Thursday, January 17, 2013

What Life Skills Education Addresses

By Shanna McNeil


Quite a lot of institutions now offer life skills education classes for credit to their pupils. Nonetheless, a lack of understanding still prevails as regards these classes and of what use they are. The tips below should provide you with some insight as to what these classes offer.

First, these courses are academic in both their intent and in their content. They are not meant as a vocational alternative for the less academically gifted to pursue. They can be taken for academic credit and are not inferior to traditional academic offerings.

The purpose of the courses is to evaluate a student's individual strengths and weaknesses. This is done through self exploration exercises, written assignments and career research. In this way, a student is better able to determine the sort of training they should get and the type of career they wish to pursue.

Since the goals of these classes are so manifold, they will usually be handled by the faculty of Arts and Sciences. In consequence of this, there usually is a wide variety of classes of this type as opposed to a select number that all pupils must take. So you have to take a look at the offered classes and tailor it to your own needs.

For example, some courses will focus on what sort of college courses you can choose to take. Some will focus on the range of career options that you will have. And some will blend both of these into their syllabuses.

Stress management is another topic that you will find courses on. Such instruction is vital, given the susceptibility of people to stress in both college study and career progression. This should not be dismissed lightly, as you never know if and when you will have to make use of the information provided by these classes.

Other subjects that receive treatment include job searching, interviewing and drawing up a CV. Quite a few college graduates may come unstuck by their unfamiliarity with such subjects. So here, too, you should maintain an open mind and allow for the possibility that these subjects may affect you.

Cultural issues are another popular topic that these courses address. With our society now more diverse than ever before, it is all too easy to offend someone with behavior that we would ordinarily think of as harmless. Courses that instruct on cultural sensitivity are therefore a prerequisite to avoid such behavior.

Do not confuse life skills education with life experience credit, however. The former involves instructing you on matters that will assist you in your future studies and career. The latter is a way for diploma mills to offer worthless credit to people who think they will get a degree out of all of the work they have done over the course of their lives.

To summarize, life skills education considers quite a few useful subjects that need to be handled over the duration of your studies and working life. It is sensible to be aware of how beneficial such classes can be. The tips provided above should provide some clarity in this respect.




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