And I’m not convinced keeping the term is going to move the school change agenda forward either.

That said, however, I don’t share your sentiment about needing or wanting to abandon discussion about 21st century schools, skills, and learning. It sounds like you’ve taken a few too many sips of the Dave Jakes kool aide on this.

The point which Dave makes and I’m hearing you make is that these are skills everyone needs, and we shouldn’t have to preface them with words like “new” or “21st century.” I’m reminded of the observation by Alfie Kohn that it is ridiculous to hear educational calls to “get back to basics” since most of our schools never GOT beyond the basics. This is true in many of our Oklahoma schools. Teachers and administrators are still trying to maintain a 19th century paradigm of learning, when kids are living and breathing new ways of processing and sharing information in their lives outside of schools.

I certainly am frustrated at times at the slow pace of change, but I’m not convinced abandoning terms like “21st century learning environment” is going to move the school change agenda forward.

I say keep the term, though. The majority of teachers are still operating in the 20th (or 19th…) in their daily curriculum. It doesn’t hurt to keep reminding them that time is moving on–they might yet get on board, if they will notice their calendars are 14 years out of date!