Wise Communication

I read an interesting article the other day regarding communication. The author, Curtis Chandler, spoke about students who can text but struggle to talk. They have hundreds of conversations throughout the week but mostly through texts and not face-to-face. Paul Barnwell, an education writer for the Atlantic, said...

"Is there a 21st century skill more important than being able to sustain confident, coherent conversation?...Kids spend hours each day engaging with ideas and one another through screens-but rarely do they have an opportunity to truly hone their interpersonal communication skills. When students apply for colleges and jobs, they won't conduct interviews through their smartphones. If the majority of their conversations are based on fragments pin-balled back and forth through a screen, how will they develop the ability to truly communicate in person?"

Albert Mehrabian, a UCLA professor, found that 58 percent of communication is through body language, 35 percent through vocal tone, pitch, and emphasis, and a mere seven percent through content of the message (Mehrabian, 2008). The article stated that "a student whose social skill set is limited to the use of their phone has roughly seven percent of what they need to be an effective communicator."

So, the question arises, what do we do about it? I feel that at Vantage Career Center, our teachers, staff and administrators do an outstanding job of getting our students working on these skills. When I have the opportunity to visit the classrooms and labs, I am witness to several different approaches to improving the students communication skills. I have seen Socratic seminars led by students, small groups designing and building bridges and communicating their ideas with their group members. Visit any of our labs and you will see students working together on engines, design projects, health screenings and check-offs or participating together in physical training for the police academy. If you stop and listen, you will hear leaders communicating ideas, team members putting forth their ideas in a convincing way and others observing and communicating non-verbally. Just this week, we will have eight students being interviewed by a large local company in anticipation of the five job openings they currently have. These interviews are common around here and the administration makes sure they are prepared by sometimes practicing over and over with the students. In the spring, we set aside an entire day for employers to come in and practice "mock interviews" with all our seniors.

I am proud of our school as we prepare our students for their next step into the real world. I know there is always room for improvement but I also believe our staff is looking ahead and understanding  what it will take to make our students employable and great communicators, whether in the college classroom or in the work force.  There is a famous quote about communication, it states "Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something..." I know we are turning out "wise" students who will always have something to say and will make this world a better place if we just listen.