Chapter 1: The Global Achievement Gap

I really enjoyed reading the first chapter of The Global Achievement Gap. I come from a poor, small town school district so I can relate to some of the points that Wagner is making throughout the chapter.

The first point that he emphasized really well is that the standardized testing is taking up way to much learning time in every school district. However, it takes up even more time in the poorer school districts. Everything I learned from my high school wasn't all dedicated to standardized testing, however, a big portion of my classes were. Which leads me to the second point that Wagner points out.

The second point that I found very interesting is that due to having to prepare for these standardized tests, students aren't getting anything else out of their learning experience. They are just learning facts and being tested on them. There is no room for exploring the learning process.

The third point Wagner made that stood out to me was that we have an "old world classroom in a new world of work" Students are learning facts that do not prepare them for the world of work today. Students are leaving their high schools unprepared for the world of work or the world of college.

The fourth point is the seven survival skills that go along with the new world of work. They include: critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination.

The fifth (very true) point that Wagner states is that schools are not teaching these skills effectively if even at all. Throughout my education experience I have encountered questions asked by my teachers and answers that have exact answers for my teachers. There is no room to challenge the answers and explore the answers. There was only one answer that I needed to know. This causes me to lose my ability to problem solve, to adapt, to analyze the information, and to lose my curiosity and imagination. We all have huge imaginations when we are very young. Maybe the way children are being taught in schools is why our imaginations seem to disappear?