology, to personalize learning.” For example, in place-based learning, we shift learning from the traditional content and instead look at a specific geographical area or focus on the culture of a place, to help students build on content knowledge while also developing empathy and social-emotional learning skills. Schools collaborate with local experts, businesses, community centers and other organizations to give students an opportunity to apply the content they are learning in the real world. These opportunities foster student agency, inform students about local and global issues, and facilitate a personal investment in their work.

When schools have their community become the classroom, it leads to higher student engagement and broadens student understanding and perspectives of the world they live in. Opportunities to engage in this hands-on learning not only builds rapport in the school community, but it gives students authentic, real-life work experience and a deeper level of understanding. They can see how the world works, look for challenges and be a part of the solutions.

Students could volunteer at community centers, travel to rural areas or even to a city to identify and solve problems like cleaning up the environment, starting a recycling program, planting a garden, or just talking with people to determine the issues that are affecting the community.

5) Entrepreneurial  skills and courses​.  In learning more about the gig economy  and the skills that students need for the future, a key takeaway was that students need to be able to quickly adapt to a changing work landscape. We need to offer students a course, or at least part of the curriculum within a course, dedicated to providing the right learning experiences where students can work independently as well as collaboratively. Entrepreneurial courses will foster critical thinking, problem-solving and time management skills as well as lead to other benefits. Students will develop social-emotional learning (SEL) skills by engaging in projects with a team to plan events, to set up a business, to create websites and manage a social media presence.

Students need to know how to leverage technology and have the right digital skills that will prepare them for a variety of work environments, whether physical or virtual. With the increase of technology use and platforms for business operations, companies are reducing the number of full-time employees and instead, hiring temporary employees or independent contractors, and in some cases, working in virtual spaces, requiring even fewer employees in a physical work space. We need to help students think like entrepreneurs , and become the innovators of the future.

There are courses and even digital resources that can help.

• Stukent  offers courses and simulations for high school and higher education. Students can explore marketing, social media for business, and even interact with experts in business fields.
• Ever-Fi  offers different programs and resources to provide students with exposure to STEM careers, business planning and career readiness.
• “ Shark Tank ,” following the tv series, offers students the chance to build skills through brainstorming, goal setting, time management, and teamwork. There are even board games that can push student thinking to an entrepreneurial mindset.

Activities like these, or planning large scale events like community days, school open houses, family nights, or even sporting events, can give all students a solid foundation for how to manage projects, create their own business and find success. More importantly, it fosters peer collaboration and relationship building that we all need to be successful and supported in our work.

Designing Different Experiences

As educators, the best that we can do is to keep ourselves informed of how the future of education and the future of work are changing. Staying informed means knowing what the job market looks like, what skills our students need, and how we can help them to develop those skills. We have a responsibility to all students because they will be designing our future. We need to design learning experiences that will prepare them to become the leaders, designers, problem solvers and innovators.

For more, see:

• Motivating Young People to Pursue the Professions of the Future
• How AI Curriculum Can Prepare Students for Success in a New World
• What if Students Designed Their Education?

This post is a part of the Getting Smart Future of Work Campaign. The future of work will bring new challenges and cause us to shift how we think about jobs and employability — so what does this mean for teaching and learning? In our exploration of the #FutureOfWork, sponsored by eduInnovation  and powered by Getting Smart , we dive into what’s happening, what’s coming and how schools might prepare. For more, follow #futureofwork and visit our Future of Work page.

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Don't be afraid of homework, ways in which homework helps you in the future.

Students may have a perception that homework is just a waste of time. They may feel doing something else could be a better use of their time. A lot of students use professional custom services to complete their homework. However, homework is designed to help students prepare for the future and develop skills that may come in handy in life.

From real-time experiences, people can confirm how homework helped shape their skills for the future. These are the skills that make adults successful with better working habits. Here are six ways in which homework helps students in the future.

• Develops Your Memory and Critical Thinking

The practice is an activity that ensures knowledge gets ingrained in the brain. One can develop a better memory and incorporate new skills with repetition. Homework is based on classwork and focuses on integrating the new skill through its practice. This helps in boosting memory and retaining the acquired knowledge for exams and future tests. Moreover, the skill of critical thinking shapes one’s lifelong decisions.

