The Importance Of Education In The 21st Century

Cathy Davidson is an English and humanities professor at Duke University. She has published over twenty books, many dealing with technology and education. In “Project Classroom Makeover,” she argues that the way the United States teaches students is not preparing them for the skills needed for success in the twenty-first century. To illustrate her point, Professor Davidson presents the historical development of the educational system in the U.S. She differentiates “high standards” from “standardization” and stresses the need for education to offer rigor, relevance, and relationship (201).

Teaching in the modern age has not adopted any of these techniques which leads to ill-suited high school graduates without the proper preparation for the in-demand jobs. For the educational system to change, it must teach the necessary skills needed for students to succeed in the real world. However, since the modern-day learning system still just stresses skills required for “middle management and factory jobs,” there is not much new in the modern age of schooling because it just borrows on old techniques and reuses them at a time in which they have become obsolete (60). Thus, although technology seems to rebrand the learning protocols of America, it serves as an element that both facilitates learning and a façade that takes away from the true reform needed to overhaul the anachronistic system.

School has been a part of the lives of billions of people for millennia. Educational systems are constantly evolving and taking on different forms throughout the world, yet schools across the globe seem to have held on to one similar purpose throughout the centuries. This purpose is to prepare young minds for success in the real world by building a foundation of knowledge in their student’s minds. While this is certainly a noble purpose, not all schools achieve this goal as successfully as they ought to. The high school in Little River, KS is just one example of how pure intentions can still lead to poor methods and thus a hampering of students potential. Put simply, the Little River school district should allow their high school students to

Diana’s solution warrants legislators to focus on the prominent issues and solutions. She concluded that success is inevitable without “a long-term plan that strengthens public education and rebuilds the education profession.” Ravitch believes that having well-informed, competent, and experienced educators—plus decision makers—can be a suitable remedy. She goes on to summarize that all students should have “the benefit of a coherent curriculum” and as educators, we ought to deal with the problems affecting students in their homes since “their ability to attend school and to learn is directly influenced by their health and the well-being of their families” (p. 24). Diana mentioned some key resolutions for promoting a successful school reform, and though there are many contributing factors that initiated a failing educational system, disparities in resource allocation and teacher motivation are two of the strongest influences I

Initially and still relatively concrete in thought, I sincerely felt that the leadership within the school hierarchy started with the principal and branched down all the way to the core teachers, specialists, and support staff, establishing that whatever the aims and jurisdictions set forth by the principal overtly shaped the nature of a school’s approach to reform and learning expectations. Additionally, teachers were expected to operate in their specific roles to advance those expectations set forth in large school staff meetings that planned

Hayse Elementary School is a school that stands out in the state of North Carolina. The school it known for meeting state proficiency standards and is considered one of the highest-performing schools in the state. Hayse Elementary School has not always been known for its achievements. It has only been in the last few years that the school got on a track that has lead them to high performance. This rural low-wealth school in North Carolina commends its success to acknowledging their challenges, balancing equity and adequacy, and developing continual improvement measures for the future. This paper discusses how Hayse Elementary School stakeholders joined their efforts and created a path that has lead them to continual success.

Our schools need to change, but who is going to initiate this change? Columnist Bob Herbert, in his article, “Our Schools Must Do Better,” makes the argument that the school system needs to change now if you want your children and their own children to have a fair chance in life. Herbert’s primary purpose is to persuade and convince the reader that our school systems needs to immediately change as delay will only serve to continue to promote low quality into the future. Herbert accomplishes this task through his caring and assertive tone. Using the reader’s personal experiences with the education system, Herbert establishes an emotional anchor point for reference and comparison as he delivers his argument for

In order for education to develop within schools, we need to provide students with skills and knowledge to be successful in life and to enter the 21st Century workforce

they must be reinvented. It is not enough to try to fix the schools; they must

In light of accountability requirements, fear of not meeting AYP (Annual Yearly Progress), and required school improvement plans, often the idea of “school improvement” is considered a negative attribute. Obviously schools do not want to be singled out or identified as in need of improvement. Teachers often take the same view towards the idea of improvement. We as teachers take very personal that concept of improvement; we often parallel the need for improvement to failure. However my belief is that effective schools are always in a school improvement process and effective teachers too also are constantly adapting their practice in a culture of continuous improvement and growth. Therefore it is important as an effective leader to build a community of trust and collaboration. I quote “We are all in this together. Once we know that we are, we’re all stars and we see that we’re all in this together.” (Disney High School Musical, 2006) These lyrics from a popular Disney movie put to light exactly the school culture where the goal is not personal but as a community to use data driven and research based approaches in reflection and growth that assist all stakeholders.

With a society that thrives on change, our new technology, innovation, and ideas advance us further into the future every day. However, this improvement also comes with a few setbacks; in this case, these hindrances are in the learning environment. More and more obstacles have been presenting themselves to students as the years have passed. The problems that students faced in ancient times seem negligible compared to everything students face today. Before, students had simpler problems like not meeting their father’s expectations or the inability to finish a paper by the deadline. Today, people are faced with these problems on top of other things like racial stereotypes and learning disabilities. As the years progress, so do

School improvement is transformation. It is one of the most important actions of a school. It is a process that schools must use with fidelity to ensure that at all students are given the opportunity to perform and achieve at exemplary levels. School improvement is vital to schools and it is a process that cannot be done in isolation. It requires team work, collaboration, and constant analysis of data and setting of goals. School improvement goals focus on how to meet the needs of students. Addressing the educational needs, funding, and achievement gaps between subgroups is collaborative effort involves everyone that has a vested interest in the schools. These basic measures set the foundation for improvement. And so, if it is the

Techniques and skills need to be learnt, and cannot be replaced by the convenience of technology. In the primary years, students ought to be grounded with the basics. Once they miss this window, it requires them more to be trained later in life. I marvel at the speed of our technology advancement, but how I desire to see academic advancement in our next generation.

A debate on whether education is still the driving factor to success in the 21st century has been blooming for some time now which has many of us asking, “Is education still necessary for one to succeed nowadays?” This issue of whether education still holds that value of being the primary aspect of achieving success is of particular interest because it could mean that it could potentially create depreciation in the demand for education in the future, and money spent on acquiring an education could be used to pursue entrepreneurial ventures.

Teaching and learning in the 21st century develop skills beyond listening, watching and remembering. Education in the 21st century incorporates advanced learning tools, development of skills, while actively involved in your own learning and environment. Also, education today is motivating while inspiring and preparing students for today’s world. Students gain the ability to adapt when needed for the changing world of tomorrow. Twenty-first century education is understanding how students learn with a more hands-on approach while building skills. However, the ‘4C’s creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration’ (Kolk, 2011) are skills that are important for students learning. Therefore, they can actively consume and create data and knowledge in ways that deliver substance and relevance to them (Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowall, Bull, Boyd & Hipkins, 2012; Watson, 2012). Clearly, the classroom in the 21st century is a modern environment. This modern environment consisting of little groups of tables placed together for students to sit and learn together as well as discuss what they are doing. Meanwhile, displaying student’s art to decorate the classroom has a sense of pride. Above all, the classroom has visible items as an interactive whiteboard, Internet access, projector and computers, accessible for student and teachers daily.