21st Century Bull

Okay, here's the last century of American education summed up in a sentence: the Education Establishment pretends to care about education, knowledge, basics, all that stuff, even as they undercut them at every opportunity.

That's it. A century of disingenuousness. Every single pedagogy and method was a con. New Math and Whole Word, most spectacularly so. The others less blatantly so but just as subversive....It's as if we're dealing with drug addicts here. They say they've reformed; they say they're "clean." Maybe at this point they can't help themselves.

Anyway, the melodrama continues. The big new gimmick is 21st Century Skills. The argument goes like this: our young people are all weighed down with knowledge. The burden is just too horrible....Yes, that's right, they're talking about American kids who can barely find the USA on a map!!! What these kids need instead is skills. Enough with the knowledge. Teach them vital skills, like how to prepare a portfolio, resume or slide show.

This is going to be The Big (Phony) Battle in American education for the next few years. Get your program right here. Please see "21st Century Skills--Same Old, Lame Old."