TWO-THIRDS OF U.S. VOTERS SAY 3R’S NO LONGER SUFFICIENT

"BUDGET CUTS"

TIMOTHY FEIMER
TITLE: TWO-THIRDS OF U.S. VOTERS SAY 3R’S NO LONGER SUFFICIENT
DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2007
PUBLISHER: ASCD SMARTBRIEF

The article is reporting on a survey done by the Partnership for 21st century skills, P21, on the preparedness of students on the 21st century society. It seems that about 66% of the 800 people surveyed said their schools were doing a good job but they were not happy with the direction of their schools. The focus has shifted from the basics of reading, math and science from 15 years ago to focusing on collaboration, communication and cultural knowledge.

The main part of the article was to hopefully urge the 2008 candidates to move in the direction of 21st century skills. I believe this is relevant to teaching because one of the biggest obstacles is the funding on the federal, state, and local governments. By putting this out there as much as possible maybe more politicians will start to realize the relevance and the economic impact of teaching the skills society will need. I think if we do not all get on board with the education of these students we will no longer be the economic power house we once were. The global society will pass us by and the funding of the hardware and teacher training will be miniscule compared to the economic impact in the future. I think the No Child Left Behind Act should be changed to the No Societies Child Left Behind Act, and we should be preparing our students for that.


LINK: http://www.eschoolnews.org/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7434