Raising Adults - The Importance of Character and Employable Life Skills

As home-schoolers, we value the freedom to teach what we judge to be the most important. I think that most of us teach far more than is technically required as the lowest minimum standard. When I say 'life skills' I don't refer to laundry, grocery shopping, and measuring ingredients. I think more along the lines of

-Independent problem solving
-Managing tasks
-Respect for authority
-Eliminating the unnecessary info
-Working alone productively
-Managing deadlines
-Finding solutions

When I have had job interviews, talked to managers about their employees, or read articles about 'what employers want' etc, I find common threads. The young people that we as a nation are launching into the workforce are unprepared for the workplace. Even if we completely disregard their academic abilities (such as making change, writing decent memos, and other education-derived tasks) they are terribly unfit for almost any employment. They are unable to work independently, like moving from task to task without lolling about on the internet or at the proverbial water cooler. If they run into an obstacle, they don't problem-solve to continue with their task. They cannot sift through extra information to find an answer, they have a short attention span when confronted with a challenge, in short they are without the training necessary to work productively.

You must be vigilant to ensure that the associated tasks of education are being met (such as the list above). Instantly to mind comes visions of my mother and my aunt. They spend (or spent) the time each evening at the kitchen table Quality-controlling work, drilling us with flashcards, demanding rewrites, and raising the bar of requirements for our education. Parents must remember that we are raising future adults, not perpetual children. Not only did my mom ensure educational goals were met, she made it a lifestyle to write and meet goals, to break up tasks into manageable chunks, to pay attention, to respect teachers, to solve problems.

Whether you home-school or supplement a public education, you must own and be responsible for the shape of your child's abilities. Your child has complete freewill after he leaves your house. But before that day, you must demand that your child learns the other set of skills that makes a productive and capable worker.