I thought the website was very useful and easy to use. I liked the graphical representation of the skills and the support systems in place to promote those skills. One thing that I found interesting was the fact that business and government leaders were encouraged to join the program. This is a great idea since those leaders know exactly what skills employees need to be successful out in the real world.
As I was reading through the information I came across a section where they talked about the content areas that are usually not covered in school. For example, global awareness, financial, economic, business, entrepreneurial literacy, civic literacy, health and wellness awareness and environmental literacy are not taught in most schools. I never thought of these skills/content areas before, but it makes perfect sense that students would need to know this information. I think that schools need to revisit their curriculum and implement these content areas where they can. Unfortunately, everything in education is state test driven, so school districts may be hesitant to include these content areas in the curriculum since it is not tested on the state tests.
I noticed on the website that the founding organizations are all large technology companies. This makes me a little nervous. Even though it is great that these large companies are trying to help schools to prepare their students, I think more educators need to be involved in developing the program. People with a background in education can work with these large companies and design a program that is teacher and classroom friendly. Also, this organization needs to realize that school districts are cutting back severely. Not all schools have the time and resources to adopt a whole new program, especially when funding does not rely on whether or not students have these essential skills, but rather on test scores.
Although the goal of the site is to prepare students for their future in a technology driven world, I feel like there is going to be more and more pressure put on teachers to make sure students are prepared for the workforce. Not only do all our students have to pass the state tests, but now we have to make sure they have all these skills so they can get a good job. Where will teachers find the time and what will be sacrificed to find this time?
