"21st Century Skills" the death knell for some yesteryear "basic skills"?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_re_us/us_cursive_angst

Apologies if this has been discussed here before, but what do educators think about teaching kids skills that one could argue are not crucial for 21st century kids, like cursive writing and penmanship, spelling, mental math, and others?

Is it logical to stick with teaching some of these skills in an age when technology is making many of them redundant? Or are we right in guarding some of these as relevant and useful even as technology gives us the option to do away with them? Remember, kids entering kindergarten this year will enter the workforce in 2025 or thereabouts!

Tags: 21st-century-skills

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Permalink Reply by Lonnie Miller on September 22, 2009 at 7:13am

Technology is not making number sense or mental math redundant. Many of my students are simply incapable of making quick sense of numbers without using their calculators or phones. They make numerous simple mistakes and do not hesitate when putting down the answer when a quick check using their brain would show that they made a mistake.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Pierpont on September 22, 2009 at 10:07am

I think kids still need mental math skills however, penmanship seems less important and I have stopped teaching cursive writing beyond their own signature!

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Permalink Reply by Kev on September 22, 2009 at 12:35pm

Cursive should have died long before computers.

As a history teacher I also find mapping skills to be entirely outdated in a universe with GPS and Google Earth.

Me: Calculate the distance between Constantinople and Mecca using only a paper map.
Student: Why? Mapquest can do it in like 3 clicks.
Me: I have no idea.

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Permalink Reply by Shuchi Grover on September 22, 2009 at 3:52pm

I guess a lot of these skills will come in handy in that emergency situation when you don't have access to technology - and map-reading skills is one such example, I think. Car breaks down, middle of nowhere, access only to a paper map...?? You need to call upon your spatial skills then.

The same goes for spelling, I think. There's a spell-checker _everywhere_ so why struggle with spellings. WOn't say the same about grammar though..

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Permalink Reply by Anthony VonBank on September 22, 2009 at 1:08pm

Do we still require students to learn knitting and sewing? We did for much of the past century. The truth is not that these 20th century skills are worthless, but that by comparison have far less impact on success in today's world. Remember that 21st century skills rely on communication, collaboration, and competition, not just computer programming. These skills are far more crucial than cursive or even mental math, but not necessarily exclusive. As educators, we sometimes expect (hope) that our skill set will remain relevant for the length of our career - decades! In reality, those primary skills may change drastically several times within one career. We need to be careful not to hold selfishlessly to outdated skills because we perceive that it will be a pity to lose thos skills in the populace. Anyone has the right to teach themselves any skill (like I taught myself to sew), or to learn on their own. We need to keep the compulsory education in the US and rest of the world flexible and current. Few will mourn the common ability to do long division in one's head, just like few mourn the loss of the commonplace skills to knit or sew. It's not as if the art will be lost forever, only that the skill will be shared with a smaller percentage of the populace.