• Build Suitable Study Habits

Study habits include planning study hours, sitting, and focusing on meaningful goals. Some students may be able to concentrate on any situation with loud sounds or soft music. On the other hand, some may need silence and alone time to focus on the tasks. The time spent studying and the number of hours determines how long one can concentrate on one thing. It is essential to teach effective study habits before you reach a hectic college schedule.

• Learn Time Management

To finish tasks on time, one needs to prioritize activities and plan them. You can make a list of things you need to do and prioritize them accordingly. This helps in accomplishing more work in a limited time. You may be able to squeeze time for fun activities after finishing your homework.

• Realize Personal Responsibility

Your homework provides you with a sense of responsibility for your assignments. This makes you accountable to finish them in time and finish them with utmost precision. You will be able to finish work with more accuracy and quality when you realize you will be graded for it.

• Learn How to Work Independently

You may consider your memory and perception to be right when learning something at school. But, at home, you will apply the concepts that you learned in class. This is a test for your knowledge and problem-solving skills when studying on your own. Moreover, you will learn about your abilities and new methods to complete your work. These challenges will develop your brain to solve more significant problems in life.

• Learn to Use Resources and Research Better

When you work on challenging tasks, you use research papers, books, websites, and videos. This helps you learn more and get a better grade for your homework. With these impeccable research skills, you will be ready to take on life in the future and save a lot of time by not depending on others.

Homework may seem like additional work that is preventing you from having fun in life. But emphasize its benefits and how it will help you in the future. This positive notion will prepare you for your life ahead while excelling in homework.

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Pro V. Con: Homework prepares students for real life

Hope Kelly , Editor in Chief | November 20, 2013

This is the pro argument on the effects of homework on students. To read the con click here .

Homework. That dreaded thing that all high school students hate. However, more importantly, it is a nice positive dose of reality for lazy teenagers who will soon be dealing with college papers and demanding jobs.

Although all high school students are not lazy, the mere mention of any form of so-called “work” is almost always meet with whines and moans. Often, students act as if the teacher has personally offended them by suggesting they do more than sit at home and watch TV.

Do not be naive enough to believe that teenagers are unchangeably lazy. In fact, students are constantly active, balancing sports, clubs, extracurricular activities, and family and friends with their ever-looming schoolwork. Quite simply, students’ hatred of homework comes from the belief they have more important things to do with their lives.

In reality, homework is absolutely crucial for students and their lives, not to fix the lazy teenagers, but to prevent laziness. Having homework prepares you for the real world. Not only will it help prepare you for college, but it will also prepare you for all jobs you might hold in the future and for life.  In college, professors are not going to bat an eyelash when they tell you to write a six page paper that’s due next week. In life, your boss isn’t going to like it if you whine and moan every time they ask you to write up a report.

Homework for the sake of homework is stupid, and nothing is more annoying than busy work. However, true college preparatory homework will not only help you learn the topic you are working on in your classroom, but it will teach you to do more than just write the paper or do the report.

Also, it will give you practice with whatever you are working on. Students love to ask, “When will I ever need this in my life?” If it is a paper, you will always need to know how to write and communicate effectively. If it is something more precise like the quadratic formula in math class, you may never need that equation again, but practicing it will teach you how to think. It will train you to logically solve problems, which you will do for the rest of your life.

At the end of the day, even if we don’t like it, homework helps students to become better adults. And isn’t that what all teenagers want? To be treated like adults?

Hope Kelly is Editor in Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

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As a student, you must believe that it would be great if the ‘no homework’ movement could gain in popularity. Without homework , you would have free time to spend with your friends or dedicate to your hobby. It could also help to reduce stress and anxiety. All in all, college life would be easier.

Have you ever thought about the benefits of homework for future career growth?

According to the CIRP Freshman Survey , 87.9% of students claim that the number one reason for attending colleges is the potential ability to get a better job. However, having a degree isn’t enough to secure employment.

Getting your first job with no experience can be difficult. If you want to make a good first impression on your future employers, you need to expand your soft skills and demonstrate them through resume and communication during the job interview.

