by Tony Gerlicz 

Is talking about, thinking about and implementing 21st century skills really thinking about education any differently than usual?  If the ancient Greeks were walking the Earth and were confronted with the concept and nomenclature of "21st Century Skills", would they find it a departure from what they philosophized?

What are 21st Century Skills and why the hype about them?  Why now and how should they be incorporated into our schools?  Are they really that different from what good teaching has always been?  What would John Dewey say about them?

One excellent source to help us understand how to frame the 21st Century Skills discussion is found in the book, 21st Century Skills, Rethinking How Students Learn, James Bellanca and Ron Brandt, Editors.  This is a collection of articles from some of the finest thinkers today in the field of education, Linda Darling-Hammond, Howard Gardner, Rick and Becky DuFour, Doug Fisher, Alan November, Bob Pearlman, Doug Reeves, John Barell and more who address why we use this language and how we implement these skills.  

The authors embrace the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which was developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills(2009).  The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a national organization that advocates for 21st Century readiness for every student.  It was formed in 2002 with founding partners the US Department of Education, AOL Time Warner Foundation, Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, Cable in the Classroom, Microsoft, SAP and which now includes such organizations as the Knowledge Works Foundation, the NEA, Walt Disney, LEGO Education and many more.  The Mission of the Partnership is: "To serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders."

A quick look at the founding partners reveals a distinctive higher-tech slant to the concern that American youth need much more than a heavily tested curriculum focusing on basic skills and factual memorization. And it is not only high-tech firms that echo the innovation refrain so often lacking in traditional educational systems.   In his excellent 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, Professor Richard Florida argues that it is indeed those communities that are able to harness the "creative economy" or "innovation economy" that will be winners in the future. These are places where the creative ethos is increasingly dominant.

Long ago, John Dewey stated in Democracy and Education, "students will thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum" implying ownership and engagement, the very building blocks of innovation.  Socrates believed the purpose of education was to not only know oneself, but to use knowledge acquisition to be happy and virtuous and to think deeply about thinking and abstracting.  So what is so different about the current clamor and call for 21st Century Skills?

"There is nothing new under the sun", a quote attributed to King Solomon and used throughout the ages.  "Yes, I know he said that" replied Will Rogers, America's great humorist, "but I wasn't listening very well the first time."  And so it is.  Old, good ideas get re-packaged and molded for our times.  The need to inculcate 21st Century Skills in today's young people reminds us of the folly of thinking that high stakes testing will restore America's prominence on the world's educational stage.  It reminds us how easily our profession falls into the either/or trap.  We think it is either basic skills or problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, innovation, etc.  It is either paper, pencil tests or performance assessments.  Why it is so difficult to think both-and, remains an enigma of human nature.

Bellanca and Brandt have done a terrific job of compiling excellent writing and even better thinking, of which any one chapter stands out as exemplary.  Here we read Gardner's Five Minds of the Future whose articulated skills dovetail so wonderfully well with Daniel Pink's seminal Whole New Mind and Drive.  Here we read Bob Pearlman write about designing new learning environments to support 21st Century skills.  Here we read Alan November visiting incredibly resource rich schools who are clueless about using those resources to provide the breakthroughs in pedagogy that he advocates. John Barell, who works with International Baccalaureate Schools and has had a long career fostering problem-based learning, write compellingly about how PBL is ideal in developing these skills.

The beauty of the Framework for 21st Century Skills, and of this compendium, is the lack of dogma and the multiple perspectives the authors take to inculcating these skills for the future.  We know information and media literacy are now basic skills, we know flexibility, adaptability, initiative, creativity, communication are moving from the fringes of learning to occupy the central core of knowledge.  We know competencies such as problem finding then problem solving, collaborative skills, cross-cultural skills, multilingualism, and the ability to discriminate information are rapidly becoming basic skills.  And we know it is not an either / or proposition but rather all - and.  And as Young Zhao (2009) points out, Asian competitors are already moving far faster in these dimensions that the United States.  They have learned the value of marrying traditional rigor with 21st Century competencies.  

There is an inherent disconnect between our schools and the world of work.  I encourage all educators to do the following exercise with the parents in their schools.  When all the parents are assembled together, ask them to list on an index card placed on their chair, the skills they use daily to be successful in their work.  When I did this exercise recently at the American School of Warsaw, whose parents are 95% of the professional class including ambassadors, financiers, CEOs, line workers, and entrepreneurs in the global economy, then looked at the compilation of skills identified, then asked the faculty where and how often we teach love of learning, problem finding, ability to give and take, listening, original thinking, conflict resolution, perseverance, initiative, etc. The world of work already knows these are success skills for the future.

How we identify, develop, deliver and measure the acquisition of these skills will be the fundamental challenge of American education moving forward.  This book will go a long way to helping students, teachers, administrators, legislators, parents, universities and employers of all stripes understanding the nomenclature and the concept, why these skills are in such high demand and how we go about institutionalizing them in our educational systems.

Yet there is one set of skills consistently lacking in this compilation as well as other analyses involved in the discussion of 21st Century skills and that is the ability to be well grounded in who one is, to find happiness in life, to find joy in improving the lot of humankind, to use our unique talents and abilities to improve the lot of humankind.  We all want to work with people who are centered, at peace with themselves and who continuously learn as well as are competent.  
 
Criticism aside, this is must reading for anyone interested in and involved in education's continual evolution.