Education in the 21^st century

Introduction

Our world, our nations, our communities, our families, and our children face unprecedented challenges as we continue our journey into the 21^st century. Ecological crises are now common around the world and they will grow worse as we continue to misuse our natural resources. Global warming is having catastrophic effects on our weather patterns. Current projections are that this will only get worse in the next 30 years leading to drastic changes in our earth's climate, temperature, and rainfall patterns. This will lead to dramatic dislocations of populations that currently exist on subsistence farming.

The continuing spread of HIV-AIDS and the potential spread of "bird-flu", anti-biotic resistant tuberculosis, and the continuing ravage of malaria will devastate large portions of the world that have poor nutrition, bad sanitation, poor medical care, and inadequate social support systems. The current devastating effect of HIV-AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is just a portent of the coming medical crises. The rise of stateless terrorism and fanatical authoritarianism in an age where there is access to nuclear, biological, and biochemical weapons also poses continuing threats to all established states; especially those with widespread poverty and ethnic minority populations who feel repressed by their governments and those in authority.

Finally, business is going through a profound change as great as the change that we saw occur from the pre-industrial to the industrial revolution. Just as we saw enormous dislocations of workers as the industrial revolution make old ways of doing work obsolete, we now are faced with a new "industrial revolution" that will focus most of the capital and wealth in persons and companies that are able to use the widespread availability of optic fiber cable, high-speed computers and processors, and an educated labor force available to take advantage of this new "knowledge" revolution that makes any person or business anywhere with access to a computer and the internet able to compete with any other person or company anywhere! We do not have to wait for the impact of this new "knowledge revolution" to start, it has started and we have already seen the devastating impact of individuals, families, and communities devastated by the impact of dislocations that result when jobs become obsolete or are outsourced to other countries that can provide workers who are better skilled for less cost/per hour of employment.

Added to this "knowledge" revolution is the rise of large multi-national corporations that owe their allegiance to no state or nation, but can and do move services and production to any place on the globe where they can get the best return on their investments.

We face a daunting future which will only become more complex, more risky, and more competitive as years go by. Our children, if they are to live and thrive in the 21^st century, must learn a whole new set of skills that will prepare them for work in such an ecologically frail, economically vulnerable world. The style of education that has evolved to address the needs of companies in the industrial age will not provide the kind of workers needed in this post-industrial, knowledge era.

Implications for education in this post-industrial age

• Emphasis on Advanced Math, Science, and Social Studies. Successful "knowledge" workers in the 21^st century will have strong backgrounds in mathematics, science, history, and social studies. Since most of the work will be done by computers, those persons who are most facile in developing, maintaining, and transforming existing technology to the new technologies that will be developed and used in all phases of business will be at a premium   ...     [more]

Director, Philip J. Spottswood, Ph.D. 

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Bill Gates: National Governors Association/Achieve Summit, Prepared Remarks, February 26, 2005 (PDF, 44 KB)

Are they ready to work?, Employer´s perspectives on the basic knoledge and applied skils of new entrants to the 21st century U.S. workforce, Prepared Remarks, February 26, 2005 (PDF, 3,4 MB)

Learning for the 21st Century; A Report and Mile Guide for 21st Century Skills, Published by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (PDF, 592 KB)

The Power of Digital Learning; The CEO Forum: School Technology and Readiness, Report (PDF, 592 KB)