Skills for Success 1

Running head: SKILLS FOR SUCCESS IN YOUNG

Skills for Success in Young Children

Jonathan Hopkins

York Collage of Pennsylvania

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As of right now, elementary schools primarily focus on math, science and language arts.

Though these subjects are important, they should not be the schools sole objective. The

curriculum should be altered mildly in order to create time to teach children important skills. The

current curriculum only teaches a child how to memorize therefore no worthwhile abilities are

obtained during the elementary years. A new curriculum however should be generated such that,

the students have class sessions in which they learn how to be confident and successful young

people.

Primary school education (K-6) is the foundation of a child’s entire school career. Thus,

being a teacher in this department of education brings a heavy responsibility. Finding the key to

approaching students in these grades will hopefully expand and excel their ability to become

prosperous and competent students and citizens. To do this, one must explore what it is exactly a

teacher is trying to teach a student. Primary school is of the utmost importance when enhancing a

child’s self-esteem, social skills and motor skills. These three skills are the building blocks for a

well rounded student, and a prosperous citizen.

All research aside, it is obvious that if a student does not believe they can succeed then

they will not. Therefore self-esteem should be the foremost important objective for an educator

when developing a young mind. With that said, research has been done on children’s self-esteem

and has given us much insight on how much can be achieved when a student believes in

themselves. Research done has suggested that students who express high levels of positive self-

esteem (Belief in their ability to succeed) will, on average, have higher test scores then their

peers that do not show signs of high self-esteem (Szente, 2007). Giving children self-esteem is

no easy task. Self-esteem must be built by giving a child the means to succeed and guiding them
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to the answers. Overtime the students will be able to see that they can accomplish the tasks

assigned to them without the assistance of a mentor. When a student sees his/her own potential

they will no longer question their ability to succeed in any aspect of life.

Another important part of developing self-esteem in children is explaining goal setting.

Goal setting directly relates to self-esteem according to Judit Szente (2007), because goal setting

will increase self-motivation. Goal setting is also important for a child to understand because if a

child does not understand how to make a goal or checkpoint when trying to accomplish a task it

could be counterproductive to their self-esteem. For example a kindergartener cannot simply

become an all-star basketball player just because he thinks he can. He needs to be able to

understand that it will take much time and practice before he can accomplish his dream. Showing

a child how to set up goals is quite simple. The teacher should set up a long-term problem that

the student feels is impossible to accomplish (only because the problem has so many steps and

will take so long to solve). For example set a problem up for the student such that he/she will

have to collect information at home from their family to create a family tree in class. Then the

teacher needs to setup smaller, more accomplishable goals for the student, which will lead up to

the final goal. Smaller goals such like, having the student call their aunt, then their uncle and so

forth till they have contacted and received data from their entire immediate family. The student

will slowly see that the smaller goals are easier to complete, and when the final goal is

accomplished the child will see that they can solve any problem when they break it down into

checkpoints/goals.

The next objective for a teacher is developing a student’s social skill. It is very important

for children to learn how to be socially interactive at a young age. We adults take for granted our

social abilities to properly greet someone, or to start a long lasting partnership with another
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person, but it is crucial for us to part our knowledge of social interaction unto our youth. This

objective follows the self-esteem objective because in order for a child to be socially capable,

they must have a positive self-identity (Scharf & Mayseless, 2009). School systems do have

some social teachings in place (sharing toys, golden rule, etc. . .). These practices are good but

lack many key parts of social interactions. Without social skills a person will recede from society

and be of no use to others or themselves.

To be social, a student must be able to express their feelings in a positive manner, and be

able to understand the feelings of their peers. When in conflict with one another, socially

incapable people will be blinded by their emotions, making resolution impossible. Young

children must be taught to regulate their emotions and understand them. To teach this, a student

must be placed in a monitored role playing situation where interpersonal skills are required to

come to a peaceful solution. While they are acting out the situation the teacher must explain to

each student what the other student is feeling and how to properly react to their feelings. After

the students play out the two sides of the argument, they should switch sides and re-enact the

situation. This will allow them to completely understand what the other person was thinking

when they were in the situation. Understanding is the key in this exercise. When a child can

approach a problematic situation and understand both sides, they can resolve the situation and

come to an appropriate compromise. These interpersonal skills will prepare them for the future

when they are in real conflict with another person.

Another reason why it is important for a child to understand social skills at a young age is

because when they get older and join the work force they will need to know how to properly

illustrate themselves. If the ability to present one’s self is taught at a young enough age it will

become a second nature rather than a forced output. To thoroughly teach this skill a teacher must
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subject the young student to unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations with adults (Guest

speakers, other teachers, etc. . .). Subjecting a child to these situations will make them more

comfortable in the future when they are confronted by a stranger or a superior.