Want to know why is homework important ? Doing your homework is not just about hitting the books and writing tons of essays; it’s also a proven way to improve the soft skills that can help you interact well with colleagues. Simply put, doing homework is important as well as studying the history –it helps to understand more about the things around and think outside the box. There are 6 homework benefits for future career growth:

1. Self-Discipline

It’s no secret that students try to procrastinate on doing homework, especially if they have to complete IT assignments . Since some assignments are difficult or boring, it’s tempting to dedicate this time to more pleasant things like communication, movies, books, etc. However, responsible students know the importance of homework for their grades, so they have to overcome procrastination and work on assignments. That’s about self-discipline. Yes, homework teaches students to take responsi­bility for their own learning. What is more, it teaches us to prioritize our tasks and dedicate time to the most difficult and urgent ones. In the future, this skill will help you complete your work duties even if you find some of them boring or even become an experienced MBA specialist in your industry.

2. Time Management

Improving time management skills is the main benefit of homework. Since teachers assign too much homework, it’s important for students to prioritize their tasks, create a study routine that works well for them, and complete homework assignments on time. In other words, you can find out the best homework planner apps that help students improve time management skills if they want to keep a balance between studies, life, and part-time work and get an academic achievement. The more you practice, the faster you learn how to manage your time wisely. And as a future worker, whether a geographer , IT manager, or accountant, you need to be ready for handling tight deadlines , so your time management skills will be handy in the future.

3. Teamwork

Have you ever teamed up with your group mates to work on homework? Most students realize that all of them have different strengths and weaknesses, so collaborating with other students is a proven way to understand the subject better and complete your homework fast . As a result, teamwork helps to save time as you share tips on doing your online task with other school students. It also helps to write your academic paper faster, and therefore get a better grade without spending many days on doing your homework. Although all teachers want to catch students cheating, teamwork is about improving your collaboration skills. When it comes to career growth, these skills help to get along with your boss and colleagues, and therefore work within the community effectively and achieve your goals faster.

4. Problem-solving

Working on homework, you can face many obstacles: From a lack of knowledge to missed deadlines. What is more, you may need to understand how to use Excel for your advantage .This means you need to solve problems quickly, and therefore it helps to improve problem-solving skills. When it comes to the workplace environment , difficult or unexpected situations can happen from time to time. In most cases, it requires advanced problem-solving skills so that you can solve these problems effectively and fast.

5. Communication

No matter what your future profession is, communication plays a key role in achieving career growth. Every day you need to communicate with different people even without knowing that: Discuss plans and goals with your team lead, send business emails to potential clients, spend time with colleagues, etc. One study has found that most job candidates lack in written and oral communication skills. When it comes to homework, you may need to communicate with teachers, parents, and peers as you may want to ask for help, get assistance, or discuss tasks. To submit your well-written homework assignments on time , you need to communicate with people, so it helps to improve these skills.

6. Business Writing

As a student, you may get different writing assignments (term papers, essays, project). Since these tasks require much time and effort, it’s no wonder that most students find writing assignments the most difficult ones. However, one of the facts about homework says that advanced writing skills help to complete your online paper faster, and therefore get a better grade.

When teachers assign essays, they don’t want you to hate them; they want you to improve your writing skills. In fact, writing an essay is not just about showing that you know the topic well; it’s also about your ability to express your thoughts so that other people could understand you. Talking about your career path, you will have to write business emails frequently, so this skill will be useful as well as knowing business law   or having law knowledge in general Plus, it can help to understand the operational process .

Working on homework assignments takes a lot of time and effort, so it’s no wonder most students don’t like homework, procrastinate on it, and miss deadlines. However, homework teaches students important life skills that can help to achieve career growth. Whenever you feel like procrastinating on your homework, think about at least six benefits of homework all school students should know and follow these tips to make the most out of homework benefits . From teaching responsibility to improving communication skills, doing your homework is a proven way to invest in your future career growth, so don’t miss this chance.

So, what are your favorite homework benefits?

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06-25-2024 THE FUTURE OF WORK

5 mindsets students need to thrive in the future of work

The CEO of the Aspen Institute argues that a traditional college degree can help students prepare for the labor market of tomorrow.

