The Global Achievement Gap Chapter 1

In the novel the "Global Achievement Gap" by Tony Wagner, he stresses that our youth are not up to standards with the rest of the world. And we are the ones to blame. There are many cases in which we are not doing enough to prepare our students for he real world. That all the schooling children and young adults participate in and achieve, they are still not measuring up to kids in other parts of the country there same age.The first key point in the book is the fact that we are teaching kids to a test. Not to there full potential. Teachers and administrators are so worried about being accountable for there kids not passing these standardized tests. The only real gain we have achieved as of late is the ability to take tests well.
Secondly the book stresses the ability to work in groups. Which is most important we are an ever changing society. And the ability to work with others is a must. More and more work these days are team efforts and less on your own. But in classrooms we are taught to work independently. This is a skill that we must work on because it is becoming more and more valuable in today's world.
The third thing we need to be more aware of is our awareness of other cultures. As our country is going global and more and more jobs are be put overseas. As students we must understand that we will be working not only with the people in our office, but people in offices overseas. Many companies have offices all over the globe. Thus putting the emphasis on learning about other countries traditions, culture, values and beliefs.
The fourth thing is effective communication. Now that we are a global country and we communicate with many people daily. We have to make sure that what we want to get across comes through. We need to learn to better articulate what it is that we are trying to say. We take many English classes for grammar and spelling, but we also have to take into account our ability to critically think. We need to go beyond the problem and figure out solutions that have not yet been thought of. All of these skills are important when working in the world around us.
The last thing that I pulled from this chapter is the idea of creative thinking. We are so used to one right answer to a problem. That we often stop right there. We need to become creative thinkers again. Making sure that we are looking at the problem from many possible angles making sure that we have incorporated every lasting detail. All of these skills are important and are sought after by many top companies. That is why the need to teach all these skills is growing heavily. If we do not teach these kids the skills top companies are looking for, chances are the jobs that they hoped to get when they graduate, will be going overseas to a person who is qualified.