Why 21st Century Skills Matter
It was great to hear our October SPEAK lecturer, Dr. Marc Chun speak about some of the things we have been working on here at Colorado Academy and his own work to promote the teaching and assessment of critical thinking in schools. In case you missed this lecture, here are some comments I used in my introduction for Chun’s talk to put into context his comments about the need for 21st century skills.
In early October, Middle School Principal Bill Wolf-Tinsman and I represented the work of the faculty and administration of CA at the Hathaway Brown School's Summit on Educational Innovation. This program is in its third year. The EE Ford Foundation funds it, and it is one of the more innovative and exciting educational conferences around. It was gratifying to be among some of the top national leaders in educational reform and to share with a packed house our work with design thinking. (Conference organizers actually had to turn people away from our session.)
One of the keynote speakers at the event was New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. As a way of setting up why the work Marc Chun is doing is so critical, I thought it would be worth sharing some of Friedman's points. Friedman spoke about his new book How that Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How It Can Come Back. (http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/that-used-to-be-us)
Despite its title, it's actually a pretty optimistic, and Friedman is brilliant at summarizing major global trends to which our nation must respond. As Friedman notes, the world is not just flat ... "it's hyper connected." When politicians talk about "outsourcing," Friedman laughingly responds, "That is so 90s."
"Our future", he notes, "is not guaranteed." A sense of resignation "that this (meaning the state of affairs in America) is just the way things are" has swept this country. Friedman talked about his recent visit to China and learned how a several million square-foot train station was built there in six months, while back in his hometown of Washington, DC, two escalators on the metro stop have remained broken for the same period of time. He argues that we cannot be satisfied with mediocrity. "Average is over," he notes and then shared with the audience a fascinating story.
In the past year, the number of Chinese nationals who have applied to Grinnell -- a wonderful, but not highly selective school in the Midwest-- increased by 9% in a single year. Here's what's most interesting, 43% of the 250 Chinese applying had perfect scores on their math SATs. As he noted emphatically, this isn't an Ivy school -- it's not Harvard or Stanford --but a modest Midwestern liberal arts college. "Average is over!" (Now parents, please do not go out and immediately hire an SAT tutor --that's not the point of the story!)
His point is that one can no longer be “average.” One needs a higher education, and that education needs to be one that actually prepares someone for a 21st century economy. It is an economy in which anything routine and, in more and more cases, even non-routine, can be outsourced, digitized, or eliminated. From his many talks with key movers in the global economy, workers of the future need to be inventive and creative. They must be gifted problem solvers and critical thinkers. He observes that even law firms in some major cities have positions like "Chief Innovation Officer."
If you are not thinking about how to not just do your job better, or better yet, re-invent your job completely, you are going to be lost. In a hyper-connected world, average is over. Anyone living in this world that wants to be successful must have a creative vision of the future. At Colorado Academy, we have a variety of efforts directed at developing in our students the ability to think creatively and to be innovative. Marc Chun has been a key part of this as we have worked on developing different assessments to measure the critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities of our students. In the Upper School, we have had our ninth and twelfth grade students take the College Work and Readiness Assessment upon which our students have consistently scored at the top of schools nationwide, and even ahead of college students taking the same exam.
This reflects how effective our work has been at a school. Yet, there is always more work to do. I believe we can continue to refine and hone these skills in our students, and there is a lot riding on our ability to do so.
Back
In early October, Middle School Principal Bill Wolf-Tinsman and I represented the work of the faculty and administration of CA at the Hathaway Brown School's Summit on Educational Innovation. This program is in its third year. The EE Ford Foundation funds it, and it is one of the more innovative and exciting educational conferences around. It was gratifying to be among some of the top national leaders in educational reform and to share with a packed house our work with design thinking. (Conference organizers actually had to turn people away from our session.)
One of the keynote speakers at the event was New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. As a way of setting up why the work Marc Chun is doing is so critical, I thought it would be worth sharing some of Friedman's points. Friedman spoke about his new book How that Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How It Can Come Back. (http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/that-used-to-be-us)
Despite its title, it's actually a pretty optimistic, and Friedman is brilliant at summarizing major global trends to which our nation must respond. As Friedman notes, the world is not just flat ... "it's hyper connected." When politicians talk about "outsourcing," Friedman laughingly responds, "That is so 90s."
"Our future", he notes, "is not guaranteed." A sense of resignation "that this (meaning the state of affairs in America) is just the way things are" has swept this country. Friedman talked about his recent visit to China and learned how a several million square-foot train station was built there in six months, while back in his hometown of Washington, DC, two escalators on the metro stop have remained broken for the same period of time. He argues that we cannot be satisfied with mediocrity. "Average is over," he notes and then shared with the audience a fascinating story.
In the past year, the number of Chinese nationals who have applied to Grinnell -- a wonderful, but not highly selective school in the Midwest-- increased by 9% in a single year. Here's what's most interesting, 43% of the 250 Chinese applying had perfect scores on their math SATs. As he noted emphatically, this isn't an Ivy school -- it's not Harvard or Stanford --but a modest Midwestern liberal arts college. "Average is over!" (Now parents, please do not go out and immediately hire an SAT tutor --that's not the point of the story!)
His point is that one can no longer be “average.” One needs a higher education, and that education needs to be one that actually prepares someone for a 21st century economy. It is an economy in which anything routine and, in more and more cases, even non-routine, can be outsourced, digitized, or eliminated. From his many talks with key movers in the global economy, workers of the future need to be inventive and creative. They must be gifted problem solvers and critical thinkers. He observes that even law firms in some major cities have positions like "Chief Innovation Officer."
If you are not thinking about how to not just do your job better, or better yet, re-invent your job completely, you are going to be lost. In a hyper-connected world, average is over. Anyone living in this world that wants to be successful must have a creative vision of the future. At Colorado Academy, we have a variety of efforts directed at developing in our students the ability to think creatively and to be innovative. Marc Chun has been a key part of this as we have worked on developing different assessments to measure the critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities of our students. In the Upper School, we have had our ninth and twelfth grade students take the College Work and Readiness Assessment upon which our students have consistently scored at the top of schools nationwide, and even ahead of college students taking the same exam.
This reflects how effective our work has been at a school. Yet, there is always more work to do. I believe we can continue to refine and hone these skills in our students, and there is a lot riding on our ability to do so.
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