The first chapter brought to my attention the degree to how insufficient our education system really is in today’s modern world. The one fact that really caught my attention was that only about a third of high school graduates today are ready for college. Really? I was stunned by that. Wagner points out that the school systems have not changed, but the world around us has. Our education system had not kept up with the changing and global economy we now face. What needs to change? It seems to me that our country has been concerned with the gap between the quality of schools for poor and minority children and most middle class students. Our education system has been focusing on teachers being held accountable, so therefore increased testing. Our children are not learning the skills that matter in the twenty-first century.
Wagner interviewed many employers, even from high tech companies, to find out what they look for when they hire young people. They all pointed to the same direction; look for someone who can ask good questions. We can teach new employees technical skills, but we cannot teach them the ability to problem solve.
The other important skills they wanted was the ability to communicate effectively with other people, and they have to know how to work and get along with other people.
I have heard for several years now that our children are not as well educated as children from other countries. I really think that is sad and scary for our children and the future of this country. I am learning from this book that we need to change as teachers to make sure that children graduate with the skills they need for today's working world. One major thing it seems we need to focus on is critical thinking and problem solving.
Wagner calls this his first of seven survival skills that children need for the twenty-first century. The ability to ask a good question, and know how to talk to people to find out what they need to know. Schools need to focus more on teaching children how to think critically, and you cannot learn that overnight. As teachers, we need to start teaching children how to think critically as soon as they are old enough to grasp the concept.
The second survival skill children need is knowing how to collaborate across networks and leading by influence. It makes sense when you think about how today's business are run. Technology has advanced to the point that there are now virtual teams that engineers work on, and projects that are all over the world, thanks to the high tech computer age. You might be working with people from all different parts of the world to solve a problem. In today's world, people are not even in the same building. They are using things such as net meetings, and web casts to communicate.
The rest of the skills are important and I have already touched on most of them so I will just list what the skills are according Tony Wagner. The third skill is agility and adaptability, the fourth skill is Initiative and Entrepreneurialism, the fifth skill is effective oral and written communication, the sixth skill is accessing and analyzing information, and the last skill is curiosity and imagination.
One last important thought from chapter one that I wanted to talk about is that our future students are going to have to know how to work with people from different places with different cultures when they get out in the working world of today. Our children need to be taught about diverse cultures and global awareness. They need to be able to use critical thinking and problem solving to understand global issues. They need to be able to collaborate with people from other countries, different religions and lifestyles. They also need to understand other nations and cultures, including people who do not speak English.
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