Daniel C. Sampayo
It is vey surprising how teachers take non-promotional subjects for granted, especially Life Skills. The name of the subject tells a major story of how important it is to learners. Reflecting back to the years I have been in school, nothing relevant was taught to me about life in the subject.
It was always about the stories of do not drink alcohol, walk in the night and be in a relationship, the life at university kind of things. Similarly, these are basics that parents are teaching their children at home.
Vague teaching of contemporary issues and values to learners. Most teachers pride themselves when they are given a chance to teach Life skills. They totally regard it as a subject with less content and work to do.
However, such motives have resulted in many life problems for learners. Life skills is such an important subject in school as it prepares learners for life challenges such as bullying, stress, anxiety, depression, despair, failure, discouragement, different types of abuse, loss of a loved one, and so on.
At the same time, it offers them different philosophies to deal with such problems. Through the subject, learners can be equipped with knowledge about self-esteem, positive self-image, self-discipline, confidence, courage, better career choices, to understand their personalities and to find purpose in life, to mention but a few.
Unfortunately, Life skills’ teachers have taken it as an opportunity to relax at work, which has resulted in robbing learners of their opportunity to develop better personalities, values, ethics and attitudes throughout the school years. Over the past few years, we have heard of children as young as nine and 10 years committing suicide. And many other disturbing occurrences in society.
If Life skills could be taken seriously, some of the issues in society could be prevented and reduced tremendously. Non-promotional subjects should be seen just as important as promotional subjects, especially Life skills. One cannot perform at their highest level without self-discipline.
Life skills should be seen as a catalyst needed to perform exceptionally. Not only at school, but generally in life. Without self-discipline, you cannot produce.
In conclusion, as an educator, you have a responsibility to do your best in any area that you find yourself. Skills, ideas, behaviours and attitudes can be learnt.
If you teach Life skills, bear in mind that you have lives to change, and teach the subject with passion. Parents should also be involved in the process by going to schools and sitting in classes, and to witness what type of content is being taught to their children.