Debating “21st Century Skills”
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A Challenge to P21
A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders — including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, former Boston University President John Silber, New York University education historian Diane Ravitch, and Democrats for Education Reform co-founders Kevin Chavous and Whitney Tilson — issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision.
The Partnership for 19th Century Skills
Do you think civility, honor, self-discipline, industriousness, and idealism are — and always have been — important qualities? And ones that should be promoted in our schools? Diane Ravitch suggested as much in a blog she wrote for Common Core this summer. So we’ve decided to launch P19, a group that advocates for 19th century skills now. Click here to join.
Common Core has been critical of the idea that our children’s education should be organized around a set of so-called “21st century skills” instead of core academic subjects such as history, science, and the arts. Read more about this debate:
- UCLA's Mike Rose explains the troubling implications of the 21st century skills movement.
- Andy Rotherham and Dan Willingham explain the challenges facing the 21st century skills movement in Educational Leadership.
- Education experts weigh in on the 21st century skills movement at National Journal.
- Read the full text of remarks from our February 24, 2009 panel on 21st century skills, featuring Diane Ravitch, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., and Dan Willingham. (PDF format)
- View highlights of our February panel:
Click here for video of the complete panel discussion (approximately 2 hours). - USAToday covers our February panel discussion on 21st century skills.
- EducationWeek provides comprehensive coverage of the same event.
- Emory University’s Mark Bauerlein declares that the 21st century skills movement erodes cultural literacy.
- Renowned education historian Diane Ravitch calls for a new partnership for 19th century skills. Want to join the 19th century skills movement? Click here.
- We encourage everyone to read the Pioneer Institute’s outstanding policy briefs on 21st century skills here and here.
- The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews thinks that 21st century skills is the “latest doomed pedagogical fad.”
- How long have “21st century skills” been around? For about 21 centuries, says EducationSector’s Andy Rotherham.
- Find out what P21 says about its program when it thinks no one’s listening.
- Follow our coverage of the 21st Century Skills Incentive Fund Act here and here.
- Learn how the board members of P21 stand to profit from skill-based education: here and here.
- Find out why the Boston Globe believes everyone should be skeptical of the 21st century skills movement: A 21st-Century Caution • 21st-Century Skeptics
- And learn why the Boston Herald opposes the effort to dumb down Massachusetts’ standards by introducing 21st century skills.
- Education writer Alfie Kohn has a modest proposal — students need to get 22nd century skills.
- Sandra Stotsky, in a letter to EdWeek, echoes Why We’re Behind – we should build on models that provide a content-rich education rather than embrace faddish 21st century skills.
- Check out Robert Pondiscio’s “21st Century Skills: A Guide for Clear Thinkers” at the Core Knowledge blog.
- Find out why Thomas Birmingham and E.D. Hirsch believe that the 21st century skills movement will dumb down education.
- Read Charles Chieppo and Jim Stergios in the Boston Globe, arguing that we need to teach content before skills.
Blog
News
Spring 2010 • The new issue of the AFT's American Educator shines a light on 21st century skills, featuring contributions from Common Core's Lynne Munson and Laura Bornfreund, eduwonk Andy Rotherham and UVA's Dan Willingham, Diana Senechal, and Diane Ravitch.
December 4 • EdWeek profile questions motives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
November 10 • You can now read Diane RavitchÕs op/ed on 21st century skills in the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Metro West Daily News, Lowell Sun, and Quincy Patriot Ledger.
November 3 • Education Week highlights Common Core's concerns about the appointment of a P21 leader to a key Dept. of Education post.
November • Lynne Munson and Richard Kessler explain why arts education is vital in the November 2009 issue of Parenting magazine.
October 10 • Diane Ravitch's recent op/ed on 21st century skills has been reprinted in the Providence Journal.
September 16 • A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision. Press Advisory (pdf)
September 15 • Common Core’s Diane Ravitch shows how dated the idea of “21st century skills” really is in the Boston Globe
July 13 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson raises concerns about national standards at convention of the American Federation of Teachers. (PDF document)
July 9 • In USAToday Common Core’s Lynne Munson argues that a comprehensive education is more likely than a STEM education to produce new scientists.
July 2 • A USAToday editorial cites and links to Common Core’s “Still at Risk”" study which showed how little our 17-year-olds know about history and literature.
June 2 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here.
