Tony Wagner, Expert In Residence at Harvard University’s new Innovation Lab, sat down with NationSwell and shared some ideas on how to rethink the American education system. First and foremost, he says, teaching content knowledge should take a backseat to skills training.
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The Three Things That Innovative Thinkers Do As Children
Tony Wagner, Expert In Residence at Harvard University’s new Innovation Lab, sat down with NationSwell and shared some ideas on how to rethink the American education system. He says that parents of innovative thinkers encourage play, passion and purpose.
Why Schools Should Emphasize Skills Over Knowledge
Tony Wagner began his education career in an alternative public high school in Montgomery County, Md., working with at-risk students. It was during that time that he began to notice something troubling about his teaching lessons. “I was worried increasingly about what I saw as the mismatch between what students were learning in school and what the real world was going to demand of them out of school,” says Wagner, who has since identified this as a fundamental flaw in the country’s education system.
Decades later, Wagner’s classroom has gotten a lot bigger. Today, he speaks to audiences around the world as an author and leading advocate for transformative change in America’s education system, which he believes is rooted in a shift from teaching knowledge to teaching skills. “Content should no longer be key, competency should be” says Wagner.