Top

Society

Published in:

01-04-2015 | SYMPOSIUM: 21ST CENTURY EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION, PART I

A World at Risk: An Imperative for a Paradigm Shift to Cultivate 21st Century Learners

Author: Yong Zhao

Published in: Society | Issue 2/2015

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

There is agreed-upon urgency to reform education around the world but there is wide disagreement in what actions are needed. Most of the popular reforms in the United States since A Nation at Risk have focused on fixing the past, which I argue in this essay are misguided. These strategies are simply doing the wrong thing more right. To address the challenges brought about by globalization and technological changes, we need a new education paradigm.

previous article What International Test Scores Tell Us

next article The Importance of Adaptability for the 21st Century

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Alexander, R. J. 2009. Towards a New Primary Curriculum: a report from the Cambridge Primary Review. Part 2: The Future. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.

Asia Society. 2008. Going Global: Preparing Our Students for an Interconnected World. New York: Asia Society.

Associated Press. 2012. Half of Recent College Grads Underemployed or Jobless, Analysis Says. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/04/half_of_recent_college_grads_u.html.

Auerswald, P. 2012. The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs are Transforming the Global Economy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Berliner, D. C. 2006. Our impoverished view of educational reform. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 949–995.CrossRef

Bonk, C. J. 2011. The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.CrossRef

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). 2000. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.

Brunello, G., & Schlotter, M. 2010. The Effect of Non Cognitive Skills and Personality Traits on Labour Market Outcomes. Munich: European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE).

Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. 2014. The second machine age : work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies (First Edition. ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Carter, P. L., & Welner, K. G. (Eds.). 2013. Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must do to Give Every Child an Even Chance. New York: Oxford University Press.

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. 2010. Disrupting Class, Expanded Edition: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Darling-Hammond, L. 2010. The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future. New York: Teachers College Press.

Ehrlich, P. R. 2000. Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. New York: Penguin.

Elliot, P. 2013. Youth Unemployment: 15 Percent Of American Youth Out Of School And Work, Study Finds. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/youth-unemployment_n_4134358.html.

European Commission. 2013. Youth Employment. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1036.

Eurostat. 2013. Euro Area Unemployment Rate at 12.1%. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-29112013-AP/EN/3-29112013-AP-EN.PDF.

Farrell, D., & Grant, A. 2005a. Addressing China’s Looming Talent Shortage. Shanghai: Mckinsey Global Institute.

Farrell, D., & Grant, A. J. 2005b. China’s looming talent shortage. New York: McKinsey and Company.

Fischer, K. W., & Bidell, T. R. 2006. Dynamic Development of Action and Thought. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology, Set (6th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 313–399). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Fischer, K. W., & Silvern, L. 1985. Stages and Individual Differences in Cognitive Development. Annual Review of Psychology, 36, 613–648.CrossRef

Florida, R. 2012. The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.

Friedman, T. L. 2007. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gardner, H. 2006. Multiple Intelligences : New Horizons (Rev. and updated ed.). New York: Basic Books.

Gatti, R., Morgandi, M., Grun, R., Brodmann, S., Angel-Urdinola, D., Moreno, J. M., et al. 2013. Jobs for Shared Prosperity: Time for Action in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington DC: The World Bank.CrossRef

Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. 2008. The Race between Education and Technology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Guilford, G. 2013. An Elderly Crisis and A Youth Crisis: South Korea’s Got It All. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://qz.com/76423/an-elderly-crisis-and-a-youth-crisis-south-koreas-got-it-all/.

Guo, S. 2010. Shuju Xiangshi: Zhongguo Daxuesheng yu Nongminggong Qixing Caju Shuoxiao (Data Show: A Narrowed Gap in Starting Salary Between College Graduates and Migrant Workers). Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.edu.cn/gao_jiao_news_367/20101122/t20101122_542152.shtml.

Hays. 2013. Hays Global Skills Index 2013. Tokyo: Hays.

International Labour Organization. 2013. Spotlight on US Youth. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.ilo.org/washington/ilo-and-the-united-states/spot-light-on-the-us-labor-market/spot-light-on-us-youth/lang--en/index.htm.

Krell, E. 2011. The Global Talent Mismatch. HR Magazine, 65.

Levin, H. M. 2012. More than just test scores. Prospects: The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 42(3), 269–284.CrossRef

Li, Y. 2013. Zhongguo Jin 700 Baiwan Daxue Biyesheng Jiuye Xingshi Yanjun (China’s 7 Million Collage Graduates Face Tough Employement Situation). Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://china.caixin.com/2013-04-26/100521164.html.

Malone, T. W., Laubacher, R. J., & Johns, T. 2011. The Big Idea: The Age of Hyperspecialization. Harvard Business Review, 2011(July-August), 1–11.

