21st Century Skills
Yesterday, having been our oldest child’s 27th birthday, I found myself: (1) spending some time convincing myself that I do not look old enough to have a child that age and, when that didn’t work, (2) reflecting on her childhood. When you leave the hospital with this adorable little girl, they don’t give you a manual of directions to go with her. We, as new parents, were excited but also overwhelmed at the task that lay before us; the task of protecting her, teaching her, and preparing her for the future. What would she become? We didn’t know, but we wanted to do our best to prepare her for adult life in the world as we knew it.
When my father was young, boys grew up and worked in the mill or the coal mine. Girls grew up and become nurses, teachers or homemakers. When I was graduating from high school, opportunities were more varied than my father’s generation; however a college degree was thought necessary to pursue big dreams.
Now, years later, I am a teacher and I can’t help but think about the future and how different it will be for today’s students. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learners will hold 10-14 jobs by the time they are 38 years old !(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf) Many of today’s college majors didn’t even exist 10 years ago. What will college students study 10 years from now?
How can we prepare our children for a future that is so rapidly changing, for jobs in fields that don’t even exist yet? To solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet? What universal skills can we teach them now to prepare them for whatever job the future holds? How can we teach these skills?
Fortune 500 companies list 21st Century skills they look for in future employees. I am curious to know what skills our readers feel will be necessary in any future job and how they feel these important skills can best be taught, both at home and in school. I would welcome any discussion on this topic.
When my father was young, boys grew up and worked in the mill or the coal mine. Girls grew up and become nurses, teachers or homemakers. When I was graduating from high school, opportunities were more varied than my father’s generation; however a college degree was thought necessary to pursue big dreams.
Now, years later, I am a teacher and I can’t help but think about the future and how different it will be for today’s students. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learners will hold 10-14 jobs by the time they are 38 years old !(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf) Many of today’s college majors didn’t even exist 10 years ago. What will college students study 10 years from now?
How can we prepare our children for a future that is so rapidly changing, for jobs in fields that don’t even exist yet? To solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet? What universal skills can we teach them now to prepare them for whatever job the future holds? How can we teach these skills?
Fortune 500 companies list 21st Century skills they look for in future employees. I am curious to know what skills our readers feel will be necessary in any future job and how they feel these important skills can best be taught, both at home and in school. I would welcome any discussion on this topic.
Labels: 21st Century Skills, computers, future, jobs
posted by Sharon Thistlethwaite at
6:48 AM
6 Comments:
You simply cannot go wrong studying medieval english literature...
I'm cereal yinz guys!
When I was in high school, I was told by my mom that she couldn't afford to send me to college, so I couldn't be a doctor. But doctors need secretaries, so I went to business school. Like you said, not too many options for 70's girls. Funny thing is I was offered a full scholarship to Computer Tech, but I didn't think computers were going to be a big thing...wow hindsight, eh? So, really, who knows what skills will be needed. My kid's majoring in environmental chemistry, whatever that is!
When e-mail was created for the public, I was in college. I, and most of my friends in the newsroom, thought it was just going to be another passing phase in technology. There was one person though who insisted it was going to be a huge phenomenon. Shows who was right, eh?
I do think that some skills will always be necessary no matter where technology takes us ... skills like teamwork, effective communication, time management, analytical thinking and decision making.
As you can see from my I own post, I share your concerns for our students' future and for how our ed system will react to prepare them.
As an employer, I would be glad to consider a medieval English major IF she said something like, "Putting myself into the mind of a medieval writer taught me how to put myself into the mind of anyone from another culture." So to me the key lies in translating the content we teach or study into skills that can be broadly applied.
I believe one way to help our students of today is to truly prepare them.
Dr. DiLorenzo spoke to a small group of parents at a PFO meeting last year. In her presentation she made a comment that when we grew up our parents were telling us to eat all the food on our plate because their were children in third world countries starving to death. In today's world we need to tell our children to do your homework, study hard and do your best because their are people in India and China after your careers.
Something else I took from her presentation was the need for foreign languages to be taught at younger ages to our children. And that in fact we don't have enough of the languages that our students are going to need in the schools today. Mandarin being one of them.
I think our schools need to consider putting foreign languages into our elementary schools to help them. It isn't to get them ahead anymore it's to keep them competitive.
I know these things cost money but so do all of the other programs in our schools. And if educators and administrators already know the importance when are these languages going to be brought to the elementary level? When are the languages that the students need going to be introduced to the high schools? Is there a school in Washington County that teaches Mandarin or another language that isn't French or German? I would assume most high schools do teach Spanish.
Michelle Hertig-Sperl
From my own personal experience in interviewing and hiring employees and my own school days, I would have to say that schools really need to spend more time on preparing students for the job seeking process. I have run into PLENTY of very smart, hard-working people who simply had no idea how to "sell" themselves. (Some could barely fill out an application.) This is perhaps one of the most important skills we can teach anyone wishing to enter the workforce, yet we somehow think kids will just pick this up on their own or will manage with a brief explanation of interview process in their senior year. We need to be going further, teaching kids how to use a job search engine, how to tell if they are qualified for a position, how to best present their qualifications even if they are not an exact match, what to ask in an interview, how to negotiate for better pay or benefits, etc, etc.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home