[Photo: skynesher/Getty Images]

BY  Daniel R. Porterfield 8 minute read

In the last decade, a raucous chorus of critics has found common cause taking down the once hallowed American institution of college . Some claim that it’s degenerated into a left-wing brainwashing factory, a right-wing privilege machine, or a cushy jobs program for faculty and staff. Others lament alleged patterns of coddling fragility, conditioning conformity, or locking young people into decades of indebtedness. And then there are the denunciations—heightened since October 7th—that truth, reason, facts, impartiality, and civil dialogue are relics of a bygone time.

While there’s much to discuss and reform, such broadsides all miss one central fact, the proverbial baby in the bathwater, which is that an excellent undergraduate education still provides substantial lifelong benefits . One indicator is the well-documented wage premium, which shows that college graduates earn at least $1 million more than high school graduates over their working lives. But there’s a complementary value proposition I explore in my new book, Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth , which takes readers inside the learning journeys of 30 recent graduates of Franklin & Marshall College, where I served as president from 2011 to 2018. Here’s the gist of my argument:

The rates of change in our economy and our lives are accelerating rapidly, for good and for ill, thanks to revolutionary technologies including generative artificial intelligence . Our jobs and ways of working are transforming at warp speed. The same goes for our information systems, access to data, scientific knowledge, medical technologies, and defense, financial, and commercial systems. Adding to the upheaval are factors like climate change and demographic shifts worldwide.

In today’s tech-fired economy, people and places that can’t keep up with the bullet trains of change will fall faster and further behind. To do so, workers need to increase their capacity to perpetually learn and develop, alone and in teams, as acts of will and skill and even identity. Adaptability and agility will advantage people in the twists and turns of their careers much more than any single credential or time-limited mastery.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel R. Porterfield is the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute.   More

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Why Opening a CD in July Is So Smart for Your Savings

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Key Takeaways

• July is an excellent time to open a record-paying CD because CD rates are still up to 6.00% APY , and there are dozens of other CDs paying 5.00% or more.
• CD rates are influenced by the federal funds rate, which the Fed has held at a 23-year high for almost a year to tame inflation.
• Inflation recently slowed, an encouraging sign that the Fed could move toward a rate cut this summer or fall.
• Rates on new CDs will begin dropping as soon as the Fed appears ready to reduce rates—even before it actually announces a move, so lock in a high CD rate now before it's too late.

The full article continues below these offers from our partners.

July's Stellar CD Rates

There's hardly ever been a better time than July in the last 20 years to put money in a certificate of deposit (CD) . That's because you can earn historically high returns—topping out between 5.00% and 6.00% in most CD terms —with virtually no risk or uncertainty. That's remarkable when you consider that at the start of 2022, the top nationwide CD rates ranged from just 0.50% to 1.50% APY.

The 2023 surge in CD rates was triggered by the Federal Reserve's historic rate-hike campaign, aimed at tamping down post-pandemic inflation that had reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. By raising the federal funds rate 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023—to its highest level since 2000—the rates that banks and credit unions offered on savings accounts and CDs also skyrocketed.

Inflation, the Fed, and Why July Is a Good Time for CDs

Interest rates on CDs are not directly related to inflation . However, inflation levels influence the Federal Reserve and the federal funds rate, impacting the rates banks and credit unions offer for savings accounts and CDs.

Since July 2023, the Fed has been in a holding pattern, watching and waiting for inflation to fall closer to its 2% target before making further rate changes. While inflation has stubbornly persisted in the 3% range, the last two inflation readings provided encouraging hints that continued downward progress could be on the horizon.

Once the Fed feels confident that inflation is coming down sufficiently and reliably, it will consider making a first cut to the federal funds rate. And that day could be coming soon. While the CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows that less than 10% of federal funds futures traders currently expect the Fed to lower rates at its July 31 meeting, close to 70% are betting a rate cut will arrive by the Sept. 18 meeting.

For CDs, a decrease in rates is likely to happen before the actual Fed rate cut. That's because banks and credit unions generally don't wait until a Fed rate change is officially announced; they begin adjusting rates as soon as it's clear the Fed will lower rates at its next meeting.

