Does it mean we want to educate students to exist in the world we live in? Or the world of the future? Or just the next 85 years until the 22nd century? What assumptions do we make when we talk about \u201cthe world we live in,\u201d anyway?<\/p>\n

As we know, the world our students live in varies greatly even between towns in Vermont, let alone state to state, to say nothing of global differences. In an informal survey of some of my fellow educators, the only consensus on the meaning of the word was \u201can outdated term that used to mean \u2018futuristic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

If the term \u201c21st century\u201d is meaningless on its own, what about the things it describes?<\/h3>\n

Some of the skills and attributes commonly clustered under \u201c21st century\u201d include critical thinking, collaboration, internet literacy, innovation, and technological fluency. If \u00a0\u201c21st century\u201d doesn\u2019t quite work, how instead do we group together these skills under one umbrella term?<\/p>\n

Well, maybe we shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

To say that all students need a certain set of future-ready skills denies the reality that our students are headed toward paths as numerous and diverse as their individual selves.<\/p>\n

Instead of ushering students toward an ill-defined grouping of skills for a 100-year span, we could help students define their own future goals and identify what skills are needed to meet those goals.<\/p>\n

Instead of \u201cI want my students to develop 21st century skills\u201d we can say \u201c I want my students to develop the skills and attributes they each need to meet their own goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we shift the conversation with students from the future to my future, students can develop more ownership. Sometimes I hear the phrase, \u201cwe are preparing students for jobs that don\u2019t exist yet,\u201d yet in my experience we are helping students navigate through a world that very much exists right now. We can help students grow by acknowledging their present, setting specific goals for the short and long term, and then developing concrete steps to get to those goals.<\/p>\n

Getting specific about the future — and about students’ futures<\/h3>\n

As a teacher, I remind my students that to communicate well, we should use specific and concrete examples when explaining bigger ideas. I can model that through choosing more specific and concrete language rather than defaulting to a term with little meaning. I would like to empower my students to define their own future, its depth and breadth, whether that\u2019s getting a driver’s license or maintaining a healthy relationship or combating global warming or traveling to Mars or maintaining the family business for the next generation.<\/p>\n