Campus Technology : 21st-Century Skills

21st-Century Workforce

Recently, a new hire at a friend's company was assigned the task to review, analyze, and write a report about several organizations the company was interested in working with. Andrea Brands, AT&T's director of public affairs, describes the result: "My friend received a poor narrative, just a long summary, and it wasn't comprehensive." The employee didn't use any initiative, didn't go beyond the superficial. The employee was unprepared for the job.

These days, a lot of employers are facing similar situations; they feel that to-day's graduates' of universities, two-year colleges, and high schools' are deficient in "applied skills" such as critical thinking, problem solving, written communications, leadership, and professionalism. An organization called The Partnership for 21st-Century Skills found as much in a 2006 study, "Are They Really Ready to Work?" The study identifies which skills students lack and how important those skills are today and in the near future. People like Andrea Brands are working with educators around the country to help provide those skills to students.

Brands is on the board of the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills. Most of the educators she knows agree that if they infuse the skills into their curricula, students will be better off. As Brands says, "It's just not relevant to memorize where tributaries are in South America." She wants to "make classrooms more relevant . . . so students understand why they're learning this information."

The vice president of the Partnership board is Michael Schmidt, who's also the director of education and community development at the Ford Motor Company Fund. "I think," he says, "communities are beginning to understand that what they have isn't working, that kids aren't prepared." Schmidt helps create programs like Ford PAS, the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies, an inquiry-based high school curriculum that creates partnerships with communities. The curriculum itself is free; Ford PAS trains the teachers in linking academic subject matter with relevant real-world topics. Ford PAS is taught in about 150 communities across 25 states.

Schmidt hears companies asking for innovative problem-solvers, people with "right-brain skills." "I don't know of a more important ingredient than innovation," he says, particularly because of the continual pressure in a variety of industries to constantly come up with something new and effective.

Another board member, Al Browne, is the national program director and vice president of education and technology at Verizon Foundation. He knows that to find the one or two employees they're looking for, Verizon staff need to conduct a "staggering" number of interviews. Why? Many of the interviewees are unprepared—academically or even in the way they conduct themselves. Browne remembers the race to the moon in the 1960s, spurred on by the Soviets launching their Sputnik and President Kennedy inspiring students and scientists alike to action. He thinks that the energy in classrooms of that period was almost palpable. Now, however, "I think we;ve lost some of that. . . . Our holes and our faults are showing up."

Browne points out that the No Child Left Behind Act has "changed the paradigm of learning"—making it difficult for administrators and teachers to encourage application and broad critical-thinking skills when they have to focus on memorization and assessment. So Verizon developed the Thinkfinity program and other education initiatives to give teachers more resources and create more engaged students. Browne is quick to point out that you don't have to sacrifice academic rigor to teach applied skills, but "We've got to figure out a better balance."

At least one board member is optimistic about the future. Allyson Knox is the academic program manager for Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning, and she works with students all the time. "Sometimes," she says, "I think they're more prepared than we're giving them credit for. They've got great capacity." Knox also makes the significant observation that "the next generation loves technology," which is a big advantage to learning 21st-century skills. Along with Brands, Schmidt, and Browne, she's a believer in the entire community—schools, businesses, and families—educating and supporting children. She herself tries to be a role model for the young people working with her, and she's a strong advocate of others doing so as well.

It's AT&T's Andrea Brands who points out what may be obvious to some, but important nonetheless: "There's almost universal agreement that we need to do a better job in preparing the youth of today for tomorrow's global economy. Not to do that would be a disservice to our children."