kitchen table math, the sequel: Chester Finn on 21st century skills

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Chester Finn on 21st century skills

[S]peaking of 21st Century skills, the more I learn about this woolly notion, the clearer it becomes that this infatuation is bad for liberal learning; a ploy to sidestep results-based accountability; somewhere between disingenuous and naïve regarding its impact on serious academic content; and both psychologically questionable and pedagogically unsound.

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Have I mentioned lately that my district, now at $26,000 $27,700 per pupil spending, does include 21st century skills on its newly approved 20-page Strategic Plan but does not include college preparation?

I believe I have.

As for me, I think 21st century skills are going to be cold comfort in the next few years.

2 comments:

SteveH said...

"Chester E. Finn, Jr., scholar, educator and public servant, has devoted his career to improving education in the United States. As Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and Senior Editor of Education Next, his primary focus is the reform of primary and secondary schooling."

"... a ploy to sidestep results-based accountability; somewhere between disingenuous and naïve regarding its impact on serious academic content;..."


And it took him HOW LONG to come to this obvious conclusion?

SteveH said...

"$27,700 per pupil spending"

Is this their calculation or yours? In our town, they do some funny math to make the number seem lower. I'll have to see if I can track it down.