Everyone agrees. The economic system is in shambles, and some sort of Obama economic stimulus package is desperately needed.
This invokes the question: what is it that stimulates the economy in normal times when government intervention isn’t required? In other words, what is the Engine of the Economy?
Consider this excerpt from the 2006 report, 21st Century Skills, Education &; Competitiveness, by the highly influential Partnership for 21st Century Skills:
“The ingenuity, agility and skills of the American people are crucial to U.S. competitiveness. Our ability to compete as a nation—and for states, regions and communities to attract growth industries and create jobs—demands a fresh approach to public education. We need to recognize that a 21st century education is the bedrock of competitiveness—the engine, not simply an input, of the economy.”
So a “21st century education” is the Engine of the economy. The Partnership sorts this 21st century education into five areas, one of which is “learning and innovation skills.” These core 21st century skills are listed as critical thinking, communication, problem solving, collaboration, and innovation. These are also known in educational research as higher-order thinking (HOT) skills.
Thus we can conclude that:
HOT skills are the firey core of the Engine of the economy.
And from this we can conclude:
The 21 century HOT skills of critical thinking, problem solving, innovation, communication, and collaboration can drive us out of this recession, and bring about a new age of economic prosperity.
These 21st century HOT skills all have reasoning as their basis, and the Partnership, consisting of Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Verizon, Ford, and others, have lauched a major campaign to infuse them into the school curriculum, as a necessity for success in the 21st century economy.
Because of this we can conclude that the HOT skills Age has arrived. Due to the fact that our survival and economic success in the complex 21st century requires 21st century HOT skills, meaning reasoning applied in critical and creative thinking, the dawning of the HOT Skills Age has naturally occurred, circa 2002 (see this blog’s posts for critical thinking/HOT around the world.)
The question is can we get the college/University students (and workers) to train up their HOT skills, so that they can apply them effectively and creatively in their occupations to prosper, and grow the economy? Can we get the core of the Engine big and burning white hot in the mission of economic prosperity?
This is an important question because one can make the high-probability prediction that:
If the USA gets out of this recession, it will be because of the energetic application of the five, core, 21st century HOT skills of critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and innovation.
The HOT skills Age has arrived. Will you join the revolution, and be a part of the 21st century Engine of economic prosperity?