The final goal in teaching our youth to succeed is teaching them motor skills. Motor skills

are an absolutely crucial part of a student’s education. A student must be capable of manipulating

their surroundings with their hands. Fine tuning this ability at a young age will lead to higher test

scores in math and science farther down the road of education. Accomplishing this goal is the

easiest of the three skills to teach. It involves only giving the students the proper materials and an

objective for them to accomplish. An example would be giving a child Lincoln Logs or Legos

and having them create some sort of representation of another object. Whether the representation

is an intangible object in a picture or a tangible figment of the student’s imagination is irrelevant.

The point is to have them practice the manipulation of small parts with their hands. While the

students manipulate the different resources they have, they learn to understand how things are

interconnected. The ability to manipulate small parts with one’s hands is important because it

creates focus, and an attention to detail. When students are placing the small pieces they increase

their ability to focus on the details and understand how things fit together, which in turn

increases their ability to focus on all other interactions around them (These interactions being

both in school and out of school). Explained by Stewart, Rule, and Giordano (2007) in their

article “Effects of fine motor skill activities on kindergarten student attention,” young children

are completely infatuated with desirable tasks:

When watching young children at play, one cannot help but notice that their movement

engages their total energy, and their full attention is focused on the movements that they

need to perform the task. If the task is pleasurable, the child will often choose to repeat it
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over and over again, becoming absorbed in the movements and sustaining attention for

long periods (p. 104).

When you present children with desirable tasks they will completely wrap themselves around

the task, which in turn, increases their ability to focus. With this skill properly exploited children

are given the ability to expand and understand every experience they have, as well as understand

the cause and effect behind all these experiences they have.

To reiterate the purpose of these three skills, I ask you to evaluate yourself. When you

approach a difficult situation in your life do you say, “I’ll never figure this out”, or do you say,

“I’ll get to the bottom of this?” When you come into conflict with another person (wife/husband,

brother/sister) do you just argue or do you negotiate? When you are trying to fix something

complicated like a car or computer, do you wish you could focus on the different components of

the machine and understand how they work? It is clear then that these skills are not only a means

of academic achievement, but are a means of survival in the society we have created for our

children to live in.

Now, there is a very valid argument against the implementing of these training exercises

in the elementary school system. This argument is centered on the issue of time. Norina Bentzel,

principal of North Hopewell Winterstown Elementary School says that, “The problem with all of

this is the time factor. There is only so much time in a school day to do all of these things

appropriately for each individual child.” Norina Bentzel suggests that, “It is critical that children,

prior to elementary school age, develop a good self concept before ever coming to school. This

should be developed through good parenting skills.” Taking this into account, schools should be

setting up once a week classes that teach students the three skills listed above. The curriculum
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would then only need to be changed in a very small amount to fit the class into the weekly

schedule (N. Bentzel, personal communication, April 24, 2009).

It is undisputable that these skills are important for the development of children. I would

consider leaving it solely up to the parents is not responsible of the school system. Schools

should have programs created to teach parents how to properly empower children with these

three skills, as well as have once a week classes for children centered in on the teaching and

development of these skills. These classes would parallel with art, gym, and music classes,

already being taught in elementary schools. Making the responsibility of teaching these skills to

children a collaborative task shared between the school and the parents.

Regardless of how they are implemented, they must be taught because, the importance of

these skills are indisputable. Self-esteem allows a person to have the courage to approach a

problem, social skills allow a person to show their resilience to others through an aura of

confidence, and motor skills allow a person to focus on the bigger picture and pick out the

important details and see how they interconnect to make the bigger picture. These three skills are

a tripod, interdependent on each other. If one should fail the others will follow suit, but when all

three legs are in unison they firmly embrace a successful person.

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References

Han, H. S., & Kemple, K. M. (2006). Components of social competence and strategies of support
what to teach and how. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34, 241-246.
Retrieved March 30, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Scharf, M., & Mayseless, O. (2009). Socioemotional characteristics of elementary school
children identified as exhibiting social leadership qualities. The Journal of
Genetic Psychology, 170(1), 73-94. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from Academic
Search Premier database.
Stewart, R. A., Rule, A. C., and Giordano, D. A. (2007). The effect of fine motor skill activities
on kindergarten student attention. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 103-
109. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Szente, J. (2007). Empowering young children for success in school and in life. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 34, 449-453. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from Academic
Search Premier database.