"21st Century Skills: Why They Matter, What They Are, and How We Get There" Reflection

Ken Kay, the president of 21st Century Skills, begins this book by discussing how vital 21st century skills are in the classroom. He proposes that the nation's curriculum be based upon acquiring and teaching these skills, rather than drilling the same subjects' concepts relentlessly. Kay claims that doing well in school no longer prepares students for college nor guarantees a job later on in life. Students need to be taught and tested upon the skills of creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking in order to better prepare them for the new American society. Kay states that "With 21st century skills, students will be prepared to think, learn, work, solve problems, communicate, and contribute effectively throughout their lives" (xx). Fourteen states have already hopped on board and began to implement this program: Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. It is also relevant to note that Ken and others interviewed and obtained the opinion of policymakers, educators, business people, community organizations, and parent before constructing this model.

I agree completely with the framework laid out in this foreword chapter. Throughout my years of school, I have always said that we will use less than half of what all we are taught in class. Some of the most vital things for an individual to survive (how to make a resume, how to appropriately e-mail professors, how to plan for retirement, etc.) are not taught by schools. It is left up to the parents to fulfill this duty, leaving those students without responsible parents at a severe disadvantage in the professional world. However, I fear that, as Americans, we are trying to implement too much change at one time. We have recently introduced the Common Core Standards, and now this is being presented to the educational world. I do not know, for instance, how these two programs could be incorporated. If they are not somehow incorporated, they will surely divide the nation and its graduates along with it. I am also concerned with the amount of training teachers will be forced to undergo. With the example the text gives of West Virginia, every teacher is now being trained during "in-depth summer sessions" and in "follow-up web-based coaching during the school year" for which I am quite sure they are receiving no additional pay. This program involves completely uprooting our current educational system, and I am fearful as to the extra hours that would mean for teachers.