If America is to maintain its future as a world leader, we must become more focused on developing the critical thinking skills of the next generation. A tectonic shift in the global economy is causing the United States to lose much of the competitive advantage that it has enjoyed on the world stage since the end of World War II.
Some of the most valuable skills that tomorrow’s corporate leaders will need can be developed outside the classroom, oftentimes, while at play or enjoying a hobby. For example, I was reminded of how a hobby that I have participated in since I was a child helped me learn many of the planning and finance skills that have been invaluable throughout my career, and one that I believe still holds value to children struggling with learning executive functioning and financial literacy skills. Trading cards – and, specifically for me, baseball cards – were not just a way for me to collect my favorite players but a learning tool that helped sharpen skills like organization, planning and strategy, and problem solving.
The skills that I learned in part through collecting and trading baseball cards are the same ones that many children today struggle with. Whether it’s because of medical conditions such as ADHD and autism, excessive time spent on social media, or a lack of support at home and schools for developing these cognitive capabilities the fact is that study after study shows more kids are dealing with executive functioning difficulties.
There are numerous factors to explain why American children are rapidly beginning to fall behind their peers around the globe in subjects such as math and science, but a lack of executive functioning skills certainly is not helping to shrink the widening gap between the United States and the rest of the world.
A recent trend in International Mathematics and Science Study found “sharp, steep declines” in math scores among American students, with 8th graders alone experiencing a 27 point dip – the biggest drop since the United States began participating in the test in 1995.
Another study found that when it comes to real world math skills and problem – solving, U.S. students lagged far behind Asian countries with Japanese students scoring 71 points above American students in math – or 3.5 academic years. Students in Singapore, meanwhile, scored110 points more than their American peers, a staggering 5 academic years ahead of U.S. students.
If we hope to reverse this trend any time soon, we must take a holistic approach that incorporates both in-classroom learning as well as activities that appeal to kids outside of school hours. Trading cards are a hobby that kids and adults have participated in for over a century but they saw a major resurgence of interest during the pandemic that has carried on with individual events and live-streamed card breaks drawing the interest of thousands of fans and followers.
Tapping into the current trading card zeitgeist is the perfect way to organically teach students the executive functioning and cognitive skills they need to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive academic and business environments without their thinking of it as a traditional teaching moment.
When kids think they are playing or doing something they like, they do not realize that they are doing things like flexing their cognitive abilities, sharpening their working memory and planning or organizing skills, and learning inhibition and self-control skills.
So just as finding and trading Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, and Robert Clemente cards was key in helping people in my generation learn the executive functioning skills that have allowed many of us to flourish in a variety of fields, kids today can learn those same skills but with Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cards.
Michael A. Grant is a former president of the National Bankers Association and a nationally recognized advocate for Black economic empowerment. He served as board secretary of the MinBanc Scholarship Fund for minority banks and is a founding member of the Black Wealth 2020 coalition.
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