Manpower Group. 2013. 2013 Talent Shortage Survey Research Results. Milwaukee: Manpower Group.

Mbele, L. 2013. South Africa’s Huge Youth Unemployment Problem. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25015612.

McAfee, A. 2012. The Rebound that Stayed Flat. http://raceagainstthemachine.com/blog/.

McDonald, S. 2013. One Quarter of Young Australians Not In Full-Time Study or Work According To New Report. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/study-work-fulltime-australians-youth-unemployment/5056224.

McMurrer, J. 2007. Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. Washington DC: Center on Education Policy.

McMurrer, J. 2008. Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects. Washington DC: Center on Education Policy.

Mourshed, M., Farrell, D., & Barton, D. 2012. Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works. New York: McKinsey & Company.

National Commission on Excellence in Education. 1983. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Washington DC: National Commission on Education Excellence.

Nichols, S. L., & Berliner, D. C. 2007. Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Paton, G. 2012. Graduates Fill Menial Jobs As Post-University Unemployment Rises. Retrieved December 25, 2013, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9599883/Graduates-fill-menial-jobs-as-post-university-unemployment-rises.html.

Pink, D. H. 2006. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future. New York: Riverhead.

Pinker, S. 2003. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin.

Ravitch, D. 2010. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. New York: Basic Books.

Ravitch, D. 2013. Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. New York: Knopf.

Ridley, M. 2003. Nature via Nurture : Genes, Experience, and What Makes us Human (1st ed.). New York: HarperCollins.

Rose, L. T., & Fischer, K. W. 2011. Intelligence in Childhood. In R. J. Sternberg & S. B. Kaufman (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 144–173). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Sahlberg, P. 2012. How GERM Is Infecting Schools Around The World. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-germ-is-infecting-schools-around-the-world/2012/06/29/gJQAVELZAW_blog.html#comments.

Salkowitz, R. 2010. Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology, and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up. Hoboken: Wiley.

Stiglitz, J. 2006. Make Globalisation Work for Everyone. The Straits Times, p. 25.

The Aspen Institute (Producer). 2012. Reversing the Middle Class Jobs Deficit. [Panel Discussion]. http://www.aspenideas.org/session/reversing-middle-class-jobs-deficit-0#.

The Economist. 2013. Youth unemployment: Generation jobless. The Economist.

The U.S.-China Business Council. 2013. Top Ten Business Concerns Identified by Companies (2013). Retrieved December 25, 2013, from https://www.uschina.org/reports/china-business-environment-october-8-2013.

Tienken, C. H., & Orlich, D. C. 2013. The School Reform Landscape: Fraud, Myth, and Lies. Philadelphia: R&L Education.

Tienken, C. H., & Zhao, Y. 2013. How Common Standards and Standardized Testing Widen the Opportunity Gap. In P. L. Carter & K. G. Welner (Eds.), Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (pp. 113–122). New York: Oxford University Press.

Tomlinson, C. A. 2001. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria: ASCD.

Tucker, M. (Ed.). 2011. Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for American Education Built on the World’s Leading Systems. Boston: Harvard Education Press.

Vedder, R., Denhart, C., & Robe, J. 2013. Why are Recent College Graduates Underemployed?: University Enrollments and Labor-Market Realities. Washington DC: Center for College Affordability and Productivity.

Wagner, T. 2012. Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World. New York: Scribner.

Wohlsen, M. 2012. Silicon Valley Creating Jobs, But Not for Everyone. Wired Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://www.wired.com/business/2012/08/silicon-valley-creates-jobs-but-not-for-everyone/.

World Economic Forum. 2011a. Global Talent Risk –Seven Responses. Cologny: World Economic Forum.

World Economic Forum. 2011b. Unlocking Entrepreneur Capabilities to Meet the Global Challenges of the 21st Century: Final Report on the Entrepreneurship Education Work Stream. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

World Economic Forum. 2012. Global Entrepreneurship. World Economic Forum. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-entrepreneurship.

Zhao, Y. 2009a. Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. Alexandria: ASCD.

Zhao, Y. 2009b. Needed: global villagers. Educational Leadership, 67(1), 60–65.

Zhao, Y. 2012. World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

Title: A World at Risk: An Imperative for a Paradigm Shift to Cultivate 21st Century Learners
Author: Yong Zhao
Publication date: 01-04-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Society / Issue 2/2015
Print ISSN: 0147-2011
Electronic ISSN: 1936-4725
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9872-8

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 2/2015

What International Test Scores Tell Us

Social Science and the Public Interest

David Bromwich, The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to American Independence

Society’s Books of Note

The Vocabulary of Transgender Theory

21st Century Excellence in Education: Introduction