📘 Part 3: Learning new skills

This episode's vocabulary

Vocational (adj.) - (of an educational course or a qualification) providing knowledge and skills that prepare you for a particular job.

Numerous (adj.) - many.

CV (noun) - a short written description of your education, qualifications, previous jobs, and sometimes also your personal interests, that you send to an employer when you are trying to get a job.

Self-management (noun) - the ability to control and organize something such as your own work, health, or behaviour.

To democratize (verb) - to make countries or organizations use democratic ways of making decisions.

To revolutionize (verb) - to completely change something so that it is much better.

To level a playing field (idiom) - to make a situation fair for everyone.

Play it by ear (idiom) - to decide how to deal with a situation as it develops, rather than acting according to plans made earlier.

Free agent (noun) - someone whose actions are not limited or controlled by anyone else.

Adopter (noun) - a person or company that starts to use a new product or service.

Skilfully (adverb) - with great skill.

Questions and Answers

M: Where do children learn skills in your country?

R: Lots of places actually, now I think about it. There are schools of course. But we also have things called vocational colleges, and youth groups like the Boy Scouts, which teach skills like plumbing and sailing, respectively. And then there are numerous organizations for specific skills like ambulance services, which provide Junior first aid training. And this is without even touching on what kids learn at home from their parents and their relatives.

M: What are the differences between learning skills on your own, and from others?

R: Loads I would imagine. But the big ones would be things like the level of freedom in the process of learning and the level of qualification. So, if you learn things by yourself, you can do it in your own time, but you don't get a certificate or qualification at the end of it. Which might mean you can't put it on a CV or something like that.

M: What important skills should a child learn?

R: I think that depends a lot on the context and culture, to be honest. But social skills and self-management would be important. So things like how to make and keep friends and how to set goals and manage your time well would be good for later in life, since you have to work with other people in the world in order to get by.

M: What skills do you think teenagers should have?

R: Other than more developed versions of the ones I just mentioned? I can't think of any specific ones, really. It's hard to say what skills beyond those which lend themselves to working with others would be useful in the future.

M: And, for example?

R: Well, I already talked about the ability to manage your relationships. So I suppose things like that, or maybe communication skills as well. They would be useful. And that's regardless of the job that you have in the future, or whatever you're doing.

M: Is it easier for children or adults to learn new skills?

R: I think people have spent decades debating that one. The reason being that it seems to depend a lot on how things are done. Children have an abundance of time to just focus on learning. But adults have the cognitive development that allows them to build on core concepts faster and then extend them to other areas. And with that in mind, I really can't say for sure, without more information on what's being learned.

M: How has the internet changed the way people learn new skills?

R: It certainly seems to have democratized the process of learning. Since just about everyone can access information on anything really. And anyone with a camera and a microphone can create a video or share a demonstration. It's really revolutionized things in terms of access. Some skills might need access to physical resources, or the development of these might require that. But it's levelled the playing field in terms of starting points for sure.

M: Should learning new skills be a lifelong process?

R: I remember reading a few books about this. And of course, as a teacher, I'm expected to say yes, because that benefits me directly. However, I've come to the conclusion that it might be better for people to play by ear and see how they feel in the moment if they want to learn or not. The reason being that I think people are free agents who should have the right to say no, I don't want to learn this now. And that's okay.

M: And what practical skills can young people teach old people?

R: Well, because young people are typically early adopters of new technology, how to use new technology would be something they would be much better placed to do compared to older people.

M: Hey, Rory, thank you for your answers!

R: No problem. I hope they were skilfully answered.