This is why you should consider opening a CD in July. We don't know how long today's historically high CD rates will last. Rather than opening a CD when rates are falling, it would be wise to secure one of today's elevated rates while you can. And if you can stretch to a long term, you'll lock in a guaranteed return for years into the future.

What Could Happen After the July Fed Meeting?

It doesn't seem likely the Fed will make a rate change at its July 31 meeting. But the statement it releases, or the press conference comments Fed Chair Jerome Powell makes after the announcement, could provide signals that the central bank is considering a September rate cut. If there are suggestions to this effect, it could sway some banks and credit unions to start reducing their CD rates.

How Much Can You Earn in a CD in July?

Currently, you can earn as much as 6.00% with the top-paying CD in the country. Additionally, another dozen options pay 5.40% APY or better on terms up to 1 year .

If you can stretch your savings commitment longer, you can guarantee a CD rate as high as 5.10% APY for 2 years , or up to 5.00% APY for a 3-year term . Beyond that time frame, you can lock in an upper-4.00% rate for a term of 4 years or 5 years .

Federally Insured Institutions Are Safe

Most of the best-paying CDs in the country are offered by small or medium banks and credit unions with names you may not recognize. But regarding safety, it doesn't matter if your CD is held at a bank or a credit union, or if the institution is big, medium, or small. Federal protection applies equally to all FDIC-insured banks, regardless of size, and the same is true for NCUA-insured credit unions.

Advice for July CD Shoppers

Anytime you consider opening a CD, consider these two important factors:

• How much you can deposit in the CD
• How long you can live without that money

Once you know your desired deposit amount and duration, you can search our daily ranking of the best nationwide CDs to find today's top-paying options in any CD term.

A smart strategy is to decide what portion of your savings you'll keep in an easily accessible high-yield savings account —so you have access to some of your funds should you need them in an emergency—and how much you can lock into a CD.

You can also consider splitting your CD money up into more than one certificate, perhaps with different terms, so that your money becomes accessible in phases (known as a CD ladder ). Or you can open one CD immediately with some of your available money but then wait to invest the rest after watching rates for a while, perhaps after finding a CD deal that's new to the market.

Do Your Homework on Penalties

Before depositing money in a CD, review the bank's or credit union's early withdrawal penalty . Some penalties are reasonably mild, while others are large and can eat into your principal. Do your homework and avoid any CD with a harsh early withdrawal penalty.

How We Find the Best Savings and CD Rates

Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs and savings accounts to customers nationwide and determines daily rankings of the top-paying accounts. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured ( FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the account's minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000.

Banks must be available in at least 40 states. And while some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don't meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don't live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology .

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) ."

CME Group. " CME FedWatch Tool ."

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Here’s why it would be tough for Democrats to replace Joe Biden on the presidential ticket

University of Michigan Presidential Debate Expert Aaron Kall calls President Joe Biden’s uneven debate performance on Thursday night “probably the worst performance of a candidate, certainly an incumbent candidate, ever.”

President Joe Biden speaks at a presidential debate watch party, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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President Joe Biden visits a presidential debate watch party, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, left, and first lady Jill Biden speak at a presidential debate watch party, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden greets supporters at a Waffle House in Marietta, Ga., Friday, June 28, 2024, following a presidential debate in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s halting debate performance has led some in his own party to begin questioning whether he should be replaced on the ballot before November.

The latest on the Biden-Trump debate

• The debate was a critical moment in Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s presidential rematch to make their cases before a national television audience.
• Take a look at the facts around false and misleading claims frequently made by the two candidates.
• Both candidates wasted no time sparring over policy during their 90-minute faceoff. These are the takeaways .

There is no evidence Biden is willing to end his campaign. And it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace him unless he chooses to step aside.

Here’s why:

Delegates Biden won in the primaries are pledged to support him

Every state has already held its presidential primary. Democratic rules say that the delegates Biden won should support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.

The president indicated that he had no plans to do that, telling supporters in Atlanta shortly after he left the debate stage, “Let’s keep going.” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt was even clearer, saying Friday: “Of course he’s not dropping out.”

The conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug. 19 and change how things will work, but that isn’t likely as long as Biden wants to continue seeking reelection.

