The 21st Century Learner and Curriculum

After having a week to think about the New York Times article, I’ve found that I am more conflicted than I originally was. Initially I disagreed with it, thinking that many schools had changed more than what the article stated. Thinking it over, though, I realized that while there may be some changes, the overall spirit of school has remained the same. It’s not that we have not progressed; it’s that we have not progressed enough. Whereas enormous leaps were made in other technological and social norms, education has moved at a snail’s pace.

That said, I feel that the impetus for change within schools has ratcheted up dramatically over the past twenty years. Thinking about the differences between my elementary, middle, and high school educations show a slow but steady movement in what I feel is the right direction. In elementary school my learning was relegated mostly to listening to a teacher lecture to me for the majority of the school day. Come middle school, this still was the case in most classes, but there was a gradual movement to incorporate more 21^st century themes. For instance, we had a unit on the discovery of America in which we took on the roles of explorers during that time period. Our math teacher taught us to write checks so we could “purchase” fake supplies, which included vocabulary words from English. Obviously this was all tied with history and science as we would learn what was necessary to survive during the time and some of the consequences, such as various diseases, if we forgot certain things. The lesson sticks with me to this day and was by far one of the most interesting. Finally, in high school, I witnessed a new age of teachers begin to enter the schools and begin to try many more unique methods of teaching, such as creating videos using any medium (animation, real life, etc.)

The issue is, however, that not enough is being done. We still have a long way to go before we can consider being fully involved in the 21^st century learning movement. I think that in many ways big business and politics stand in the way. So many people who aren’t teachers are the ones making the education policies, and while it may be nice to have smaller textbooks as the reading suggests, the textbook company is a very lucrative business, and no one likes making less money.

Here are some of my initial ideas for a 21^st century curriculum:

- A greater focus on students not only understanding the great texts, but how they relate to modern times and the real world. It’s not enough to read To Kill A Mocking Bird, you must understand its pertinence to social injustice, racism, etc.

- The 21^st century curriculum should include an emphasis on communication skills such as public speaking, interviewing, and working as a team

- There should be an emphasis on global issues and culture- English should become tied in with anthropology and sociology. The students should be asked to understand multiple perspectives on an event, not simply the “winner’s version.”

- It is becoming more and more important that we as teachers help the students see the value of reading and writing in the modern world. Students need to recognize that with these tools, they can literally do anything.

- Finally, I think that the most effective learning would take place if the coursework was tied together. Math should reinforce English, which should reinforce History, which should reinforce Science. The lines between the subjects should become blurred and the curriculum for each class should play off one another. The perfect example of this was the unit I was taught in high school about the discovery of America or the classroom from Farmington High which functions like an engineering firm.

To tie this in with Chapter 10 from Class Matters, I think it is important to notice how segregated we are becoming, to a point where it is so easy to become a part of a gated community and forget that the rest of the world exists. While the family in the article may prefer the safety net of it all, to think that the majority of people could live like that is unrealistic. We have to become more willing to identify with those less like us, and a 21^st century education would promote that. I feel that it is extremely important that we take the initiative to embrace those around us instead of shielding ourselves from them, as more often than not a majority of us are not going to have incomes like the individuals discussed in cChapter 10.