Discussion after you watch
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| pages 98 - 99 |
We have already discussed the first two questions. The third will be discussed here on our class blog.
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What do you think?
- In general, do you think schools all over the world should focus more on providing young people with transferable skills than on academic subjects?
- planning = 4:00 minutes (It's usually a good idea to plan before you start to write.)
- writing = 8:00 minutes, and
- editing = 3:00 minutes.
A helpful strategy
Do not write things like "question 3."
Instead, imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you are responding to. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. But you need to rewrite (paraphrase) the idea in the question as a statement.
More generally, because our writing should make sense independently of the question it might be answering, it is usually useful to give background, which can often be done by paraphrasing the question into statements that begin your answer. This is also a useful strategy in exams such as IELTS and TOEFL.
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Reference
- Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education
In my opinion, not all schools, only some schools over the world should provide young people transferable skills over academic subjects. For example, in some poor countries, poverty-stricken students can use these skills to get jobs to take care their lives and families. However, academic subjects are also crucial for them once they are free from starvation. They can have better lives by using knowledge from academic subjects.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely yes. In some country in these day they insert a lot of academic subject to children, without any asking, they even put it as the implication of living that if you want to have a career, you need to graduate from the academic school first, a few of them are willingly to let the person who is graduate from vocational school, who sometimes have a lot of potential from their transferable skill from their education. Government knows that academic knowledge is good for being a lot of theoretical career but they need to pay attention to the vocational school where it release the right man for the right action.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of things I like about Poom's comment. First, he sensibly relates the question directly to his own experience, to the situation in Thailand with which he is familiar.
DeleteSecond is that if you read my own comment below, you will see that I seem to disagree with Poom, but as I read how he develops his idea, I'm inclined to agree. I don't mean I now think I'm wrong, but that Poom explains relevant difference between what I had in mind when I was writing about academic subjects, and what came to his mind when he thinks of academic subjects in Thailand. I was reminded of some of my friends in high school who hated mathematics, which I loved. The problem was that the teachers failed (yes, I blame the teachers, not the students) to show how magically exciting mathematic is, focussing instead on forcing many students to remember formulae with no understanding of why, or of how they fit together, or of how brilliant they were. It was not surprising that so many people in my own school, which was a fairly good private school, came away with an impression of academic subjects as pointless, boring and useless. It was also very sad.
Thank you Poom for reminding me that there is a very different perspective to my own.
Hi Peter, what you've mentioned about the feelings of the people at your own school reminded me of my own experience in my own high school, because it used to make me hate all of the academic subjects there. Like many Thai students, the ultimate goal of studying in high school is to be able to pass the nation entrance examination. As the results, we, including myself, study academic subjects only to pass the test--I think we are trained by our teachers to tackle the exam, not to apply what we've learned and put it into practice. For example, when I learn about chemistry, I would memorize the periodic table to answer questions in the exam. I have never applied the knowledge to create some soap or to cook my meals better.
DeleteI couldn’t agree with you more. I used to be a student-teacher at a vocational school. Some of my students decided to study there because academic schools cannot provide instruction that meets their needs or skills. I mean, vocational schools help them get hands-on and practice their skills. From the part that Poom said the government needs to pay attention more to vocational school, I agree with it. Every country should focus on both skills at the same time, but for some schools, there may be an appropriate allocation. For example, academic schools may teach 70% of academic skills, and the rest may be transferable skills.
Deleteschools all over the world should focus on providing young people with transferable skills and on academic subjects the same because both ways are differently important to each student. We shouldn't tell of force students to study what they are not capable to do, like telling a student who hates maths to study the hardest level of mathematic, which they will suffer. I think the schools all over the world should give equal opportunities for students to learn what they are interested in and be useful for their future, no matter it is academic subjects or transferable skills. Because without chefs and dancers, the world would be boring.
ReplyDeleteOpal, I agree on what you have written here. I was misunderstanding on the meaning of word transferable. At first, I think it means anything that not related on academic subject. However, after I read more about other classmate post so I understand it much better.
DeleteAnyway, why I like your post? Because I see the same point as you said. Student have a choice to learn what they have been interested. They should not force to do it. I remembered when I was in school we force to study many thing that we don't like. I studied in science and mathematic but I never like physic at all. I studied it to the point that I completed collecting credit for finishing high school then there was still one term left so at that term I dropped it. I have spent more time to study art and something else. Being force to study on what we don't like is waste of time I think.
The point that student can use what they want to learn remind me about the school in USA name Sudbury Valley School. In this school, children can learn anything that they want. There is no subject and no rules. Everyone is equal. The environment in this school can support children to know what they want, develop themselves to be a master of it.
DeleteI don't know if I'm right about the term of transferable skill. For me, it's a skill that everyone can adaptable, such as critical thinking or problem-solving. I think we can use transferable skills as one of the learning tools. This way may help students gain both academic bits of knowledge, including having attempted and developed transferable skills together.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, more focus on transferable skills is quite important. I think this skill will help people to adapt in their real life and also their work. This skill will help you get along with others, working with them more easily and effectively.
