Learning to Do: From Unschooling Rules

According to Clark Aldrich, schools spend most of their time focused on learning to know the knowledge that comes from textbooks, lectures and other instruction typically delivered by a teacher.  Little time is spent on learning to do through skills that can then be applied in what he refers to as, "the productive world."

Aldrich provides an interesting list of 25 critical life skills which he claims are "seldom taught, tested, or graded" in schools:

• Adapting
• Analyzing and managing risks
• Applying economic, value, and governing models
• Behaving ethically
• Being a leader
• Building and nurturing relationships
• Communicating
• Creating or process reengineering new actions, processes and tools
• Developing security
• Efficiently meeting complex needs
• Gathering evidence
• Identifying and using boards of mentors and advisers
• Maintaining and practicing stewardship of important systems and capabilities
• Making prudent decisions
• Managing conflict
• Managing projects
• Negotiating
• Planning long term
• Prioritizing tasks and goals
• Probing
• Procurement
• Scheduling
• Solving problems innovatively
• Sourcing/buying/procuring goods and services
• Using containment strategies

How do we move away from learning only what's tested in school to learning what will be tested in life?