The top ten 21st century skills taught in US Schools
Sitting still at a desk while someone in the front of the room lectures
Preparing for standardized tests
Changing what you are doing every 50 minutes, no matter whether you’d actually finished in 10 minutes or whether you needed more time
Writing five-paragraph essays incorporating highly scored words such as “paradoxically”, “nonplussed”, and “notwithstanding” while filling nearly all the allocated space
Answering even numbered questions (because those are the ones that don’t have the answers printed in the back of the book)
Focusing time and effort solely on activities that will be graded, along with the related skill of sticking to a rubric when completing assignments, and being careful not to go beyond the rubric
Eschewing tools, technologies, and resources that could reduce time and effort or improve the end result because that would be cheating
Forming learning and work groups only with others of the same age, because age is the most important attribute for what a person can and should do
Knowing and accepting your place, because your teacher’s and society’s evaluation of your worth as a person is reflected in your grades and test scores
Avoiding the things you like to do, but doing what you are told, because learning and work shouldn’t be fun
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The top ten 21st century skills taught in US Schools
Sitting still at a desk while someone in the front of the room lectures
Preparing for standardized tests
Changing what you are doing every 50 minutes, no matter whether you’d actually finished in 10 minutes or whether you needed more time
Writing five-paragraph essays incorporating highly scored words such as “paradoxically”, “nonplussed”, and “notwithstanding” while filling nearly all the allocated space
Answering even numbered questions (because those are the ones that don’t have the answers printed in the back of the book)
Focusing time and effort solely on activities that will be graded, along with the related skill of sticking to a rubric when completing assignments, and being careful not to go beyond the rubric
Eschewing tools, technologies, and resources that could reduce time and effort or improve the end result because that would be cheating
Forming learning and work groups only with others of the same age, because age is the most important attribute for what a person can and should do
Knowing and accepting your place, because your teacher’s and society’s evaluation of your worth as a person is reflected in your grades and test scores
Avoiding the things you like to do, but doing what you are told, because learning and work shouldn’t be fun
