Half an Hour: Things You Really Need to Learn
Like several other people, I just found this 2006 post from Stephen Downes on 10 things you should learn that you won't be taught in school. Great thoughts for lifelong learning, wherever you are in life.
1. How to predict consequences
The prediction of consequences is part science, part mathematics, and part visualization.
2. How to read
Oddly, by this I do not mean 'literacy' in the traditional sense, but rather, how to look at some text and to <span style="font-style: italic;">understand</span>, in a deep way, what is being asserted
<span style="font-weight: bold;">3. How to distinguish truth from fiction</span>
The first thing to learn is to actually question what you are told, what you read, and what you see on television. Do not simply accept what you are told. Always ask, how can you know that this is true? What evidence would lead you to believe that it is false?
<span style="font-weight: bold;">4. How to empathize</span>
Empathy isn't some sort of bargain. It isn't the application of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity">Golden Rule</a>. It is a <span style="font-style: italic;">genuine</span> feeling in yourself that operates in synch with the other person, a way of accessing their inner mental states through the sympathetic operation of your own mental states. You are polite because <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> feel bad when you are rude; you are honest because <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> feel offended when you lie.
5. How to be creative
Creativity, in other words, often operates by <span style="font-style: italic;">metaphor</span>, which means you need to learn how to <span style="font-style: italic;">find things in common</span> between the current situation and other things you know.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">6. How to communicate clearly</span>
Communicating clearly is most of all a matter of knowing what you want to say, and then employing some simple tools in order to say it.
7. How to Learn
Learning to learn is the same as learning anything else. It takes practice.
8. How to stay healthy
Finally, remember: you never have to justify protecting your own life and health.
9. How to value yourself
You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but they are meaningless if you do not feel personally empowered to use them; it's like owning a <a href="http://www.lamborghini.co.uk/">Lamborghini</a> and not having a driver's license.
10. How to live meaningfully
If you don't decide what is worth doing, someone will decide for you, and at some point in your life you will realize that you haven't done what is worth doing at all.