Grade 9 english:
- Think back to Charlotte Edmund's article, "7 skills all young people need to survive the future of the workplace" from the first activity in this lesson. Choose the skill you believe to be the most important to your future
- Write a few paragraphs to explain why you feel this way. If you think there's a skill the author didn't mention that's more crucial to your future, explain what it is and why you believe so. Give your strongest writing. Plan your ideas before you start writing, then use paragraphs to organize your piece. After you have a first draft, revise it, looking at paragraph unity, sentences, spelling, and capital letters.
Article:
7 skills all young people need to survive the future of the workplace
Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, argues that today's
school children are facing a "global achievement gap," which is the gap between what even
the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.
This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial
economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today's school children —
brought up with the internet — are motivated to learn.
In his book "The Global Achievement Gap," Wagner identifies seven core competencies every
child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work.
1. Critical thinking and problem-solving
Companies need to be able to continuously improve products, processes and services in order
to compete. And to do this they need workers to have critical thinking skills and to be able to
ask the right questions to get to the bottom of a problem.
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Given the interconnected nature of the business world, leadership skills and the ability to
influence and work together as a team has become increasingly important. And the key to
becoming an effective leader? It's twofold, says Wagner, involving "creative problem-solving
and a clear ethical framework".
3. Agility and adaptability
The ability to adapt and pick up new skills quickly is vital for success: workers must be able to
use a range of tools to solve a problem. This is also known as "learnability", a sought-after
skills among job candidates.
4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism
There is no harm in trying: often people and businesses suffer from a tendency to be riskaverse. It is better to try 10 things and succeed in eight than it is to try five and succeed in all
of them.
5. Effective oral and written communication
Recruits' fuzzy thinking and inability to articulate their thoughts were common complaints that
Wagner came across from business leaders when researching his book. This isn't so much
about young people's ability to use grammar and punctuation correctly, or to spell, but how to
2/3
communicate clearly verbally, in writing or while presenting. "If you have great ideas but you
can't communicate them, then you're lost," Wagner says.
6. Accessing and analyzing information
Many employees have to deal with an immense amount of information on a daily basis: the
ability to sift through it and pull out what is relevant is a challenge. Particularly given how
rapidly the information can change.
7. Curiosity and imagination
Curiosity and imagination are what drive innovation and are key to problem solving. "We're all
born curious, creative and imaginative," says Wagner. "The average four-year-old asks a
hundred questions a day. But by the time that child is 10, he or she is much more likely to be
concerned with getting the right answers for school than with asking good questions.
"What we as teachers and parents need do to keep alive the curiosity and imagination that, to
a greater or lesser extent, is innate in every child."
Grade 9 english:
- Think back to Charlotte Edmund's article, "7 skills all young people need to survive the future of the workplace" from the first activity in this lesson. Choose the skill you believe to be the most important to your future
- Write a few paragraphs to explain why you feel this way. If you think there's a skill the author didn't mention that's more crucial to your future, explain what it is and why you believe so. Give your strongest writing. Plan your ideas before you start writing, then use paragraphs to organize your piece. After you have a first draft, revise it, looking at paragraph unity, sentences, spelling, and capital letters.
Article:
7 skills all young people need to survive the future of the workplace
Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, argues that today's
school children are facing a "global achievement gap," which is the gap between what even
the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.
This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial
economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today's school children —
brought up with the internet — are motivated to learn.
In his book "The Global Achievement Gap," Wagner identifies seven core competencies every
child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work.
1. Critical thinking and problem-solving
Companies need to be able to continuously improve products, processes and services in order
to compete. And to do this they need workers to have critical thinking skills and to be able to
ask the right questions to get to the bottom of a problem.
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Given the interconnected nature of the business world, leadership skills and the ability to
influence and work together as a team has become increasingly important. And the key to
becoming an effective leader? It's twofold, says Wagner, involving "creative problem-solving
and a clear ethical framework".
3. Agility and adaptability
The ability to adapt and pick up new skills quickly is vital for success: workers must be able to
use a range of tools to solve a problem. This is also known as "learnability", a sought-after
skills among job candidates.
4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism
There is no harm in trying: often people and businesses suffer from a tendency to be riskaverse. It is better to try 10 things and succeed in eight than it is to try five and succeed in all
of them.
5. Effective oral and written communication
Recruits' fuzzy thinking and inability to articulate their thoughts were common complaints that
Wagner came across from business leaders when researching his book. This isn't so much
about young people's ability to use grammar and punctuation correctly, or to spell, but how to
2/3
communicate clearly verbally, in writing or while presenting. "If you have great ideas but you
can't communicate them, then you're lost," Wagner says.
6. Accessing and analyzing information
Many employees have to deal with an immense amount of information on a daily basis: the
ability to sift through it and pull out what is relevant is a challenge. Particularly given how
rapidly the information can change.
7. Curiosity and imagination
Curiosity and imagination are what drive innovation and are key to problem solving. "We're all
born curious, creative and imaginative," says Wagner. "The average four-year-old asks a
hundred questions a day. But by the time that child is 10, he or she is much more likely to be
concerned with getting the right answers for school than with asking good questions.
"What we as teachers and parents need do to keep alive the curiosity and imagination that, to
a greater or lesser extent, is innate in every child."
