Giving Compass' Take:

• In this story from Ed Surge, author Tim Klein discusses why and how schools should help their students find a sense of purpose.

• How could teachers be trained in helping students find purpose?

• To learn how one college is addressing the "purpose gap" for students, click here.

I started my first college advising session with Marcus with the same question I always asked:

“If you could do anything after high school knowing that you would be successful, financially secure, and your friends and family would support you, what would you do?”

His speed of response surprised me.

By failing to take student’s aspirations seriously, we miss out on key information that may help us understand and serve our most disengaged students to help them cultivate purposeful lives

“Become a YouTube gamer,” Marcus replied.

When teens give seemingly fantastical answers, adults’ common response is to dismiss them, brushing off these goals as unmoored from reality. Instead, adults advise students to focus on pursuing practical and realistic careers. Take up coding, study nursing or go into engineering, they say. Become a lawyer, or an electrician. Not only are these meaningful, important and financially lucrative careers, but they also provide job security and are in high demand.

But there’s a big missed opportunity here. By failing to take student’s aspirations seriously, even if they are seemingly outlandish or far-fetched, we miss out on key information that may help us understand and serve our most disengaged students to help them cultivate purposeful lives.

Schools and educators spend an incredible amount of time and resources trying to help students like Marcus transform. We promote a long laundry list of virtues including grit, growth mindset and socio-emotional literacy. However, Marcus’ story shows that these behaviors and mindsets can’t be taught. Rather, they are outgrowths of something bigger—identifying and pursuing a sense of purpose. Purpose dives deeper than mindsets—it taps into someone’s core motivation for choosing a path.

Read the full article about helping students find purpose by Tim Klein at EdSurge