Following up from last week's post, where I explored ways in which I am currently introducing what might be considered 21st Century learning skills (or at the very least innovative) into my classroom, I thought it might be interesting to play devil's advocate and look at some of the criticisms against this new educational paradigm shift. My rationale behind doing this is that it will give me greater insight into the potential pitfalls of trying to adopt a 21st-century approach in my classroom.
While it is far easier to locate material that displays 21st century learning in a positive light, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other side of the coin. Some have called it, "...another doomed fad" (Matthews, 2009). In fact, many have argued that "...none of these skills are unique to the 21st century" (Rotherham, 2008). While I do not think that novelty is what makes the 21st-century approach useful in our changing world, it does call into question what could be perceived as a misnomer. By giving the greater umbrella for all of these skills a name that suggests it is on the cutting edge, the chief proponents of it are doing a great disservice to all of the many educational researchers who have come before them. Why not build upon the shoulders of giants instead of pretending they don't exist? I would argue, cynically though it may appear, that it is because there is money to be made from that which is considered "new." As mentioned previously, the focus of 21st-century skills are to teach students how to know instead of what to know. Many have said that "...some 21st-century skills proponents believe these skills should replace the teaching of content" (Rotherham, 2008). I do understand that there is a lot of sense to this; gone are the days of needing to memorize the periodic table of elements or even multiplication times tables up to 12, as many have argued the obsolescence of these with the introduction of the smartphone. However, as Rotherham continues, "While students should leave school with more than just facts in their head, facts do matter, too. Content undergirds critical thinking, analysis, and broader information literacy skills. To critically analyze various documents requires engagement with content and a framework within which to place the information" (2008). Essentially, there are still fundamentals that are required in order to even develop those higher-order skillsets in ours students. I had a discussion with a colleague the other day that related to the idea that there will be technology available to everyone that will read any piece of text anywhere and on demand. The discussion took us to a place of drawing a parallel between that future time and those times in history when only the clergy or nobles could read information. However, in the case of this future, people will believe that the information is being read to them accurately, but they would not possess adequate reading skills to actually assess that for themselves. In some cases, the question of the schools' ability to successfully implement these new skills into schools is frequently asked, in light of how lagging behind the literacy and numeracy scores are. Matthews states, "How are millions of students still struggling to acquire 19th-century skills in reading, writing and math supposed to learn this stuff?" (2009). I have asked this question before, although I have approached from the angle of whether or not the teachers in the public school system have sufficient training to instruct on these skills properly. It certainly was not a heavy focus of my education degree so far as I can recall. Another problem with the 21st-century movement is the expediency with which these changes are being pushed into schools. Matthews argues this, and said this would not be realistic, as "They say changes must be made all at once, or else. In this democracy, we never make changes all at once" (Matthews, 2009). In our district, there is a big push for us to use all of this newfangled software to help students develop all of these useful skills, and yet there are barely enough functioning laptops for one class to use at a time. From a theoretical perspective, it makes sense to be pushing all of these technologies, but the funding for actually putting them into place just isn't there. And it should go without saying that technology is not all it's cracked up to be, according to some. According to Bennett, "...worshipping at the altar of technology poses its own dangers" (2011). He feels that by not teaching students facts because they have ease of access to them whenever they want, they will end up forgetting them altogether. As Bennett writes, "...making way for the "knowledge-based economy" now seems to thrive on collective amnesia and a complete disregard for the wisdom bequeathed to us by past generations" (2011). This is something that I hadn't considered very thoroughly until I read through that article, and it is a very real problem. Because free-access to information will be considered a given, it will likely not be valued by society as much as it ought to be, and certain ideas might be forgotten. Sure, they might always be indexed somewhere on the internet (although this is not necessarily true either, as many websites expire and are no longer hosted online), but the desire to even consider that information will be long lost. It's not that this is any different to other great epochs of forgotten information that have occurred since the introduction of communication, but I can imagine that with a synthetic memory-bank in place, the rate at which this information is antiquated will increase dramatically. WORKS CITED Bennett, P. (2011, April 15). The case Against 21st-Century Schools. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://www.ourkids.net/school/the-case-against-21st-century-schools Matthews, J. (2009, January 05). The latest doomed pedagogical fad: 21st-century skills. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401532.html Rotherham, A. J. (2008, December 15). 21st-Century skills are not a new education trend but could be a fad. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/12/15/21st-century-skills-are-not-a-new-education-trend-but-could-be-a-fad
2 Comments
Christina Lepine
2/20/2021 07:46:44 pm
Hi Tim,
Reply
Tim Raposo
2/25/2021 11:57:17 am
Hi Christina,
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorTim Raposo is a teacher of grades 3 & 4 at Cawston Primary School in BC. With a firm grasp of burgeoning technologies. he seeks to introduce students to new ideas and skills to produce a passion for 21st century learning as early as possible in their educational careers. ArchivesCategories |