According to a Microsoft report, technical information in the world is doubling every 24 months. They estimate by 2020 this information will be doubling every 72 days. Another report tells us that young people will average 10.2 different jobs between their 18th and 38th birthday. Do these facts have any implication for schools or will business, as usual, help a young person be successful in this changing world?
A recent study from our nation’s business called Partnership for 21st Century Skills tell us the answer to these questions. Businesses identified the following skills as the most important to today’s job success: work ethic, collaboration, good communication, social responsibility, critical thinking, and problem solving. Outside of good communication, none of these areas are what would traditionally be considered a basic skill.
The other areas are more process oriented. They are sometimes called soft skills instead of the more traditional hard or basic skills. Districts that choose to address these new priority areas will need to do some significant changes in the typical way schooling is done.
It is not that these skills are new or that they have never been addressed in schools. However, for the most part they have not been as much a priority in schools as has acquisition of basic information. Much that has been given emphasis in the past, especially since the No Child Left Behind Act, has been skills that can be assessed on multiple-choice tests.
To address many of the skills mentioned above requires a different style of teaching and a different style of assessment. Such teaching would de-emphasize memorization and put a higher priority on using the information that is learned. It would also require students to effectively demonstrate the skills in real-world applications instead of scoring a passing grade on a chapter test.
Some of the other skills, such as collaboration and social responsibility, would need to be taught in the context of classroom activities that required students to work together in teams. They would also need to be taught in projects that send them into the community to provide service in real ways versus sitting in the classroom and talking about issues.
The skill that might be the hardest of all to teach is work ethic. This is one on which both the home and the school would need to partner. Many times schools struggle with students that have poor work ethics. A dialog between parents and the school administrators on what should be done both in the home and in the school to develop this ethic is long overdue. Unfortunately, many of the parents who desperately need to be a part of this dialog are the ones least likely to attend a parent meeting on this or any other topic.
Some current community organizations such as FFA, church youth groups and scouting could be valuable partners in working with the schools and families in developing these 21st Century skills in youth. Enhancing these competencies is a good reason to encourage young people to join them.
Would addressing the 21st century skills mentioned here mean a de-emphasis of core subjects? This would be a mistake. Instead these skills need to be incorporated in the teaching of the core subject areas. It would be less a change in what is taught as compared to a change in how it is taught. This change could make school more interesting and motivating for youth. It would also give them more ownership in the learning process.
The demands of the 21st Century will require both schools and community to work together as never before to create competencies in our youth. This is important to both make their lives successful and to keep the United States ahead in an increasingly more competitive world. Whether schools and communities can adjust to these important requirements in youth development may determine the place of the United States in the world.
|
