Veteran teachers in the public school system roll their eyes when they hear yet another attempt to reform education. However, Tony Wagner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education thinks that fundamental changes are required to our education system as it was originally designed for the industrial age, not the hypercompetitive global economy. In his book, he argues that even the best schools in the country don't teach children the survival skills for the new century.
His research suggests that almost every job that pays above minimum wage will require proactive, entrepreneurial problem solvers that can thrive in a constantly changing environment. Basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic are no longer sufficient to provide people with a reasonable
standard of living. Routine jobs will either be automated or outsourced,
either domestically or offshore to equally capable but lower cost workers.
Tom Wagner describes the seven survival skills of the global economy, which must become broadly diffused among employees of all levels. The first survival skill is the critical thinking. In flattened organizations, managers no longer tell employees what to do. People working in self-managing work teams must think their way around problems by asking good questions and experimenting with solutions. The second survival skill is that of collaboration and informal leadership. Young people must become superb at working in teams, communicating using a variety of media formats
and possess general leadership skills. In many cases, work teams must accomplish ambitious goals with limited formal authority and resources.
The third survival tool is agility, the ability to quickly adapt to a job market, where job hopping and career changing becomes a regular event.
Disruptions and discontinuities are becoming routine events as the events of the past three years so clearly indicate. Tied with agility is the fourth survival skill, personal initiative. Employers want workers who can think for themselves, identify opportunities and seek out continuous improvements.
The fifth survival skill is the ability to communicate, both verbally and in writing. People must learn how to communicate with focus, energy and passion, using many different ways of getting their point across (e.g. presentations, written proposals, e-mails, social media, etc.). The best idea goes nowhere; if its originator is unable to effective communicate the idea to others.
The sixth survival skill is the ability to find and analyze information.
People have to learn to sort through masses of constantly changing information, evaluating the reliability and validity of that information and
draw conclusions. The final skill is that of curiosity and imagination. At a time when routine work is being eliminated, employees must learn how to create their own opportunities and job descriptions.
If these skills are required by all of us, then major changes to all our educational institutions are necessary to prepare us for this new ballgame, a topic that Tony Wagner explores in the remaining chapters of his book. He argues that young people can learn and apply these seven survival skills, if
the school system adequately prepares them over a number of years.
-- Reviewed by John Shepherd, a former trustee of the Prince George Public
Library board.