I agree with Aoei's viewpoint that we may use transferable skills as a learning tool alongside academic subjects, which may assist students to gain both academic knowledge and the point she said about transferable skills helping you get along with people well. Many transferable skills, such as teamwork and communication, are now considered essential and useful in real life, and they will help you succeed in your career, just as academic knowledge provides you with critical thinking skills, mathematic skills, and the ability to solve problems logically, among other things. As a result, I believe her suggestion to include transferrable skills as one of the learning tools in school is a good one. Furthermore, in my experience, many high schools outside of Thailand, such as those in Australia, have more subject options, both practical and academic. For example, when students enter year 11, they will have a lot of freedom to choose school subjects that interest them rather than following their classmates. Most students there, based on what I've seen, are more likely to choose the right career path for their future than in Thailand, which has had a positive impact on the country's education system as well.
DeleteRelated to rapid change of the world, schools place to prepare children to ready for the real world should focus on providing transferable skills than academic skill. First, because of world is rapidly change children have to adapt them self a lot and academic is like fix knowledge that hard to transfer. Second, transferable skill can help children connect their knowledge and apply it for their real life. For example, if they found a problem such as to influence customer to buy their product. Mathematic skill is on the answer, the answer is emphatic skill and negotiate skill. Last reason, to create new something new they have to connect and blend knowledge and experience together. This method can be happened be transferable skill only.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the world has changed and transferable skills will connect student to the real world at work. In my experience, it's very challenging and competitive at work. You need academic subjects as a foundation and other people may have the same foundation like you. But to stand out and to survive, you need transferable skills, for example, teamwork, communication, and leadership.
DeleteInstitutions, not only schools, but including colleges and universities, should prepare students more transferable skills than academic subjects. Of course, academic subjects are a foundation that students should have, but they also need skills to apply the knowledge at work or in life too. Moreover, if students only focus on the subjects, they will have very limited choices of career. I am a graduate of Faculty of Arts, and at university we learn more about life and tools to use at work. With these tools, I moved to many industries like Airlines, Education, Population ,and Human Rights.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree with you Beer as I do think several transferable skills are substantially useful for young people to lay foundation to employment perspective. It is also undeniable to say that certain academic subjects, such as History, might not lead to practical skills for future work, resulting in losing chances to have better jobs. The better transferable skills you have, the more you will be successful in your career path.
DeleteTaking history as an example. If students only focus on the subject or knowledge, they won't go far. There is no job as historian in Thailand and the only profession they can go to is teacher. If they don't graduate with an honour, they will have a slim change to teach at university. If they give up and do something else instead, then it is a waste of time in studying history.
DeleteIn history, there is a research methodology which is no different from the science field. You choose the topic, review the information, analyse the notion why was this happen, then discuss future predictions and outcomes. If they focus more on this transferable skill, they can go to other profession like researcher, analyst, and policy advisor.
When I first thought about whether schools around the world should focus more on teaching transferable skills or on teaching academic subjects, I could see benefits in both. It's always useful to be able to think critically, which is a transferable. If you learn to think critically by studying philosophy or classical Chinese, that is a skill that is transferable. Similarly, the rigorous logical thinking that characterizes subjects like mathematics and physics, and also philosophy again, is a valuable skill that can be applied in many different situations in life. My point is that it does not always have to be an either/or choice. By teaching academic subjects that are traditionally in the liberal arts and sciences faculties at universities, students who do well must also learn a range of transferable skills. I was never very good at music, but my efforts playing the flute taught me not only discipline to practice and follow instructions exactly, but also showed me the importance and benefits that come from group work. In my mathematics classes, I could pretty much ignore everyone else and enjoy the mathematics, but that did not work in music classes in high school.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much experience of more career oriented academic subjects, such as medicine or management, but I think that since teaching traditional academic subjects like history, sciences, languages, philosophy, economics and so on must also include a set of more general transferable skills, schools should focus on academic subjects, and the desirable transferable skills will come with them.
It is not an accident, for example, that lists of the most influential people in the world often include philosophers, who along with mathematics also often do well in business situations where creativity and critical thinking about issues are important. Not many people who study it can get a job as a philosopher, but their set of transferable skills are often sought after in more money-oriented sectors.
Peter, after reading your comments, I agree with you that the ability to think critically and logically are vital. Even though I attended a graduate school, I usually feel that what I learn in the classes has already outdated. At work, I cannot only rely on the knowledges that I have learned in the classes. I mean the problems and issues that I am facing at work require me to think and come up with an unique solution on those particular problems. My company usually hires research companies and business consultants to help guide and solve those problems, but most of the times, that doesn't work--my teams and I still need to spend large amount of times to solve the problems by ourselves. As you know, I used to work for a Japanese bank and I used to learn about the concept of Kaizen which means 'change for better'. Because I was raise in Thai culture which it is quite different from Japanese culture, it is not my habit of putting the concept into practice and apply it at my works. In contrast, my Japanese colleagues did that well and they really followed it. They used to use Kaizen as a way they think, behave and see the world. So I started realizing myself that I have been a person who don't have a principle or concept to steer my thinking and action. In fact, I just used to use emotions and preference to guide my decisions and actions.
