all i know is that i don't know nothing

If you’re not familiar, those are lyrics from the song “Knowledge” by the band Operation Ivy. If you’re interested, you can find it on their 1989 self-titled record, Operation Ivy. Green Day covered this song on one of their records.

It has been twenty years since the release of that record (I was 7 at the time) and I really think they were on to something. Something that we might learn from as individuals who work in education; admitting that we don’t know. It makes me think very strongly about the movement of 21st-century education: preparing students to be “effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st-century.” (Partnership for 21^st-Century Skills) I think about this because, much like any movement, we need to not only consider the future, but prepare for its arrival. In that preparation, I believe it is essential for us to consider the fact that we really might not know what the world of tomorrow will look like for today’s students. As Nancy Walser puts it in her article Teaching 21st Century Skills: What does it look like in practice?, “You can’t just sprinkle 21st century skills on the 20th century doughnut.”

Now, this is not news. In fact, there has been a lot of attention to this in the media - see this press release about the 21st-Century Skills Incentive Fund, introduced by Senators Rockefeller, Snowe and Kerry. Basically, a bill that would appropriate $100m a year to states that integrate 21st-century skills into education. I am excited by this, because it shows initiative, especially in a time of such potential education reform. [Aside: In 1917, the Smith-Hughes Act, also known as the Vocational Education Act, was passed to help educate Americans for careers in farm work. At that time, over 21% of the American workforce was employed in agriculture, as compared to less than 2% today¹. The Act promoted the concept of education for manual or practical activities and would prepare students for a specific occupation or trade.] As I see it, the Smith-Hughes Act was an attempt by the government to respond to a need. Actions like the 21st-Century Skills Incentive Fund can do just that for education today and is a progressive idea.

I have always considered the goal of education to be learning (makes sense, right?), but we are still operating on a very industrial model - imagine a pyramid, similar to the food groups, where at the peak are math and reading, and as you descend you find history, science, the arts, physical education, etc. This model was proficient in its time (which should have long passed), as it was concerned with high-output for low-cost; basically focusing on cohesion rather than craftsmanship. We're simply too far along to function that way anymore.

The Partnership for 21st-Century Skills considers some of the following to be skills for the 21st-century: creativity and innovation; critical thinking and problem solving; communication and collaboration; information literacy; media literacy; ITC (information communication technology) literacy. What are some of the skills you think the students of tomorrow should have?

1 http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB3/EIB3.htm#changes