What Do We Want Students to Leave School With?

5 hours ago
2 min read

As I think about the educators and schools I have the privilege of supporting, I keep coming back to a bigger question:

What do we really want students to leave our educational system with?

Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of an intergenerational conversation research study through Smith College. I had the honor of being paired with a brilliant college sophomore. As we talked about education, our experiences, and what young people need to be successful, something really interesting emerged.When we shared our final reflections, we realized that, despite being from very different generations, we wanted the same outcomes for students:

We want students to leave their education with self-understanding.

To know themselves.

To recognize their strengths and capabilities.

To understand how they fit into the world around them.

And to have the skills and confidence to navigate what comes next.

That conversation made me think about the way we define educational success.Of course, students need subject-area competency. They need to know how to read, write, calculate, analyze, communicate and understand the world around them. But is the biggest opportunity in education simply teaching students subject competencies?

Or is it also teaching them how to become competent?

How to approach something they don't understand.

How to work through frustration.

How to ask for help.

How to try again.

How to learn from mistakes.

How to recognize, “I didn't know how to do this, and then I figured it out.”

Those experiences build something that extends far beyond the subject matter. They build a young person's belief in their own ability to navigate challenges.

When we help students pause and recognize what they are learning about themselves through those experiences, we're helping them develop self-understanding, and that’s a gift that lasts a lifetime!

Maybe that's one of the biggest opportunities we have in education, not simply preparing students to demonstrate what they know, but helping them leave school knowing who they are, what they're capable of, and how to navigate what comes next.

That's a big part of what led me to create Autonome, and it's something I'll be thinking about and sharing more about as this new school year begins.

If this resonates with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What do you want your students to leave school with?

Fran Kenton is a career educator and the creator of Autonome, an SEL wellbeing platform for young adults. She has served middle and high school students, both general and special education, as a teacher and counselor. Drawing from her experiences, Fran has developed Autonome to support students’ social and emotional growth. This piece was originally posted August 23, 2026 and is cross-posted here with permission. You can reach out to Fran here.