In today’s changing world, people’s priorities and values are also changing. So, this can’t help, but affect to our perspective on teaching and lead to arguments about whether traditional academic subjects are becoming useless compared to life skills that they can be replaced by the following. This essay partially agrees with this statement, but there are some nuances that should also be considered.
Firstly, traditional academics help students to think critically and look at things logically from a scientific point of view. It also provides the knowledge base for a person’s further development. For example, high school students, applying for university, scientists doing research, all the hard skills needed for different jobs, and even in ordinary people would need them. However, many people feel that the knowledge they gain at school is useless when they grow up, and some even insist on removing certain subjects. I don’t think that’s a good idea. A subject that is pointless to one person may not be so to another. For instance, geometry is useless to a librarian, but vital to a computer graphics designer.
On the other hand, soft skills are just as important as hard skills, sometimes even more so. The ability to work in a team, to get along with people, to be flexible and to come up with new plans and solutions to problems is essential and should be taught in schools from an early age. For example, students who have been taught only academic subjects may face difficulties in the future because they are unable to adapt to the environment and apply their knowledge to real-life situations. As a result, purely academic teaching may become useless due to its purely theoretical form. Therefore, both teaching methods should be integrated and combined in order to make the best use of studying.
In conclusion, both methods are crucial. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. However, in my opinion, neither of them can replace the other. Neglecting one of them could have its own unpleasant consequences.