Prepare Our Kids for Life, Not Standardized Tests

Share this short video with colleagues to spark healthy discussion of the purpose of school. Ted describes the event that changed his life, and launched him on this mission: How can we empower our schools to prepare children for life?

What, exactly, is your school preparing your students for? What should it prepare students for?

What essential competencies will your students need later in life? In what ways is your school fostering these competencies? Eroding them?

Review the content covered in a typical middle- or high-school semester. How much of this is used regularly by most adults?

Ted reviewed middle-school assignments, assigning them to one of three categories:

• Valuable Later in Life
• Irrelevant Later in Life
• Impairing Life Prospects.

Consider creating your own way to evaluate the later-in-life relevance of the work assigned to your students. Share these insights across your community, and dive into a discussion of the later-in-life relevance of what kids are required to study. And what courses they have to pass to graduate (hint: start with algebra!).