21st Century Skills Video

We watched a video in class that dealt with the 7 skills that are needed to succeed in today's world. It was based on the work and findings of one author, Tony Wagner. This video goes along with the book hes written, The Global Achievement Gap. A book about how even the nations best schools still aren't teaching the core things professors in college are looking for. The seven skills needed are basic skills like critical thinking and agility and adaptability and effective oral and written communication, curiosity and imagination, collaborations being able to work in teams. So much emphasis is put on standardized testing and how to better prepare yourself and take tests that so many skills are lost. Even the best schools in the nation aren't teaching these skills. And as future educators you don't want to hear that you are not preparing these kids for the real world, or even college. So he identifies these gaps in our school systems and brings them to every ones attention, and talks about how we need to fix this. He talks about going to classrooms and observing the teachers at elite schools in the United States. He watches and even these teachers, aren't getting the kids involved enough pushing them to think outside the box. They simply are being lectured and asked to ask simple questions, and sometimes no kids is even engaged in which case the teacher asked the question. So this video was about how there are many gaps in our education system and it is up to us as future educator to make sure that this stops before it gets worse.