The current rules read: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

VP Kamala Harris couldn’t automatically replace Biden

The vice president is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can swap in for him at the top of the ticket by default. Biden also can’t decree that she replace him should he suddenly decide to leave the race.

The Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago, but the party has announced that it will hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin. The exact date for the roll call has not yet been set.

If Biden opts to abandon his reelection campaign, Harris would likely join other top Democratic candidates looking to replace him. But that would probably create a scenario where she and others end up lobbying individual state delegations at the convention for their support.

That hasn’t happened for Democrats since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson jockeyed for votes during that year’s Democratic convention in Los Angeles.

Other potential Democratic candidates would also face challenges

In addition to the vice president, others that had endorsed Biden in 2024 while harboring their own presidential aspirations for future cycles include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker and California Rep. Ro Khanna.

Still others who Biden bested during the party’s 2020 presidential primary could also try again, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

If Biden were to abruptly leave the race, conservative groups have suggested they will file lawsuits around the country, potentially questioning the legality of the Democratic candidate’s name on the ballot.

But Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, who wrote a book about the presidential nominating process and is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking arm, said that courts have consistently stayed out of political primaries as long as parties running them weren’t doing anything that would contradict other constitutional rights, such as voter suppression based on race.

What to know about the 2024 Election

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“This is very clear constitutionally that this is in the party’s purview,” Kamarck said in an interview before the debate. “The business of nominating someone to represent a political party is the business of the political party.”

Alimony lawyer: How to know when you need one

If a divorce jeopardizes your financial future, you might want to hire an alimony lawyer. Learn how they advocate for you and what to expect from their services.

Find out more about divorce, marriage & domestic partnership

by   Miles Almadrones

Miles is a legal writer and content marketing specialist with a background in operations management and logistics. He...

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Updated on: July 3, 2024 · 6 min read

What do spousal support lawyers do?

5 reasons you might need an alimony lawyer, how much does an alimony lawyer cost, how to prepare for a consultation with an alimony lawyer.

The divorce process isn’t without its fair share of financial uncertainties, especially for individuals who relied on their former spouse for most, if not all, of their income. In such cases, both parties typically need to negotiate spousal support, also known as alimony, which is where it helps to have legal representation.

Before deciding to work with an alimony lawyer, let’s review what they do, why you might need one, and how to prepare for a consultation if you move forward.  

An alimony lawyer (also known as a spousal support lawyer) represents clients during and after divorce proceedings, whether to negotiate a fair settlement or adjust agreements down the road.

Here’s an overview of their primary responsibilities:

• Case evaluation. Assess the marriage’s complete financial picture—including joint income, marital property, and debts—to determine the need for alimony payments. 
• Documentation and evidence. Gather, organize, and present the relevant financial documents and evidence necessary to claim spousal support.  
• Negotiate alimony terms. Work to negotiate a fair and reasonable alimony settlement with the opposing party before heading to court. 
• Court proceedings. If needed, proceed to trial to advocate for a favorable alimony judgment. 
• Modification and enforcement. After the divorce, adjust or enforce existing alimony agreements if financial circumstances change or the paying spouse doesn’t comply.  

Beyond the job specifics, a spousal support lawyer’s main goal is to protect their client’s interests throughout divorce proceedings and ensure they receive what they deserve. 

Now that you’re familiar with the basics of what these lawyers can do, should you work with one for your divorce? 

Consider these five reasons to decide: 

1. Personalized guidance

Each divorce case is unique, with its own set of challenges and variables. A spousal support lawyer takes time to thoroughly evaluate your particular situation, considering factors like your financial needs, your spouse’s ability to pay, and the type of alimony you should pursue. From there, they develop a personalized legal strategy to advocate for a settlement and prepare for any complications that may arise.  

2. Representation in your corner

Perhaps the most important reason to work with a lawyer is their ability to negotiate on your behalf during discussions with your spouse’s legal team. Their expertise in these proceedings often prevents drawn-out disputes, as they know how to advocate for your best interests while finding common ground that satisfies both parties. 

Nonetheless, if negotiations fail, your alimony attorney will represent you in court. At this stage, they handle communications on your behalf, ensure you meet court paperwork requirements and deadlines, and present your side of the case to a judge. If your circumstances change or your spouse fails to meet their obligations in the future, your lawyer can step in to adjust the agreement and protect your rights. 

