Helping students realize their greater purpose and develop virtue through education has ancient roots, and a wealth of research underscores the profound impact of a meaningful life on both mental and physical health. It’s easy to imagine these lofty aspirations playing out in wealthy private schools where tweed-wearing professors pontificate on Whitman, Frost, and Tennyson to tie-wearing, white-collar-bound teenagers. But there are now tech schools in Philadelphia that combine practical skills with developing the whole person, instilling a sense of purpose in students’ lives. They provide a well-rounded education benefiting all students, including those focused on tech, vocational, and trade skills.
Seeking purpose in education
“Purpose is unique and powerful,”
says Joseph South, who helped launch the project Elevating Character Virtues & Purpose in Career and Technical Education in Philadelphia. “In this case, we’re looking at student-led purpose, which has two key elements: it must be meaningful to the student and of consequence to the world around the student,” says South.
“If you only have an internal-facing component, that might be a passion or a hobby. But when you add that external facing component that has consequence to the world around it, then you’re adding a pro-social element, and it switches from a hobby to something that can be a purpose.”
Not your grandpa’s trade school: A shift in perception
“The careers of the future are expanding dramatically,” says South. “Technical education may include things like automotive and woodworking, but it now also includes 3D printing, podcasting, coding, aviation, real estate, culinary arts, and more. It really has a much broader definition.”
South says that college isn’t for every student. “There are many fantastic and fulfilling careers you can have that come from [Career Technical Education] that match a student’s passion, drive, and provide them with a really great living. Most schools are mostly focused on preparing students for college. We need a rebalancing of that both in emphasis and in the value that we place on it.”
Major companies like Google no longer require a four-year degree. They prioritize competencies. These competencies include technical skills
“but also collaboration, creative thinking, problem-solving and hands-on activities that can come from the Career Technical Education…integrating purpose with these skills makes learning even more impactful.”
A collaborative approach
South and his team created a Community of Practice (CoP) to introduce purpose and character education in seven Philadelphia high schools. “A CoP is where educators can learn from each other and from experts and wrestle through the intense and difficult steps of bringing something new into a school environment,” says South, adding that it was partly a train-the-trainer model and partly a support network to ensure successful change.
Teachers told him they were thinking of leaving the profession, but as a result of participating in the program and working with the students, they not only reinvested in the profession, but it helped them uncover or recommit to their own purpose of why they became a teacher in the first place. “Teachers actually love this work,” says South. “The CoP was a tremendous achievement.”
Implementing purpose
“Community underpins all purpose-driven expertise work,” says Jennifer Brevoort, who leads curriculum implementation. She crafted the look and feel of the in-person and remote sessions, helping teachers feel confident and empowered, affirming their expertise in how things work in their own schools.
“People expected another dull professional development program, but this was different—we had a blast,” says Brevoort. Teachers called it “refreshing,” “rejuvenating,” “energizing,” and “joyful,” noting how rare it is for their thoughts to be honored and taken seriously.
“There was an idea to implement the purpose-driven expertise project, because it came with really clear resources in the form of the nXu curriculum,” says Brevoort of the K-12 curriculum that aims to foster purpose, durable skills, and wellbeing.
Some schools have senior projects, other schools have an “advisory” class that can be three hours or 15 minutes. Sometimes that time is used as “a glorified homeroom where you just take attendance or play games,” says Brevoort. “Teachers were interested in making a better use of that time.”
Via hands-on learning, cross-site idea sharing, and a coherent learning plan, the educators took the curriculum back to their schools, engaging students in meaningful discussions.
“The folks closest to our young people have the best ideas about how to improve our schools. We just need to create more space for that and amplify it,” says Brevoort. “There’s lots of meetings where things are fairly crisis-centered, and it was such a breath of fresh air to focus on our assets and to talk about what our teachers and young people already do well and finding ways to enhance that.”
Challenges in purpose-driven learning
South shared that students aren’t used to talking about purpose. They have to believe that educators genuinely care. It takes time for them to open up to both teachers and one another. Trust and belonging are essential in the classroom for this work to thrive. Additionally, “Teachers need training and time, scarce resources in schools,” says South.
“One student in our program was on the verge of dropping out,” says South. When her teacher introduced to the idea of developing skills in the construction industry, it piqued her interest.
“Where she really got involved and excited is when she started thinking of her purpose as being to help young women break into vocational professions that were stereotypically male-oriented. She combined this mission with the skillset, and now she’s unstoppable. She’s getting certificates as an electrician and in construction. And she’s also spreading this message that young women can participate in and be just as effective as young men in these professions.”
Other examples include a student who learned about podcasting. Having experienced homelessness, he created a discreet toiletries station in his school’s advisory room and launched a podcast to raise awareness and funding for students in similar situations. He combined technical skills with purpose, creating real-world impact.
Two students concerned about teacher attrition post-COVID created a documentary showcasing their school to help retain and attract teachers, using digital filmmaking skills to serve a greater purpose. The Philadelphia program helped students articulate their purpose, afforded access to expertise and modern tools and “the opportunity to apply their passion in such a meaningful way,” says South.
Showcasing student purpose and the future
At their final student showcase, students presented their projects that combined real world learning in alignment with their purpose. “Those in attendance included community members, local businesses, families, universities, and representatives from the Philadelphia School Board,” says South, adding that potentional employment partnerships were strengthened, and that their audience included other educators who could adopt this approach in their schools.
“The achievement that I care about most is how the students think about themselves differently, knowing that there is a place for them in the world, that they can influence their community, and that vision that they have for how things can be is something that they can actually achieve over their lifetime,” says South. “That impact will last forever.”
