As I read through Wagner's book I still felt a sense of denial or lack of trust. I felt as if he was this educator who went into education then got out only to side with business trying to transform our students into a workforce with more human capital rather then the ability to become a wholesome person developed by our school system.
I think I identified why I had such a different opinion then Wagner about how education should be approached; I think that life skills are just as important as academic skills. I am starting to see that the real purpose of education is to make a workforce, that is why we have public education system. We as teachers are here to teach students the skills needed for them to be successful, that when they leave our doors they will have the skills to support themselves and make a living. Now when l looks at education this way it makes perfect sense; we have to make a workforce that can support the shift that is going to happen and has already started as our economy and our production shifts from service to digital production. We are going to become a country that no longer provides traditional services, we are going to be one of the few countries who lead the world in products from online and through the internet. We need to train students how to think and how to adapt for as we have seen technology is growing at such a fast pace that the skills that we teach our students now as a fixed skill will be outdated a few years.
Students need to know a set of skills to survive; reading, writing, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, everything that goes into a typical day at work for all of us who do have jobs. This is where I agree with Wagner, these skills need to be embedded into our education system to make sure that when our students leave they have skills that will be useful no matter where they choose to work.
I think I identified why I had such a different opinion then Wagner about how education should be approached; I think that life skills are just as important as academic skills. I am starting to see that the real purpose of education is to make a workforce, that is why we have public education system. We as teachers are here to teach students the skills needed for them to be successful, that when they leave our doors they will have the skills to support themselves and make a living. Now when l looks at education this way it makes perfect sense; we have to make a workforce that can support the shift that is going to happen and has already started as our economy and our production shifts from service to digital production. We are going to become a country that no longer provides traditional services, we are going to be one of the few countries who lead the world in products from online and through the internet. We need to train students how to think and how to adapt for as we have seen technology is growing at such a fast pace that the skills that we teach our students now as a fixed skill will be outdated a few years.
Students need to know a set of skills to survive; reading, writing, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, everything that goes into a typical day at work for all of us who do have jobs. This is where I agree with Wagner, these skills need to be embedded into our education system to make sure that when our students leave they have skills that will be useful no matter where they choose to work.