Experts agree that, in the years to come, there remains the need for solid education in the core subjects of math, reading, writing and science. But, are these core subjects adequate for a society – and a workplace - that is changing at an exponential rate? Many experts say no. Not for a world where many types of traditional jobs that Americans relied upon will be either automated, or outsourced to workers or countries with lower costs - and not if Americans want to maintain their innovative edge which has fueled a standard of living we all wish for our children. Consequently, how do we will help our children develop the necessary skills to succeed in the 21st Century?

Experts Define Key Ingredients

Beginning in the late 20th Century, futurists, authors, and teams of corporate giants set out to define the key ingredients needed by employees in the 21st Century, and how these translate into curriculum for our school systems. One organization, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a collaboration of corporations, educational leaders and policy makers, developed a vision of the skills and knowledge needed for our children in the 21st Century. In addition to a strong foundation in the core subjects, they recommended the addition of some key skills and content into the existing curriculum. The Partnership also advised replacement of the lecture-memorize-regurgitate teaching approach, and called for new instructional methods, and relevant assessments for both student and teacher performance. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ vision and recommendations can be accessed on their website, 21stcenturyskills.org.

The Partnership’s recommendations can be boiled down into four main ingredients: people skills, thinking skills, technology and information skills, and a global perspective.

Ingredient #1 – People Skills

A successful employee of the 21st Century will emerge from a student who has well-developed people skills. While people skills have always been important for employees, especially for those in managerial, sales or leadership positions, they will be essential for every 21st Century employee. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills recommendations include the ability to:

• Communicate clearly both verbally and in writing
• Get along with others, resolve conflict, work in collaborative teams
• Be flexible and empathic in working with different personalities and cultural backgrounds

Others agree. In a survey of more than 400 employers across the U.S., oral and written communications, teamwork and collaboration were cited among the most important skills in the workplace. In Pulitzer Prize-winning, Thomas L. Friedman’s book, THE WORLD IS FLAT, Friedman describes the increasingly diverse workforce of tomorrow, and the need for workers to be able to “collaborate with others within, and between, companies around the world.” He emphasizes the need for people who can synthesize information and then explain it clearly, a valuable people skill. Finally, in a Spotlight on Education broadcast from the OC Department of Education, Executive Chairman of Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corporation, Paul Folino, expressed that employers are looking for “people who communicate well, both verbally, and in written communication.” The team-driven workplace will need people who can communicate well, and work in groups.

Unlike measuring a student’s ability to complete 100 math problems in five minutes or less, people skills, or “soft skills,” can be difficult for schools to teach and assess. But if you don’t measure the skills, how do you know whether the students are developing the skills? “If we want the students to be collaborative team players, we need to teach students these skills -- and assess them,” says Tait Lihme, of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, who is working closely with teachers to develop alternative ways of assessing student learning. The school’s teachers and administrators, too, are learning how to work more collaboratively, with teams of faculty members making key instructional changes, and then sharing and modeling for fellow teachers on campus.

Parents can make it a lifelong goal to nurture their child’s people skills, understanding that nature does play a role in temperament and personality. Recognizing that your bashful child might not be able to find a job where they can hide behind a stack of accounting books or a computer might inspire you to find ways to develop your child’s “emotional quotient,” or emotional intelligence. Read books about emotional intelligence. Ask your librarian to help find children’s stories that model the resolution of social conflicts, and discuss them. Help your child develop the ability to communicate by encouraging her to describe and summarize stories she has read; encourage her to write stories, letters or journals; assist her in organizing group projects such as charity drives; and encourage her participation in team sports and theater – all are great ways to learn to work as a team. As children mature, Scouts, clubs and summer jobs offer other forms of social interaction under some adult guidance. Speak with your teachers for more ideas on how to develop your child’s communication and social skills.

Ingredient #2 – Thinking Skills

A successful adult or employee of the 21st Century will emerge from a student who has evolved thinking skills. Thinking or cognitive skills include the ability to take in information, sort the reliable data from the unreliable, interpret it, and use it in new and different ways. Thinking skills include:

• Critical thinking and problem solving skills: synthesizing and evaluating information, making decisions
• Discriminating use of information: accessing and recognizing credible sources
• Creative and flexible thinking: seeing relationships between things that are seemingly unrelated, using out-of-the-box thinking to apply unique perspectives to common situations

Many of these skills will develop as the brain matures, but experiences and exposure can shape these thinking skills. In a presentation to OC educators, Daniel Pink, author of A WHOLE NEW MIND, emphasized the need for creative, “right-brain“ thinkers, and set forth a challenge to educators to foster creativity and problem solving by integrating arts education throughout the curriculum, giving teachers greater autonomy to be creative, and breaking down barriers between subjects, thereby helping kids to learn to see relationships and foster problem-solving skills. Many agree that the arts are important to fuel creativity and innovation. Some attribute the success of the Orange County High School of the Arts for this reason – placing the school in the Orange County Register’s selection of the top 10 public high schools in Orange County.

