Essential Skills To Learn Worldwise.

Do a web search of the main reasons why international students drop out of college overseas – or why millennials are not stable in their careers – and you’ll quickly discover what I did: that college professors and business leaders are finding common threads amongst young post grads and first jobbers. 

On all accounts they:

• Lack vision
• Lack empathy
• Lack accountability
• Lack gratitude
• Have difficulty with face to face communication skills
• Have difficulty with collaboration across mixed groups
• Have an unwarranted sense of entitlement

Entrepreneur Asia Pacific magazine wrote a fascinating article about it: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/305852

What I find concerning here are the main reasons why millennials fail. It appears that they struggle to collaborate, they lack confidence in themselves and their decisions, which can then lead to anxiety. Many struggle with presentation and communication, and are not critically thinking to see overall goals and vision. Basically, many millennials lack soft skills - and I think it’s time that we stop calling them soft skills because these skills are as essential to their success as is the study of algebra and modern history and computer science. Let’s face it - there’s nothing “soft” about getting rejected from a job - or never getting picked in the first place. There are plenty of life situations which require those “soft skills” to become essential skills.

Dulwich College Puxi places great emphasis on the development of these essential skills required to thrive in our modern world.

When our students go out into the world, they have been trained for years to work collaboratively, to seek connections, to find common ground and to be empathetic. It happens daily in our Business Studies classes, in our STEAM classes, on our Sports fields, in our Science labs, and when we go on our international education trips. It is our DNA - and the reason we can celebrate 400 years of academic success today.

Our students experience hard knocks – there are those assessments that are tough…and we focus as much on the “bounce back” of those who struggle, as on those who soar. 

Dulwich students are confident communicators. They are coached from primary school about the importance of student voice - standing up for what you believe in. They are given forums to make it happen together. And it happens. Our students have demonstrated they can be entrepreneurs at 8 and inventors at 14 because we give them space to TRY, FAIL, TRY and SUCCEED. That’s how we teach worldwise to learn worldwise - and there is nothing soft about that.