I Don't Get It.

I was just visiting the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), and I came across the article from Education Week titled "Backers of 21st Century Skills Take Flak". This article is a report of an ongoing debate and p­­­anal discussion between proponents of 21st century skills and opponents to this movement. One side says that we must focus on teaching our children skills such as critical-thinking, analytical skills, technology skills, creativity, collaboration, and communication, while the other side says we must focus on content.

After reading the article, I was left unsure of exactly what the debate was all about. Did the opposing sides really listen to each other at all? And if they did listen, did they stop to think about what the other side was saying? Diane Ratvich summed up my thoughts nicely when she said that this argument is one that has been going on for quite some time. “There is nothing new in the proposals of the 21st-century-skills movement," she said. “The same ideas were iterated and reiterated by pedagogues across the 20th century."

The thing that surprised me about this article was that both sides were really arguing for inclusion of both ideals. When Ken Kay discussed the vision of P21, he said, “There’s no question from the beginning that our work has been built on the premise that skills and content support each other, and the notion that you have to choose between them is a false dichotomy.”

Daniel T. Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville also described the interrelatedness of skills and content. "(He) argued not only that the teaching of skills is inseparable from that of core content, but also that it is the content itself that allows individuals to recognize problems and to determine which critical-thinking skills to apply to solve them. "

Yes, I understand that there is discrepancy between their viewpoints on the details, but it really seems to me that they all have the same goal, and that is a goal I can share. We all want our students to obtain the necessary knowledge and the necessary skills to succeed in life. I have heard over and over in my teaching career just how important it is for students to possess all of the skills advocated by P21, but we have just recently given these skills a name. Despite the newness of this name, these skills were, are, and will be critical for our students. I also know that students must understand the content. I am just a firm believer that the best way to teach both is by merging them in our lessons for our students so that they are inextricable and no longer in isolation. They will not be in isolation in "real life," and once again, preparing our students for life is our ultimate goal.