Hockey Life Lesson

On Friday night, my youngest daughter, India, continued to tryout for the second rep hockey team for her age group. She played her heart out, but after the game she met with the coach and was cut from the team. In the car, I offered a few words of encouragement and tried to give her hope for the next round of tryouts, but it was clear that she wasn't in the mood to discuss what's next. So, I drove and she sat and we didn't speak.

We haven't talked about hockey since Friday but I've been thinking a lot about what she might learn from this experience. I hope that India will develop a greater sense of resiliency, grit and a desire to improve so that she can achieve her goals. This is what I believe India needs to succeed in hockey and in life.

Tony Wagner's book, "The Global Achievement Gap", was published nine years ago, but Wagner's premise still rings true today: There is a gap between what "students are being taught in school versus what they will need to succeed in today's world." Inspired by Wagner's work, I'm reaching out to recent graduates through a survey that I created in which I ask, "In what ways did your high school education prepare you for life after high school?"

Below are some early results -- I published the survey yesterday. Similar to Wagner's research, the responses below focus less on subject specific content and more on experiences and skills. That is, what students need to succeed in life.

Graduated from High School: 2014
-It prepared me by giving me the confidence to try new things due to the diversity of some of the courses (ex gym) -allowed me to have life long support from friends and staff I met -different way of learning, depending on what I'm doing, I know different ways to learn or get it done. -time management

Graduated from High School: 2016
My high school education prepared me for life after high school by helping me have established the skills needed for new topics, having effective study habits, and understanding my limits. I came into university with the proper background information needed to succeed in my classes. I was also able to properly study for exams, and finish assignments on time. Lastly, I had the confidence to be involved in extracurriculars, and knew how much I could take on.

Graduated from High School: 2015
1. Academic attitude/habits. While I did learn many things that prepared me for University, a big thing that some teachers taught me is an academic attitude and habits. Pretty much got me prepared to do all nighters and cope with the heavy load of University. 2.Responsibility and leadership as part of a team. Being part of sports and clubs, and being active in them, helped develop more than just team work. In my later years, being the senior in the groups naturally lead to more responsibilities and in many times taking leadership. This has greatly helped me in getting involved with clubs on campus and also on the many group projects involved in engineering. 3. Communicating with others. Naturally stemming from being part of a team is that my communication skills have improved and polished through my time in highschool. It is a crucial skill in life being able to communicate with those around you as part of a team, group project, or in just to socialize in general and make connections. 4. Connections and experience. My Highschool coop has proven to be great asset for me in getting part-time and coop jobs. In first year, where most don't have any work related experience, much less experience in their field, I have had an advantage because my highschool coop put me in a job related to the field I wanted to get into. These sum up the main ways I can think of with how highschool prepared me for University.

Graduated from High School: 2014
One of the biggest contributions to preparing me for life after high school was my involvement in extra-curricular activities that were offered at St. Mary's. I was a member of several sports teams, as well as student council and link crew. I was able to learn many valuable and transferable skills through my involvements, such as how to multitask and effectively manage my time, however, I think the most valuable lesson I have taken away from my high school experience is to take advantage of as many opportunities as I can. Everything that I joined taught me something different and provided me with the chance to meet a wide range of individuals. I have learned how to work alongside many different types of people and have learned a great deal from these individuals. Since graduating high school I have made it a priority to continue getting involved in my university community. I believe that by taking what I learned in high school and applying it to my post-secondary education, I have been able to greatly enhance my experiences and I have been able to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by Laurier. I have continued to make new friends that have similar interests as me, and I have been offered many wonderful opportunities through the connections that I have made. Getting involved in extra-curricular activities I high school helped me to create long-lasting friendships and develop a great deal of skills that I still rely on today to help me through different aspects of my life. I would not have been as confident entering post-secondary and in joining extra-curriculars in Laurier if I had not done so throughout high school.

