Stop arguing and transform already!

It gets scary reading books that decry the current state of education and the changes that must take place in order for our students to address contemporary challenges in the workplace. We are arguing about more tests, longer days, better spent days and each day schooling looks less and less like what we need and more and more like what want because it’s either easier, more comfortable or a version of we’ve always done it this way.

David Houle and Jeff Cobb’s new book Shift ED: a call to action for transforming K-12 Education (2011:Corwin Press) is the newest “the sky is falling” call, and it is well worth heeding.

One of their guest opinion writers, Karen Woodward, superintendent of Lexington County School District One in Lexington, South Carolina, particularly struck me by her description of the 21^st century graduate. She warns that “the top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.” Among the skills she claims a 21^st century student must possess are:

• “Have deep learning in liberal arts and the areas of STEM.
• Be able to communicate in a media-saturated society.
• Understand the power of collaboration and master collaborative skills.
• Use and manage electronic tools.
• Have integrity and sensitivity, be astute in identifying the needs of others and care about those needs.
• Grasp the importance of personal fulfillment, the joy of being, and behaviors that affect these states.”

How well do you think mastering those timed, multiple-choice high stakes circumstances will make our students understand “the joy of being” or “the power of collaboration” in contemporary society?

So much to do, and we’re arguing about the color of the napkins placed on the table where we will discuss the changes that must be made. No wonder the faces of the recently retired educator look so blissful! They practically say “Good luck with that” to those who are facing our students now with such limited resources, scant knowledge base in STEM or technology, with the ever present pressure to achieve with an achievement scale that does not prepare for the what’s next.