The Real Problem with P21 and the C21 Fund Bill

The real problem with P21 and the C21 Fund Bill is that it's all so backwards-looking.

They've dressed up this corporate board led by 20th century stalwarts like HP and Ford and Dell and Microsoft and the rest and they've told us that this is the future.

It ain't.

I figure there's a reason Google ain't on that board. I figure there's a reason no one from Twitter, or Facebook, or YouTube is on that board. Because these resources are the best inkling of where technology is headed: towards user-driven individualized public networking. And that's about as far from courseware and corporate-driven proprietary software you could get.

Now, these companies certainly aren't perfect, but at least they aren't beating down my inbox trying to take advantage of the economic crisis.

Are the Web 2.0 technologies perfect? Hardly. But I'll take a user-driven Ning over McGraw Hill courseware any day.

See, the problem isn't 21st Century Skills. The problem is that the bill of goods P21 is pushing isn't 21st Century Skills. It's textbooks in a sheep's clothing.

Open source. Free access. Free public server space. Internet connection as a Civil Right. A public commitment to free technological access and education. That's 21st century.