Ken Kay, the head of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, is here to defend himself.
He says that most of what we're doing in education is subject-matter focused. Most of the assessments are subject-matter focused. But we aren't producing enough students with critical thinking skills. So clearly subject-matter is not enough.
"We can't have a false choice between skills and content," he says.
"We are the content and skills movement," Kay said. "We are not the skills movement."
"From the very beginning," Kay said, "when we started our work, we were not just interested in the workforce but also civic engagement." He met with "stakeholders" in the non-for-profit and civic engagement world. And these stakeholders mentioned all sorts of skills (communication, global awareness, etc.) that citizens need in order to be fully involved in democracy.
"Our students are not doing as well on PISA because there's more critical thinking...on that exam."
"I hope that we will leave this meeting having embraced the common ground. Content is important. Skills are important. A liberal arts education is important."
