It’s no secret that Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the highest in the world for our education results. But only in the fields of science and math (and reading). However, we all know that these test results are pretty much useless when you’re dealing with other things in adulthood, like how to deal with relationships, or how to sift through bullsh*t.
Financial Literacy is now a mandatory part of tertiary education in Singapore, and it’s a great starting point. However, we can’t just be knowledgeable in how to handle money alone – we need to be more well-rounded in order to survive this new world.
Here are some soft skills that could actually benefit all students – regardless of their grades – when they officially become ‘adults’.
Understanding Relationships
We humans are social creatures – case in point, you usually feel better when you’re with people you like, whether they’re your girl/boyfriend, your bestie, or your family. While many things can make you happy, few things can have as much impact as a relationship.
This means that being able to communicate with another person is very important – you need to be able to easily convey your feelings without blame or judgement, you need to know where your boundaries are, and you need to have honest discussions about almost everything. These things should come naturally to us, but with more of us connecting online – via apps like WhatsApp, IG, or Messenger – most of us have lost the skill of communication.
Relationships transcend girl/boy romances – it’s also about how to be a good friend, how to talk to your family, how to deal with issues at school, how to communicate with total strangers. It’s also important to know how to spot manipulative behavior, and the differences between the way guys and girls communicate (which could save a lot of issues, especially ones to do with consent).
Which brings us to…
Learning healthy sexual values
Anyone who’s of age to have relationships will have thought of sex at one point, and an important life lesson here is to have good sexual values. This is because throughout our lives, we are taught by our parents and school that we need to have good manners, a good work ethic, or to have a sense of accountability.
But nobody ever brings up the topic of how to behave in bed – it’s not just about the act of sex, it has to do with empathy, kindness, generosity, and honesty. Imagine if all anyone learns about ‘sex’ is through social media or the internet – because it’s ‘taboo’ elsewhere – how will it affect our behavior in bed with our significant other?
If empathy and honesty are values we should embody in our daily lives, it should also apply to all aspects of our lives. These simple acts can go a long way in fostering better, stronger relationships and maybe even end rape culture.
Mental health awareness
Promoting mental wellbeing should be a central part of what schools teach – especially since it’s a place where not only learning takes place, it’s also where stress and depression can amount to serious problems.
It’s important for students to learn how to recognise and cope with mental issues in themselves and their peers, and equip them with the awareness of good mental health. Schools need to have incentives for taking a school-wide approach to mental health.
In line with mental health, we also need to train our brains in other ways…
Self awareness
If you’re a Philosophy student, you already know the importance of self-awareness. It would benefit many of us to relearn how to think; it starts with a high degree of self-awareness which gives you the ability to think about how you think. This makes us understand our feelings, give us opinions, and helps us develop meta-cognition skills that goes beyond logic and reasoning.
This means we’ll be better planners who are more focused and in tune with our emotions, making us better decision-makers. Self-awareness is a great soft skill to have whether you’re a student or a working adult, because it gives you the basis for the next two skills:
Logic and skepticism
With better meta-cognitive skills, we’ll also be able to have a healthy dose of skepticism and a good grasp of logic – very useful skills in an age of fake news and clever scam artists. Everything we believe is most likely wrong to some degree – even in the world of science and maths, ‘facts’ seem to change with every new discovery. It’s this thirst for discovery – fueled by the uncertainty – that makes us humble, as we accept whatever comes along without unfair judgement.
No one should be too certain about some things, because it’s the root of many ‘bad’ things like complacency, arrogance, hypocrisy and unfair prejudice.
Which of these soft skills do you wish you have?
