I believe the most important skill for a student to possess is the ability to work with and around people under varying circumstances. In high school, students must deal with all kinds of people with different personalities, and because of this we learn to deal with people. Students like to pretend high school is completely useless, but in reality we learn a ton of useful abilities and skills that we use daily without even noticing.

I believe this is an important skill because as an adult, no matter the career one chooses, people must talk to and work with people whether we like it or not. Learning to deal with and sometimes even understand people can become very useful in the future. Having good “people skills” can even prove beneficial when applying for jobs. People often say students find it difficult to work with someone who does not think the same way as them, but in reality no one likes working with someone that they do not agree with. It is only natural to disagree with people and be unhappy about it. We do not have to like everyone we work with, we just have to accomplish a given task, and the skill in this is being able to accomplish the task with a person whether we like them or not.

Being able to talk to people without freezing up and stuttering is honestly an ability many teenagers struggle with. Almost all students dread presenting an assignment to the class, but eventually we will be adults presenting ideas or other information to fellow associates. Therefore, every powerpoint we present, or every essay we read in front of the class, is teaching us little by little how to talk to people more comfortably. The most helpful skills are learned without students even realizing that they are learning them, and I strongly believe being able to talk to people is a major skill.

Therefore, I believe the most important skills students should have when graduating is the ability to talk to people, and the ability to work with anyone regardless of our feelings for them.