Amidst much of the haggling over 21st century skills, we often forget why the two sides disagree. It's not that those thought of as "against" 21st century skills don't think they're of any value. Quite to the contrary. 21st century skills--adaptability, critical thinking skills, ability to manipulate new media--are all good things for students to learn. It's just a matter of where and when and how they learn them. In terms of the wishy washy stuff like ???creativity and intellectual curiosity,??? those things have been around for at least 21 centuries. Pretty much nothing 21st century about them, in fact.??But for rest--the actual skills like computer and internet savvy--those are very important. The problem is that we only have so much time to cover necessary content and when we try to pump our 45 minute English or history class with extras, we lose the little content that's already there. That's why I was heartened by this article in today's??New York Times. Librarians, it seems, are getting a job description update. Now, reshelving books and helping students research their papers is only half the battle. The other part includes teaching students how to properly use the internet as a resource.??And with books going digital and the internet becoming the primary research source for students, manipulating these different media with a discerning eye becomes increasingly more important. (Some Flypaper readers agree.) At least when it comes to technology, a library is a great place to teach 21st century skills.
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