21st Century Framework

Last week I got involved in solving a problem of great technological difficulty: Get a Google Form to collect numeric responses, add the responses up, and send an email to the person who filled out the form with their results. It took several hours in a day, but after much trial and error I finally figured out a solution. Throughout the process as I continued to meet roadblock after roadblock, I kept thinking about the 21st Century Skill of ‘Resiliency’.  What’s that? That’s not one of the ones on your list?  What about perseverance?  Adaptability?

Yes, we all have different lists that are amorphous and seemingly ever-changing as we seek to define what they are and what we mean by them. Which makes me wonder, why are we designating these skills as “21st Century”?  Are you telling me there is a century where collaboration, financial literacy and resiliency weren’t a benefit to the individual and society as a whole? With many of them being just slightly above “no duh, that’s a benefit” quality, it’s no wonder so many teachers, parents and educational advocates often conflate the term “21st Century Skills” with “Technology Integration”. Which makes me wonder what misunderstandings I have about 21st Century Skills.

Here are a couple of things I think I know 100% maybe for sure about 21st Century Skills:

1. There is no “One List to Rule Them All”
2. The lists that do exist are a reaction to outdated educational practices in (some, not all) classrooms
3. Technology has made some (global awareness, for example) much easier to bring into classrooms and (perhaps) more necessary to be eventually successful

I almost included a 4th item along the lines of Human expansion/advancement has made others, like environmental awareness or technology literacy, necessary. But I question even that. In agrarian times there was a need for both, it just looked different.

Iwo Jima Raising of the Flag

I am certainly not arguing against the inclusion or integration of 21st Century Skills, as we generally think of them, into schools. In my mind, school should imitate life much more than it has in the last 50-100 years. If there is one skill above all the others I want my 2 year old daughter to still have at 22, 42, 62, and beyond, it is her resilience. No, I am not arguing against their inclusion. Instead I am arguing that we not treat them as something new or unique. They have always been there and have always been needed. There are simply some that look different for our time because our time is different. But if we treat them as unique or new, we lose the benefit of centuries of wisdom and humanity.  There are stories of 21st Century Skills in literature, history, mathematics, science, and every subject in between. Being resilient, collaborative, adaptable, civically literate, healthy, critical thinkers is what got humanity where we are. If we ignore these lessons and examples simply because they happened in a different time, then we fail ourselves and our students.