Chapter 1 and 2 Response

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Creating Innovators listed Seven Survival Skills that students now need for careers, continuous learning, and citizenship.  Yet after publishing his book, Tony Wagner stated "he sees the need in perseverance, a willingness to experiment, take calculated risks and tolerate failure".  Then Tim Brown described his five characteristics of what he called "design thinkers".  It seems to me that both list are very similar in what skills they want students to have.  When 4 year old children ask questions it always ends with why.  These children are developing some of the most important skills of innovators.  What happens to this curiosity?  Wagner says that teachers value right and wrong answers more than anything else.  The reason is standardized tests.  So we need to change but where do we start.  Is it really all the teachers?  How many parents don't encourage the curiosity of their child?  I see this with my own two nephews.  My brother and his wife are very quick to hand the 3 yr and 1 yr old the cell phone or iPad.  It is an attention grabber and their curiosity drives them to mess with it.  Yet, after I spent a long weekend with my nephews they are both very interested in "playing".  The three year old likes trucks and trains.  He also loves to just run in the grass.  How do we change the parents?  My brother and wife do spend lots of time playing with toys with the children, reading to them and spent countless hours outside.  Many parents just don't have the time or desire.
I realize that Kirk was more about the process than the paperwork but did he really finish what he set out to do?  I do see a lack of student motivation in some of my students but for every student that lacks it there is one that absorbs everything.  They are curious and creative.  I think if businesses want to create these skills that will bring students directly into the workplace then we need to offer some sort of work release or work study so that students can earn credit for going to work.  Our students are very goal driven, it may not be the goal that we as a society want some do have goals.  Cars, money, jobs are just some of the personal motivators.  The "Career Centers" are all about a certification.  Cosmetology, Welding, and Automotive Technology but these classes are limited in the number of students they serve.  Supposedly we are putting these programs in the high schools but not all schools are giving the students the same opportunities.  Shouldn't the "Career Center"be teaching our students the skills they need for their career?  Whether it is a after a 4 yr degree or no degree at all.   I see the district headed in a direction of dual credit.  We did this 15 yrs ago and it went away.  So why is it coming back?  Everything goes full circle in education.   I love the idea of "Creating Innovators".  I feel like I am an innovator even though I went through the old school style of learning.  I feel like good teaching will always be important in student education but offering PBL learning allows students to learn the 21st Century skills.  We need to give students the tools and not the answers.