I agreed with much of the article. Technology skills are vital for students. Learning to be citizens of the world is also important. All of my 5th graders are pen pals with 5th and 6th grade students in Kampala,Uganda. I don't agree that it is unnecessary to know certain facts because they are easy to find on the internet. For example, fewer and fewer students come to fifth grade knowing their multiplication and division facts. This is the result of several years of well meaning teachers who have given them charts so they can spend their time "more fruitfully" in math. What I and my fellow 5th grade teachers have found however, is that it is very difficult to think on higher levels when you have to first search for the answer to 9X8. Whereas it is easy for me to make the jump from one problem to another my students struggle to connect the two ideas because of their deficit in basic math facts. To truly prepare our students for the 21st century we must learn how to combine the necessary facts from the past with the important skills of the present and to prepare them to ready for the future. It isn't enough to just teach what is considered important now. When I was in elementary school computers were giant machines that were housed in separate buildings.
Two important factors left out of the article were parents and students. Students must be held accountable for their own learning. Students are refusing to do homework in record numbers in all grade levels. Parents sit at tables in restaurants with their children talking on their cell phones while the children play hand held games.
Certainly it is important to look at all areas of the complex issue that is education today. I just ask that each part of the problem receive equal consideration.
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