Graduated from High School: 2014
In terms of leadership, high school did prepare me for certain roles I took on in university such as orientation and tutoring. Leadership development also assisted me in the way I build relationship's between my peers and professors. There were a number of leadership opportunities (at least to me) for students to get involved in high school which made the transition into university a lot easier. However, coursework wise, high school did not prepare me for university. I was fortunate enough to take a course called World Issues in grade 12 which is what I am studying now (International Development), but it was not enough. One course is simply not enough to prepare a student for university. Reflecting back to my high school days made me realise how limited I was in knowledge at the time. There are things we should have learned before heading into university such as computer coding, economics or how to write a proper research paper/report. I acknowledge that these courses are offered, but they are not mandatory, thus, students will not or do not recognise the importance of these subjects. I also understand that this is more of a curriculum matter that the school board must discuss over. Though, I believe at the local high school level things can be done to encourage students to be more involved in programs outside of their high school such as coding competitions or even forming coding groups. Asking local university/college students to teach high school students how to program can expose kids to the realities of university. High school also felt as if I was only allowed to see one side of an argument and dismiss the other. The course Challenge and Change in grade 12 did a good job in introducing both sides of an issue, but it certainly was not enough for what I dealt with in my first year of university. The one sided arguments is mostly likely due to the biases of teachers, after all I did go to a Catholic school. The statement I just made is not to throw shade at the Catholic school system as everyone has their biases regardless of faith or the school, but it is to mention that the world is changing and so should the high school curriculum. I would definitely love to reminisce more about my high school experience as I have grown and matured over the past 3 years since graduating high school. You notice more the longer you've been away from something. However, I would probably end up writing 5 or more pages.

Graduated from High School: 2016
AP classes were good to expose you to competitive environments where all students were dedicated and focused on their school work. This made the transition to post secondary smoother, as the environment had been mimicked previously in high school.

Graduated from High School: 2013
The workload in certain classes really prepared me for what was to come in undergrad. Participating in different extracurriculars also enhanced my time managaement skills - a skill that I found to be particularly crucial when balancing life in university.

Graduated from High School: 2014
There are many ways I think it both prepared and did not prepare me. I was more than ready to apply to post secondary after high school and I specifically remember Mrs. Johnston giving us one class period to look for and at progams we were interested in and that still is such a positive memory three years later as I was so grateful. I probably never would have found my program without that. I was definitely prepared school wise for life after highschool, I knew how to maintain good study habits and work independently. It gave me the tools to succeed in the university program I chose. There were also some very specific classes like technological design and the several art classes I took that really helped me later by giving me a very specific toolset I could apply to my classes in university. On the other hand I found that high school does not really prepare you for life outside the school system but maybe that is just because I was always more academically inclined. I can not say though that I could live independently after high school though, I did not know how to do taxes for example. You can pick up these skills on your own though. So although I felt more than prepared to continue in the school stream after high school I found it did not prepare me in anyway for real life.

Graduated from High School: 2015
In ways I didn't quite expect, all my extra curriculars set me up for success. I was heavily involved in many after school and during school initiatives that taught me to work as a team and network to build a team, but also how to manage time effectively. Time management is a skill needed from making the most of a busy weekend to setting up efficient study times and execute excellence in my job & career. More times than not, I was taught and learned from students around me. If i could do it again I would only find myself even more involved in the school community.

Graduated from High School: 2012
I learnt in high school how rewarding it is to be engaged with my education and with my school because when you get involved your experience is exponentially better. I learnt how to write strong, well formatted essays that coincide with the way they should be written in University. I learnt how to study hard. And I learnt how influential it is to have educators that care and that invest in their students. If I were to suggest any areas for more progression and change at my school it would be to have more courses that teach practical life skills. Having a class to explain taxes and the real estate industry, loans and stock investments. I find that I am still not very well educated on these things and I think it would be good for Ontario Students to learn more about the management of money considering that it is one of the most expensive provinces to get secondary education. Personally, I am very interested in international development, social innovation, and environmental sustainability. I think that as the world becomes more globalized and international issues become more pressing that it is important to incorporate more classes and learning opportunities on the subject for younger students. I think more of these classes would procreate generations of more global conscious youth which I believe is very important. I also think that more initiatives should be made in terms of alternative forms of teaching styles. I think that the traditional system of a teacher standing in front of a class reciting powerpoint slides, and having standardized tests in all the same formats, is an inefficient and outdated way to experience education. Students are diverse and we all have different leaning styles which our education system needs to account for. In university I met a very passionate prof that devotes her career now to education reform.There are many studies and strategies in this growing field and I think that if these could be incorporated at the high school level students would get a lot more from their education, as well as they would learn more about themselves. This being said, I had a wonderful high school experience and I always think back on my time at St. Mary's with a warm heart.

Graduated from High School: 2014
In all honestly, high school really did not prepare me much for life after. It took a year of full time work and maturing to finally figure out what directions I wanted to go in. However, academically, I feel that high school English classes definitely helped me excel in my current program of PR.