Do You Agree With Tony Wagner?

In his book, The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner proposes that our schools are not failing, they've become completely obsolete. He's been traveling around the country dropping in on classrooms, observing what's going on, or not. He's also been talking to business leaders about the skills they look for in new employees.

Here's the problem: We're not teaching students the things they need to know to survive in the business world.

Wagner has found that we're teaching students to memorize the right answers, to take multiple choice tests, to solve problems only if they can choose an answer. What they really need to know is how to ask the right questions, how to solve open-ended problems using critical thinking.

I agree. Do you?

Photo of Tony Wagner courtesy of Basic Books.