A must-have skill, public speaking should be a mandatory class | Opinions

It’s rare to find a person who enjoys public speaking, and that’s probably because 75% of people are afraid of it. Despite that, public speaking skills are an absolute necessity. Whether it be speaking in front of a class, in a meeting or on a stage, everyone will find themselves in a situation where public speaking is mandatory. The need for presentation skills doesn’t end in college. If you can’t master public speaking in school, imagine how that’s going to work out in the real world, where consequences are heavier than a grade. Colleges, including Virginia Tech, should require students to take an in-person public speaking class. While students might not like it, the class will set them up for success down the line.

Many colleges have some version of a core curriculum — Virginia Tech, for example, has the pathways curriculum requiring students to take classes in seven different subject areas. While public speaking classes are an option, they are not required. Considering how many people are afraid of public speaking, students will probably opt for a different class. Unlike an astronomy class or floral design class, public speaking skills are necessary and highly valuable because they aren’t just applicable to school. They’re used daily in the workplace in many different fields.

Professor Brandi Quesenberry, instructor and director of the undergraduate studies program for communications, firmly believes in the importance of public speaking regardless of major.

“The skills that you learn in public speaking are so transferable. To be able to organize your thoughts and to really think about who your audience is and how best to construct a message and deliver that message with an audience in mind — that can be applied in interview situations, group situations, in classes as well as post-college and careers,” Quesenberry said.

Public speaking is more likely to appear in your future job than not: 70% of jobs have employees using public speaking to some degree, according to LibreTexts. Some of those jobs, as Yoodli says, are obvious — teachers, politicians, actors, TV presenters, lawyers — while others aren’t as conspicuous. As University of Conneticut notes, plenty of STEM jobs, from engineers to scientists to mathmeticians, require public speaking. We just don’t think of them as public-speaking-oriented jobs due to stereotypes such as programmers sitting hunched over a computer or scientists working in a lab. Our failure to recognize that public speaking comes in a variety of forms also contributes to our misconceptions about public speaking

“Sometimes we think about public speaking as standing on a stage, with a microphone and there being tons of people but … public speaking looks different in different situations. When you go to a networking event and introduce yourself and do a 30-second overview of who you are … that’s public speaking,” Quesenberry said.

Public speaking extends beyond talking in front of a large audience or on a stage. It’s being able to communicate effectively to other people in a public setting regardless of audience size. It is a fundamental skill that everyone needs.

“Most students are going to end up with a job where they’re going to present in a staff meeting,” Quesenberry said. “They’re going to be working with collaborative groups, maybe through a virtual workplace … working with clients or colleagues or (they) need to give a status report to (their) supervisors or maybe (they) get promoted to mentorships or management positions. You are going to be asked to speak publicly. It is going to be something that almost every individual will experience regardless of career path.”

The reason why so many students dread presentations is that they haven’t been taught how to successfully give a presentation. They’re just expected to know how to confidently present to a crowd, when public speaking isn’t a naturally born skill. It must be cultivated, and schools don’t do that enough, resulting in fears about public speaking.

College prepares young people to venture out into the world on their own: they’re away from their parents, they’re learning how to take care of themselves and they’re taking classes that are meant to prepare them for their future careers. If we truly want to prepare students, then a mandatory public speaking course is a necessity. It means that every student has to take it, and if some kids are scared, they won’t be alone. If students put effort into the class and receive genuinely helpful feedback, they can walk away from the class more confident in themselves. The people upset at the idea of a public speaking class being mandatory are those who need it the most. This is no fault of their own: they may not have been taught how to speak publicly, so of course, they’re afraid of it.

“When you haven’t practiced or learned the skills that will better enable you to be successful, but you’ve been asked to do it … you may not be as successful as you wanted to be because you didn’t have all the instructions that could really set you up for success,” Quesenberry said. “When you take a public speaking class, and you learn the ingredients that go into being successful, it allows you to have more confidence and overcome some of the anxiety that goes along with it.”

This does not mean that mandatory public speaking classes would completely negate fears of public speaking. We’re never going to alleviate the fear of public speaking if we throw people into the deep end with high expectations. Teaching people how to speak publicly in safe environments like classrooms with supportive professors is ideal for growing skills that will aid them for the rest of their lives. That’s why it’s equally important to teach public speaking classes in person: a public speaking class over Zoom doesn’t help people when they have to speak in front of people in real life.

Public speaking doesn’t have to be such a common fear — we make it scary by not giving people the adequate training needed to successfully speak publicly. A mandatory public speaking class, while probably not a joy-inducing or popular idea, would significantly benefit students, as they could leave college better prepared to speak confidently across social contexts.

Even if not mandatory now, consider taking a public speaking class — future job-searching you will be grateful for the skills you will gain.