DeleteI want to be a philosopher, Peter:)
DeleteI concur with the statement that transferable skills should be more concentrated in schools over the globe. This is due to the fact that such skills are quite useful in real lives such as communication, teamwork and adaptability. Without those, any academic knowledge we have had could mean nothing as we do not live alone: we have to communicate with others and also move somewhere when it is needed, meaning that communication and adaptability are acquired. All in all, this is the reason why transferable skills should definitely have more attention.
ReplyDeleteBest made a good point that transferable skills are needed for living. However, I think schools cannot weigh these skills against academic subjects because both are essential and needed to be balanced. It is an undeniable fact that we has been moving the world forward by the application of academic knowledge.
DeleteI think schools all over the worlds should teach students transferable skills than on academic subjects, because such transferable skills such as reading skills, writing skills, listening skills and critical thinking skills are fundamental and very important for students to continuously be successful in their works and live. In my experience, I depend on my transferable skills to be effective and efficient at works. I means many things have been changing so it is very important to me to be able to keep leaning and solving pressing issues by myself--I cannot wait for academia and researchers or business consultants to tell me what to do. Moreover, as knowledge has been evolving, schools shouldn't teach students to memorize information or formula. In contrast, they should equip students with transferable skills in order to allow them to be an independent thinker. I think it doesn't matter that you know some things, but it is more important to to able to think.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma that "schools shouldn't teach students to memorize information or formula" (20 July 2021 at 20:04). Although I've argued in my own comment above (20 July 2021 at 20:04) that schools should teach academic subjects, I don't mean that they should have students mindlessly memorize facts or formulae. For example, no one is going to fall in love with mathematics by memorizing Pythagoras's famous theorem that a^2 + b^2 = c^2 for every right angled triangle, but if they learn how this is proved to be absolutely certain, and how it can be applied elsewhere, even in daily life, for example, to get an exact right angle for fencing a piece of land. But it's the fun of seeing how it can be used to elsewhere in mathematics that makes it exciting to develop such transferable skills as abstract thinking, critical analysis, and synthesis. Similarly, history should be much more than merely remembering dates and events, but analyzing, finding connections, deepening our understanding of where we came from, and of learning to assess the worth of old ideas. Are they as true or as wonderful, or as bad, as traditionally claimed?
DeleteTransferable skills and academic subject both are important for school to provide for their student. However, some people think that it is depending on their focusing filed. We see many special school that focusing on their profession. such as film school, medical school, agriculture school or art school. To illustrate what I thought is that if you study in athlete like swimmer, you have to practice swimming a lot. You may have to train yourself every day and night. Teacher will be focusing on your physical training rather than train you to specialize in academic subject like chemistry. You may learn about physical biology or muscle related so you know your own body. These subject will serve your profession as a professional athlete.
ReplyDeleteIt is not irrational to assert that both transferable skills and academic subjects are crucial, yet some, probably also you Naam, believe that how important of those depends on each individual's preference. From my perspective, I do not agree with this viewpoint, especially for schoolchildren. To clarify, most of the schoolchildren have yet to know what they would like to be in the future, and thus it is then quite difficult for them to decide attending at any specialised school as you mentioned. Taking my personal experience for example, when I was a child I wanted to be a hairdresser just because I loved going to a hair salon, and then when I gets older I just realised I did not want to a hairdresser anymore so If I have attended at hairdresser school, I would have suffered over my childhood time. Therefore, I insist that youngsters should be taught more transferable skills at school to help them pave their way to future career.
DeleteAdmittedly, this topic is widely to discussion. In my opinion, transferable skills and academic subjects are becoming important these days and they should be taught in school or even in college as several reasons. As soft skills are communication skills such as verbal skills. For example, during at school if you have to work in a team, you must be able to communicate with each other doing this work perfectly. Moreover, young people should study these academic subjects such as mathematics. For instance, when you go shopping, if you want the right change, you need to know addiction and substraction. However, I think most school should focusing more on transferable skills because most school in Thailand are teaching only academic subjects lead to most students become more stress.
ReplyDeleteI like your example. It helps us understand better.
DeleteI strongly agree that Thailand should increase the transferable skills in teaching because there is too much academic. Other skills or subjects, such as art or music, are forgotten.
reply to Aoei, thank you so much.
DeleteI like the simple explanation given by Anusya. According to the last sentence, I reckon that not only the subjects themselves but not knowing how to apply them into real lives also cause students' stress.
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