Many people find it difficult to speak in front of and to present to anaudience. It is believed that this skill should be taught in school. Why is this important? To what extent do you agree or disagree with it?

Public speaking has always been a challenge to many. When and how to acquire the ability to communicate with many people at a time had been a conundrum for many years. Like any other soft skill, the ability to convey an idea to a crowd is crucial for the success of an individual. Some people inherently possess the ability to articulate an idea. It comes naturally to them and they do it without expending any additional effort. But,for many others,it is a nightmare. Irrespective of which category any individual falls into, public speaking is expertise which can be acquired through training and practice. How long a person needs to be trained is the question here. It really depends on a specific person. There are various factors which determine the duration of coaching needed. They are amount of fear, vocabulary, clarity of thought and composure. The competency of a particular person varies in all these dimensions. What we need is a gap assessment to identify the current competency. Once the desired maturity level is identified, specific training needs to be imparted to reach the desired level in all areas. I do agree that public speaking needs to be taught early in school. Irrespective of whether the child has the skill or not the mentoring needs to start at a very early age. The education needs to tailored to every student so that they grow in the weaknesses they have. Having a cohort and teaching them the rhetorical skill at a very early age will help them to succeed for sure.