21st Century Skills vs Common Core

I have a question for you. Do you use communication skills more in everyday life, or do you use the trigonometry and quantum physics you learned junior year of high school? Yes, some people take the engineering or mathematics career path. But what about the philosophy majors or communications? These simply do not need more than a basic understanding of math.

So which is more important: teaching children life long skills that most jobs require now or teaching them standardized testing concepts just to get ahead of other competing countries? Here we can compare two influential men in education’s history, John Dewey and Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson followed the standardized classroom that enforces the same requirements for each student. The main purpose for bringing these requirements about is to globally compete for the high demand jobs, which requires a higher education.

On the contrary, John Dewey’s philosophy revolved around progressive education, meaning there was more emphasis on hands-on learning and deviating from the standard curriculum. He focused on social skills, social responsibility, and emphasizing equality in learning. In Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, Dewey writes “The point of this commonplace is that the purpose of school education is to insure that continuance of education by organizing the powers that insure growth. The inclination to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life such that all will learn in the process of living is the finest product of schooling…” (Dewey 1938). This basically means that leaning by applying skills to everyday will provide a stronger sense of learning and education.

This leads us to my main point: learning 21st century skills is more important than following the regimented standards. The 21st century skills include learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills. Examples include critical thinking, collaborating, communicating, media literacy, technology literacy, leadership, flexibility, and productivity. All of these skills seem to have more to do with being better competitively with other countries. Andrew Hacker, of the New York Times, talks about the results of math being too difficult for much of the population. The competitive bar has been set so high that the average student does not do well in regular algebra class and then feels inferior causing them to lose interest in education all together. He states, “ It’s true that students in Finland, South Korea and Canada score better on mathematics test. But it’s their perseverance, not their classroom algebra, that fits them for demanding jobs” (Hacker 2012). Common core sets students up for high-standardized test scores and “college readiness”. But what the 21st century skills teach students is to be honest, fair, and hard workers, and to dominate the 21st century global economy, which is exactly what our country wants (Bascom 2016). In our group discussion Michael mentioned that while some requirements are needed, once students reach the high school level the 21st century skills are needed much more to ensure a good career path.

It should be enough proof that even with Common Core America still is not even number one in standardized testing…so something is obviously not working. We must come together as educators and teach students the important everyday skills that Dewey and so many others envisioned for our school systems.

Bascom, James. “9 Reasons Why Common Core Is Bad for Education.” TFP Student Action. N.p., 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 13 May 2016.

Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: Free, 1966. 175. Print.

Hacker, Andrew. “Is Algebra Necessary?” The New York Times n.d., SundayReview sec.: n. pag. 28 July 2012. Web. 13 May 2016.

“What Are 21st Century Skills?” K-12 Thoughtful Learning. N.p., 17 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 May 2016.