Hard Times Calls for Educational Reform

 

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them” (Dickens). Long has gone the day of Thomas Gradgrind, but Dickens criticism of the utilitarian education system still holds true today.

In a culture where information is available at the push of a button, I can not think of a better time to foster the creative mind which encourages students to become innovators of knowledge and not consumers of it. Facts are no longer important; it is what  students can do with these Facts that matters.

Forbes Magazine recently released a survey by the American Management Association which found that knowledge in the three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) is no longer sufficient for managers (Quast). It suggests “to ensure success in the workforce of the future, the three Rs need to be fused with the four Cs: Critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication skills, collaboration skills and creativity and innovation skills” (Quast).

So, I want to end this post with a question: What are you doing in your classrooms today to teach your students, not merely Facts, but the critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration skills they need to succeed?

Works Cited:

Quast, Lisa (December 2011). Workers of the Future Will Need Different Skills Than In The Past. Are You Ready? Forbes Magazine. http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2011/12/12/workers-of-the-future-will-need-different-skills-than-in-the-past-are-you-ready/