P21, 3R's, 4C's and a good pair of running shoes

     P21 is not the latest fitness craze.  P1 stands for Partnership for 21st Century Skills which is a national organization that "advocates for 21st century readiness for every student". This  organization encourages the education system to be mindful of not just the core subject areas, the 3 R's, but also to be mindful of  4C's.  The 4C's stand for Critical thinking and problem solving,Communication, Collaboration and Creativity and innovation.  The goal is to help American students breech the increasing gap in achievement that seems to have been created with our last greatest educational reform.  These are not NEW skills but perhaps they have become forgotten ones for many of us.  Someone probably spent a lot of time to generate the rainbow graphic complete with supporting pools to illustrate the framework for 21st century learning .

      I suppose I have always subscribed to the belief that young people need to be taught not just book skills but life skills. This P21 framework encourages us to think of all the parts as being interconnected and that just makes sense.  That in itself should be scary but perhaps there is some hope then that the policy makers and researchers are finally realizing what educators have known for years.  There is more to teaching than what is in a text book or on a test.  My greatest fear is that the bureaucracy  that is our education system will take a goal so pure and common sense and muddy it up by trampling it under its misguided but well meaning feet.  Students need to be able to read and write and do basic math.  They should leave school knowing how to read a car contract or an apartment lease and they should know how to balance a check book and understand the fine print in a loan paper.  Students should be taught how to find information, not forced to remember minute details. Students should leave school prepared for what lies AFTER school and that will most likely involve working with other people and negotiating the technology of the day. 

     This all makes sense but at this point no one can tell us exactly what it will look like in the actual class room.  I want to know how we are going to teach children these skills. What courses will we offer?  How will we determine if it is successful or not? P21 offers comprehensive resources for policy makers, educators, parents and students. They have a plan for the learning environment all the way through professional development and curriculum design,  This is the complete package but I'm not sure if I am ready to open it.  At the moment everyone is buzzing about 21st century skills.  Dr David Thornburg identifies no less than a dozen key skills for the modern learner to be successful and speaks of "deep global transformation". Dr Chris Dede lauds collaboration as the next greatest interface.  Everyone is talking the talk but as of yet, I'm not sure who is walking the walk but rest assured when the time comes to lace up the walking shoes, the teacher in the class room will be the first to get blisters.