Many of our critical thinking skills and creative ideas come from our frame of reference – situations or things we’ve seen before, or experienced directly. So, to vary one’s experience broadens one’s frame of reference. Look for everyday situations to teach your child, and listen to the questions they ask about everyday things – where the toilet water goes, who pays for the services of the Fire Department, why some birds can’t fly... If they are inquisitive about a subject, help them find the answers, find an expert, make a phone call to a local business, or take them on mini field trip to get more information. Reward their curiosity. Fuel their intellectual creativity by showing them how things work, how things are assembled, and what they are made of. TiVo the Discovery Channel program “COOL STUFF: HOW IT WORKS,” and watch it as a family. You’ll be surprised how the episodes relate to everyday life, and can result in interesting family discussions. Exploit your contact list on “Take Your Child to Work Day” in April, looking for cool workplaces to take your kids to tour. Pop open the hood of the SUV and explain to your daughter why engines need oil, how gas is combusted, and how cylinders and pistons work. Show your son how sewing machines work, or how the chemical reaction of baking soda causes baked goods to rise, and pop bottle rockets to soar. Buy a book of science experiments, choosing one per month. Help children develop thinking skills by discussing various ways to solve a problem, by participating in debate, or Mock Trial programs.

Encourage practical experience by involving children in some of the daily management and maintenance of the household. Think of your children as little apprentices, preparing for a life on their own. Encourage your kids to fix things themselves, or get “real world” experience through lemonade stands, part-time jobs and internships. I recently taught my daughters how to spackle, sand and paint some scuffed-up baseboards, whereas I could have had my painter do it the following week. It was a teachable moment. Investigate available resources in our community such as Career Academies, Regional Occupational Programs, and online career guides and personality assessments. Encourage kids to participate in science and technology competitions such as Girls Engineering writing contests, Sally Ride Toy Challenge, or Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Teach your children how to think for themselves and help build their financial awareness. When they want to purchase a book or a toy, show them how to compare prices, taxes and shipping between local and online and sellers that include eBay and Craig’s List. Practical experience and a frame of reference will help in the development of thinking skills.

Thinking skills were crucial to the survival of the caveman. Now, the further-evolved, creative, critical thinking and problem-solving skills of today will rise to the top - as the survival skills of the 21st Century.

Ingredient #3 – Technology and Information Skills

A successful employee of the 21st Century will arise from a student who possesses solid technology and information skills. A student must know how to obtain, evaluate, and synthesize information into knowledge, and know when and how to apply current technological tools in the process. 21st Century professionals will need to be able to:

• Access and manage information using current tools: knowing about tools, and how to retrieve information
• Evaluate information: judging the quality, relevance, usefulness, or efficiency of information
As more uncensored sources of information are accessible on the internet, more junk has to be sifted through to find accurate, reliable information. Author Thomas Friedman describes this flow of information as similar to the force of a fire hose – and there is no ducking the force of that stream.

This fire hose of information has given contemporary librarians new hope for job security, as they are no longer limited to teaching the Dewey Decimal System and laminating book covers. Instead, they work in collaboration with classroom teachers, students - and even parents - to ensure everyone has the skills to access, evaluate and apply information responsibly. Darla Magana, librarian for St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, implemented a program that requires a parent and child to complete a “web evaluation” homework assignment together. She wasn’t sure how parents would respond to the assignment, but felt this would address the many requests for guidance from parents, who want to help their children use the Web responsibly. In a recent interview, Magana commented that “Although students often have more tech skills than their parents, the parents have that life experience and common sense that is needed to evaluate information—together they make a great collaborative learning team!”

Work with your children and learn how to evaluate the credibility of websites, understand a blog from a podcast, a URL from an HTML, Wikipedia from a .gov site, and how these tools are used. As a parent, you don’t need to become an expert, but having a base-level of knowledge will allow you to monitor your child’s usage of web-based information and support your child as schools begin to encourage the use of these tools. Plus, knowing the lingo can serve in keeping the parent-child lines of communication open.

Ingredient #4 – Global Perspective

A successful adult of the 21st Century will emerge from a student who has a global perspective. These global thinkers will possess a “Google Earth” perspective, seeing themselves as responsible citizens of their city, country and the world. A global thinker will have an understanding of the world economy and business, and be conscious
of the world environment.

Many schools are taking a more global perspective, whether it’s a change in the focus of social studies courses, types of community service projects, or the range of examples in mathematics. Last year, several grades at the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach adopted pen pals from other countries, and even their Flat Stanley projects “went global.”
Schools’ International Days and Heritage Days originated so that children could understand their heritage, but these special projects now assume an increased level of importance as our children face the 21st Century world.

A global perspective is evident in our schools by an increased emphasis on foreign languages. Some schools are adding more
language choices, while others are introducing students to foreign languages earlier, in hopes that the exposure will make foreign language study in the later grades, well, less “foreign.” In a recent study, 400 employers were asked to rank subject areas they thought would become more important over the next five years, and the majority indicated knowledge of a foreign language and culture. (See report, ARE THEY READY TO WORK, referenced below.) It is not uncommon today for schools to offer Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish and French.

Parents can begin to foster a global perspective in their children by visiting museums, reading stories, and watching programs about other cultures. Invite a friend from another culture to dine with you at a restaurant serving the cuisine of his country. Subscribe to HIGHLIGHTS TOP SECRET ADVENTURES BOOK CLUB to help your young child learn about a new country with each shipment. Learn a foreign language together, planning a trip where you can test out your new language skills. Begin saving for at least one trip overseas before your children graduate from high school. Consider summer camps beyond California, and beyond the U.S. Discuss the opportunity for “gap years” with your college counselors. Consider reputable service clubs and Scouting programs that offer international travel. Encourage students to participate in Model UN programs. Learn about your family’s own heritage.

As an active participant in your child’s education, it’s helpful to have a general understanding of these 21st Century skills so you can be watchful of “teachable moments” and eye-opening opportunities for your children, referred to by educators as “contextual learning experiences.” And while some of the recommendations for schools are beyond your immediate control, parents can be supportive of their school’s efforts.