Skills of a indipendent working life

Knowledge Collection Learning
, ,
1

What a interesting mission!

I often think about my school and university years. They seem to me very very far. The reason why is that several years are passed, but i think this isn’t the only reason.

Expecially since i became dad, i always think about where i would like my childes go to study, what, why, and how.

Trying to brainstorm a list of skills that i can name, between the ones that i consider more important than others in a indipendent working life, the one i learn to prefere,  I realize that none of them i learned to school, because of the school approach i’ve experimented, or what i understand about.

The skills i think more important than others in my working life are:

  1. Capacity to select exactly what do you want to do; 2) Capacity to Think about what’s missing in your area; 3) Capacity to Rationalize its objectives and try to reach them with perseverance; 4) Capacity to Create a network based on competence; 5) Agility of mind in putting yourself in other people way of thinking; 6) Ability to withstand collisions; 7) Ability to don’t trust the intermediary, and to go to the source.

Remebering my university path, or high school years i often wonder if what i studied, is the reason why i’ve learned this skills. The answer is No! Bruce Springsteen said “we learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school”. I think school is not the only way to learn. I think that while someone goes to school, he/she must have other experience like work, social services etc… that can help to understand the real world, what you want for your future life and what you don’t want, the importance of moneys, and so on…

When i think about my childes and their future, i would like to discover a place in wich teorical and pratical approach to the way of learn is applied. And than, i think if i will be able to encourage them to go…because i know this approach is not here…

2

I agree on the fact kids need real life experiences, it can also help them figure out what they are truly passionate about… Plus might allow them to see school as a mean to do exactly that, get to know yourself, your strenghts, what you need to work on. That should become a part of school systems’ objectives, I think they are still not sure about what they are trying to achieve and how to get there…

3

Hello Renato,

thank you for

Hello Renato,

thank you for this mission report! I would like to ask you what have you studied and what are you working on at the moment?

I agree with you that life is the biggest school as people say and sometimes it is much more important to gain experiences by simply living things and going through several situations. I guess the skills that you formentioned are skills that you gained after years of working experience no?

Do you think that this lack of gaining important skills as school has to do with the incapacity of the learning systems? Giacomo has written a mission report about his frustration by the educational system and he explains how it doesn’t support and prepare people for their professional transition.

You can also read Adria’s report on how she went through her first internship in Berlin and suggests more practical than theoretical knowledge to be provided. Do you see yourself also as one of the people who are more into practise than theory?

I liked that you mentioned  Bruce Springsteen said “we learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school” as we have this discussion going on about the Khan academy (Alberto started) and video tutorial… Most of the Edgeryders agreed that it is much more understandable and educational than their proper university studies. Have you tried any of these programs? I would surely recommend you :slight_smile:

Looking forward to hearing more from you

4

Hello!

Hello to you!

I did high school “Liceo Scientifico” in Parma and after i studied Politic Sciences at Bologna Alma Mater University (near Parma where i lived). At 25 i had my degree; after six months i finished my one year Civil Service that i did working in part with disabled, and for the organization of the sevrices (we were almost 80 Civil servants in the municipality of Parma).

Then i won a scholarship for a Master i wanted to do at  Bocconi University in Milan. I went to live in Milan for an year, and when I finished, in 1998 i start to work for a public social agency in the town where i live now (Mantova), as indipendent consultant.

But at the time i lived in another city, near Parma the one where i did civil service, and there i was engaged as public administrator since 1995 when i was 23, till 2004.

Summarizing about the experience of mine in working:

When i was young i started to work during the summer (since i was 14, till 23) in some factories. At 23 i started my experience in public administration as assessor and counselor (i don’t know if my english is right).

At 26 i started to work as indipendent consultant. Since 1998 i choosed “monitoring and evaluation” as the field in which i wanted to go deep. In 2003 at Nomisma (Bologna) where i worked in that period i met the two persons that became my “workmate” till now and we founded our little little company named Sinopsis Lab, a private agency (www.sinopsislab.it).

I confirm that you understood that the experience i named in my post, are the result of a long time of different working experience. This was what push me to approach Edgeryders. I think Edgeryders challenge is the real challenge for the future, about new kind of working life, very very different from tha ones i’ve lived and the ones my parent generation lived.

I think school is not the one experience that a young person must do, since 14 to 23/24, eve if the school in which he/she goes is the best, or one of the best. I think practice and theory make a better person if they cross each other.

I will try what you reccomend.

Ciao.

5

You’ll love this new mission!

hey Renato, how are you?

Congratulations for being a dad! that’s the first thing that drew my attention since at Edgeryders we always talk about our semi-public lives - yet filtering it all through personal views - but somehow we don’t know anything about the community and their more private lives.

And here’s a new mission within the new Living together campaign - which we named Spotlight: meet my family! Family support in making transitions very often appears in contributions at Edgeryders, whether they’re young people supported financially by their parents, or parents who want better for their children. This mission is designed not to be a too personal inquiry. We do ask Edgeryders if the family model today is different than it used to be…  maybe have a look?

About the skills: many here at Edgeryders, myself included, especially because we just came out of school systems and find it hard to face our first jobs and learn life skills…  we like to blame it on the schools. But for example the skills you mention - about selecting, looking from particular angles, networking - you call them working skills because you learned them at work… That doesn’t meen you should have learned them in school. Could you have learned them in school? I don’t think so.

Besides, in my humble opinion, some things we should NOT learn in school :slight_smile:

6

I will certainly thake a look at new mission about family!

Hello.

I will take a look at new mission.

About skills, i didn’t learned at school that experience/skills i named .

But if i didn’t go to school i certainly don’t know that skills now.

So i think that a family (and a person in a family) must understand that if the school in which he/she is going is not good, must/can change and select another one better than the first. There is!

Is always useless to complain. In Italy is an habit unfortunately!

After that, people must understand that theory is important because enhance your spirit to concreteness. And concreteness enhance your mind to find a better life, even as a parent, not only as a son.

Family is fundamental in giving the strenght to a child, but not only giving secutity in terms of possible choices, even making young people  think that evryone is indipendent, in part, in selecting what his/her life will be.

Public sector should permit to choose (in Italy is not like this anymore since 90’s), but the one who choose must undertsand a lot of thing before.

So i think that to understand in everything, practice and theory must walk togheter, and if one should fall behind, the other must wait.

Ciao.