As a former science teacher, I have a soft spot for Albert Einstein.  One of my favorite quotes attributed to him is:  "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."

My interpretation of this idea directly relates to the shift in the educational paradigm towards teaching 21st century skills and not just curriculum.  True education - is it curricular?  Is it content area knowledge that (in some cases) becomes obsolete by the time the next version of the textbook comes out, or is it the skills, behaviors and habits of mind that teachers so deftly weave into their classroom routines?   
Does it have to be the same for everyone?  
Does it differ by subject, course or grade level? 

I don't know for sure, but I do know that I always believed that my job as a teacher in high school was more than just explaining curriculum.  It was about giving and getting respect, about looking people in the eye and enunciating when you spoke, about not reading directly from the powerpoint slides when giving a presentation, and about learning how to work effectively with people whether you liked them or not, (among other things).  These things don't change from class to class and therefore get utilized repeatedly, which means they will survive the summer vacation memory loss.  These lessons can be used at home, at work, in college, on a date - they are applicable everywhere.  


I think back to what I taught in my very first Biology class, and what I was teaching in my last Biology class, 8 years later - the number of kingdoms changed from 5 to 6; Pluto was no longer a classified as a planet; Titalik, the "missing link" was discovered by archeologists; scientists and medical doctors agree that brain cells can regenerate and you are not "born with all the brain cells you will ever have". . . .I could go on and on.  Does that make what I was teaching less valuable?  Does it make my skills and knowledge (and all of that money I spent on college tuition) in Science a waste?  No.  But it does open my mind as an educator.  My job as a science teacher was only ever in part about my content knowledge.  I was there to get students excited about science by teaching them what I know - but it was also about giving them a foundation for learning in general - this way, when everything else is forgotten; their knowledge of how to learn will still be in place.


What do you think?