twenty-first century skills

摘要

Except for the Great Depression, the United States' economy boomed during the first three-quarters of the 20th Century. America developed into an industrial and technological giant, Factories covered the landscape. Families joined the middle class in droves. Leading into the 1970s, this was the kind of economy that fueled a higher standard of living for the new middle class. It was a manufacturing economy that was reflected in all parts of society. Even the process of education was modeled on the factory (Apple, 1979). Classes changed on the sound of a bell. Each student tended to his or her own studies. The teacher was the center of focus. These were certainly reflections of a production economy that has survived into the 21st Century. But since the 1970s, the economy has been shifting (Stone, Trisi, Sherman, & DeBot, 2015). In the face of an inadequate response to the changing economy, the wealthy are becoming wealthier, the middle class is experiencing a lower standard of living relative to most of the 20th Century, and poverty is still a concern (Dabla-Norris, Kochhar, Suphaphiphat, Ricka, & Tsounta, 2015). In part, these effects are policy-related, but they are also technology-related.