Comments on: Another 21st Century Skills Skeptic http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/01/05/another-21st-century-skills-skeptic/ Closing the Achievement Gap: Teaching Content Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:44:17 -0500 hourly 1 By: Andrew B. Watt http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/01/05/another-21st-century-skills-skeptic/comment-page-1/#comment-8618 Andrew B. Watt Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:32:43 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=1730#comment-8618 Rachel is right. "21st century skills" as a term is so over-loaded as to be meaningless. You can't actually have a group of people agree on what it means, and at my school there's not actually any clear set of guidelines about where we should be trying to go with them. We teachers see our students become less and less motivated to learn and to succeed with each passing year, I think, in part because our schools have lost their way. We know there's a sociological revolution underway and that computers change the landscape of the game, and perhaps even some of the rules, but we don't know how, or what, to emphasize any more. Meanwhile, all the non-educators are shouting new prescriptions at us every year or every few months. Educational reform is depressingly slow. You need people like me who get interested in blogging or wikis, and we do it wrong. Maybe we have a few interesting failures, but because we do it wrong, our colleagues are less likely to try. And a bunch of buzzwords and rhetoric continue to solve nothing. Rachel is right. “21st century skills” as a term is so over-loaded as to be meaningless. You can’t actually have a group of people agree on what it means, and at my school there’s not actually any clear set of guidelines about where we should be trying to go with them.

We teachers see our students become less and less motivated to learn and to succeed with each passing year, I think, in part because our schools have lost their way. We know there’s a sociological revolution underway and that computers change the landscape of the game, and perhaps even some of the rules, but we don’t know how, or what, to emphasize any more.

Meanwhile, all the non-educators are shouting new prescriptions at us every year or every few months. Educational reform is depressingly slow. You need people like me who get interested in blogging or wikis, and we do it wrong. Maybe we have a few interesting failures, but because we do it wrong, our colleagues are less likely to try. And a bunch of buzzwords and rhetoric continue to solve nothing.

]]> By: Rachel http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/01/05/another-21st-century-skills-skeptic/comment-page-1/#comment-5224 Rachel Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:16:08 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=1730#comment-5224 I think 21st century skills is quickly morphing into a meaningless buzzword -- 21st century skills are whatever skills the writer thinks are important. There one grain of truth that I think is buried in the idea, and that's that fewer and fewer people are going to be able to build a life around a single skill learned in their late teens and early 20's. In many ways "21st century skills" are the skills of the professional worker rather than the assembly line worker. It's not that they haven't been taught to many students before, it's that we haven't been successful at teaching them to all students (or even most students) and that is (potentially) becoming an increasing problem for both students and their future employers. But acting like these are skills no one's ever needed before is silly. I think 21st century skills is quickly morphing into a meaningless buzzword — 21st century skills are whatever skills the writer thinks are important.

There one grain of truth that I think is buried in the idea, and that’s that fewer and fewer people are going to be able to build a life around a single skill learned in their late teens and early 20’s.

In many ways “21st century skills” are the skills of the professional worker rather than the assembly line worker. It’s not that they haven’t been taught to many students before, it’s that we haven’t been successful at teaching them to all students (or even most students) and that is (potentially) becoming an increasing problem for both students and their future employers.

But acting like these are skills no one’s ever needed before is silly.

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