Steve Lear

The results of our recent informal poll confirmed a shift in how we define success for post-high-school students today. Success is defined less as reaching a prescribed destination and more as developing the capacity to build a meaningful, sustainable life.  

Forty years ago, success was largely about becoming established. It emphasized obligations such as supporting yourself, accepting responsibility, contributing to others, and developing a trustworthy character.  

Today’s definition of success is about becoming equipped. It emphasizes the individual and is focused on discovering who you are, protecting your well-being, pursuing meaningful work, and building a life aligned with your interests and values.   

Over time, this shifting definition has reshaped how we educate students.  

Our Changing Educational Curriculum  

There has never been a single national high school graduation curriculum—states and local school districts set their own graduation requirements. However, in 1982, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted its first national high school transcript study, establishing a national benchmark for high school coursework.  

According to the 1982 NCES analysis, graduates averaged approximately 3.9 credits in English, 3.2 in social studies, 2.8 in mathematics, 2.3 in science, and 1.1 in foreign language. They also averaged 3.6 career and technical education credits, reflecting the larger role of vocational and business courses.  

 At that time, students were often divided into distinct tracks:  

• Academic or College Preparatory (advanced academics for university admission)  

• Vocational (job skills for specific fields)  

• General Education (a broad foundation of knowledge in core curriculum subjects)  

A vocational-track student might take shop, agriculture, mechanics, bookkeeping, typing, drafting, or home economics. A college-prep student would take more advanced math, science, and foreign language.   

What Caused the Change?  

A major turning point was the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, which argued that the U.S. public education system was failing to keep pace with global economic and technological competitors.  It recommended that students take a common academic core of four years of English, three years each of mathematics, science, and social studies, and one-half year of computer science. Those recommendations were not federal graduation requirements, but they strongly influenced the wave of state reforms that followed.  

Today, nearly every state requires students to complete a substantial academic core in English, math, science, and social studies.  

Yet while the curriculum has become more academically demanding, it has not necessarily become more directly connected to adult life. Students might graduate with additional math and science credits yet lack practical, interpersonal, and decision-making skills.  

Redefining Success  

We must reconnect the foundational purpose of education—preparing young people for responsible adulthood—to today’s focus on mental health, individuality, opportunity, and multiple pathways to a meaningful life.  

Many of today’s parents came of age during a transition in the meaning of success. They may have inherited a traditional view of success but increasingly raised their children in a culture that promotes self-expression, personal fulfillment, and emotional well-being. As a result, neither generation necessarily was given a clear framework for navigating adulthood successfully.  

I believe today’s educational curriculum needs to teach both academic and life skills.   

That could mean requiring students to demonstrate competence in:  

• Career readiness  

• Civic literacy  

• Communication   

• Critical thinking  

• Financial literacy  

• Relationship skills  

• Self-management  

The danger in the current system is not that young people care too much about fulfillment. It’s that we sometimes promise fulfillment without teaching the disciplines that make a fulfilling life possible.  

Before schools ask students to find their passion, they should prepare them to carry responsibility. Graduation should not only signal academic completion, but a growing readiness for adult life.