Principal's Update
Each Thursday, Mrs Sylvia Walton's address to our School families in our online newsletter, The Weekly E-News, is published here for our wider community's interest.
21st Century Skills
Diana Ravitch is an American educational sociologist and university professor. At the end of the 1980s she wrote The Schools we Deserve about the US primary and secondary system. She has also written widely in the field of history. Her plea has always included the notion of practical positive values as both a base and framework for what we do in curriculum and organisation. The following is her list of 20th century skills that she feels should also be steadfastly maintained in the 21st century as well as the advent of new expressions of her list and additions.
The Partnership for 19th Century Skills
I for one have heard quite enough about the 21st century skills that are sweeping the nation. Now, for the first time, children will be taught to think critically (never heard a word about that in the 20th century, did you?), to work in groups (I remember getting a grade on that very skill when I was in third grade a century ago), to solve problems (a brand new idea in education), and so on. Let me suggest that it is time to be done with this unnecessary conflict about 21st century skills. Let us agree that we need all those forenamed skills, plus lots of others, in addition to a deep understanding of history, literature, the arts, geography, civics, the sciences and foreign languages.
But allow me also to propose a new entity that will advance a different set of skills and understandings that are just as important as what are now called 21st century skills. I propose a Partnership for
19th Century Skills. This partnership will advocate for such skills, and understandings as:
The love of learning
The pursuit of knowledge
The ability to think for oneself (individualism)
The ability to work alone (initiative)
The ability to stand alone against the crowd (courage)
The ability to work persistently at a difficult task until it is finished (industriousness) (self-discipline)
The ability to think through the consequences of one's actions on others (respect for others)
The ability to consider the consequences of one's actions on one's well-being (self-respect)
The recognition of higher ends than self-interest (honour)
The ability to comport oneself appropriately in all situations (dignity)
The recognition that civilised society requires certain kinds of behaviour by individuals and groups (good manners) (civil)
The ability to believe in principles larger than one's own self-interest (idealism)
The willingness to ask questions when puzzled (curiosity)
The readiness to dream about other worlds, other ways of doing things (imagination)
The ability to believe that one can improve one's life and the lives of others (optimism)
The ability to speak well and write grammatically, using standard English (communication)
I invite readers to submit other 19th century skills that we should cultivate assiduously among the rising generation, on the belief that doing so will lead to happier lives and a better world.
Who could argue with such a list - regardless of the century or country.
I often think that such thoughts should form the basis of our National Curriculum in very skill based ways. However, we are able to aim for these and other such generic abilities for all our students as we ‘interpret' the various curriculum requirements that seem to come and go.
For thought
The following are some comments on responsibility.
The more we accept responsibility for who we are and who we can become, the greater will be our progress and contribution.
I don't believe for a minute that everything that happens to you is your doing or your fault. But I do believe the ultimate quality of your life and your happiness is determined by your courageous and ethical choices and your overall attitude. You may get shipped some bad bricks and weak steel, but you are still the general contractor. - Laura Schlessinger
The tragic truth is that the language of ‘victimisation' is the true victimiser - a great crippler of young minds and spirits. To teach young people that their lives are governed - not by their own actions, but by socioeconomic forces or government budgets or other mysterious and fiendish forces beyond their control - is to teach our children negativism, resignation, passivity, and despair. - Louis W Sullivan
Mrs Sylvia Walton AO
Principal