3. Navigating legal complexities and compliance

One of the most challenging aspects of divorce is determining spousal support payments, especially in cases involving complex financials and large estates. However, an experienced family law attorney accounts for all relevant information, including assets, debts, income sources, and future earning potential, among other indicators, to demonstrate what you deserve. 

With their understanding of state-specific divorce and alimony laws , they can identify which factors may strengthen your case, such as long-term disparities in income, your previous contributions to the household, or the standard of living you enjoyed during the marriage. Likewise, they ensure you understand your rights and obligations throughout the process, allowing you to transition to the next chapter of your life with clarity and peace of mind. 

4. Protection against unfair agreements

Spousal support negotiations tend to come with high stakes and intense emotions, making it easy to feel overwhelmed or pressured into accepting an unfavorable agreement. In these situations, you want a lawyer who can interpret the long-term implications of the settlement and challenge unfair terms proposed by your spouse’s legal team. 

They will review all proposed agreements, negotiate on your behalf, and ensure the final arrangement is fair and sustainable. With their expertise, you’re more likely to reach an agreement that truly reflects your best interests and supports your financial stability moving forward. 

5. Minimize emotional stress

In addition to protecting your rights, a spousal support attorney makes it easier to prioritize your well-being. They act as a buffer between you and your spouse’s legal team, reducing the potential for conflict and stress that can come from face-to-face negotiations. With a knowledgeable lawyer handling the legal aspects, you can focus on your personal needs and emotional recovery above everything else. 

Before hiring an alimony lawyer, it’s important to understand the potential costs involved, which depend on the lawyer’s experience, your location, and the complexity of the case.

Here’s a breakdown of what to expect: 

• Hourly rate. Most spousal support lawyers bill by the hour, with rates ranging from $100 to $500 or more. 
• Retainer fee. Attorneys often charge an upfront retainer fee, which can range from $2,000 to $10,000 or more. 
• Flat fee. For single services, such as drafting or reviewing a legal document, alimony lawyers may charge a flat fee, depending on the amount of work involved. 

Keep in mind that while a lawyer can seem expensive up front, they can save you significant money and stress in the future. While you shouldn't exceed your budget, try to choose the attorney who gives you the best representation and value for their services.

Ideally, you should meet with a few alimony lawyers to find the right one for your situation. Keep in mind that some lawyers charge a fee for an initial consultation, while others do not.

Here are some tips to help you prepare: 

• Write down a list of questions. Before your consultation, think about what you want to ask your attorney , such as their experience with similar cases and the potential outcomes for yours. 
• Gather financial documents. Collect relevant documents like bank statements, tax returns, pay stubs, investment accounts, and a list of assets and debts. 
• Share your goals. Think about your main priorities and what you hope to achieve, such as if you’re looking for a specific amount for permanent alimony or temporary spousal support while you find a new career.
• Discuss their rates and budget. Be open about your budget and ask for a clear estimate of their fee structure to avoid any surprises and ensure their services meet your expectations. 

Divorce and spousal support negotiations can feel emotionally draining, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Above all, take the time to find a lawyer who understands your needs and makes you feel the most comfortable. With the right support, you can move forward and start the next chapter of your life with confidence. 

For more information regarding spousal support, alimony, and legal help, here are a few questions other readers typically ask: 

What is the meaning of alimony in divorce? 

Also known as spousal support or spousal maintenance, alimony is a financial payment one spouse may be required to make to the other after a divorce . Its purpose is to give the receiving spouse financial stability and help them maintain a reasonable standard of living. Alimony is not the same as child support.

Can I appeal an alimony decision?

Yes, you can appeal an alimony decision if you believe the court made an error. The appeal must be filed within a specified time frame, depending on your jurisdiction, and you’ll need to prove that the original decision was unfair based on the presented evidence. 

How do prenuptial agreements affect alimony? 

Prenuptial arrangements can impact alimony depending on their terms. They may outline minimum amounts, eliminate the obligation to pay alimony, or specify conditions under which alimony is to be paid. Courts typically uphold these agreements, provided they're legally valid and enforceable.

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