03 Jul 2003

What is Your Life Score? #

Ed news is dominated these days by testing and test scores. Articles abound promoting testing as an important school/teacher accountability measure with a recent backlash surge of items lamenting high-stakes testing and its impact on student drop out rates, etc.

At VALIANT, etc. we care little about test scores (other than as an indicator of a sample of the student’s knowledge and as a guide to further instruction) and are more concerned with what we call “Life Scores.” A high life score indicates that a person can cope with the things life presents at various stages of development. The individual knows how to confront the problems that arrive on a day-to-day basis, has a plan for learning the new things that will help them grow in a desired direction, and so forth. Others have called an education leading to the knowledge and skills required to achieve a high life score a “liberating education.” We advocate this type of education and are constantly on the lookout for instructional techniques and curriculum that promote it.

One of our basic beliefs about life-long learning is that each person needs the knowledge and skills to manage their own intelligence. This puts one in the position of having the ability to make informed choices about what and how to learn.

In response to the comment, emotional intelligence is clearly part of what would be termed a “life score.” First described by Goleman, emotional intelligence seems to be amenable to improvement through learning and life experience. Many resources are available to a person wishing to enhance their emotional intelligence.

We first became interested in the idea of a “life score” as a result of our work in the area of brain research. The role of experience in developing the mental models we hold as our explanations of phenomena, the social, collaborative nature of learning, and stage development of cognitive functions have all influenced the author’s thinking that led up to the development of this article.

Difficult to rate in a concise manner, but clearly important in the life of an individual, responsibility demands a place in the life score listing. It would seem that teaching the concept “responsibility” has little to do with living a life where the concept is applied in a consistent way. We believe that coaching “responsibility” is a more appropriate approach but do not currently have a model for this activity in mind.