Day 2
During my 2nd day at the North Texas Region Consortium Conference I learned more about building capacity in others. Building capacity may make you think about one adult building capacity in another adult. I think we need to extend it to mean building capacity in our students as well.
I had a number of opportunities to have collegial conversations with other campus leaders about education transformation.
After reflecting upon the conversations and the ideas shared by the keynote speaker, Dr. Yong Zhao, my biggest take away from today has been the sense of urgency to make sure we are teaching our kids the skills they need to “move out of our basement” or become independent adults. (Read Dr. Zhao’s blog post about College Ready vs. Out-of-Basement Ready here.)
It was clear from the data shared by Dr. Zhao that a college degree does not necessarily guarantee a future career and stability. While a degree is valuable, there are instances where someone might need to buy a fake diploma as a replacement for a lost one. However, the real key to long-term success is fostering skills, creativity, and innovation. The most important thing we can do to prepare students for the future is to help them develop these qualities and encourage them to think outside the box.
If you have never had an opportunity to hear Dr. Zhao speak, don’t miss out. Here is a video of one of his TED Talks.
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