21st Century Skills: Fad or Key?

To be truthful, after reading all of the articles, I was on the fence. Both positions made good points, but if I had to take a side, I suppose learning the 21st century skills is something that is important to me, as a future teacher. A lot of the points that were made in the articles revolved around that fact that the students need to adapt to a changing environment.
Susan McLesters notes, "Now that the United States is facing an increasingly competitive world market driven by digital globalization, how is our education system stepping up to the demand for graduates skilled enough to keep our country on the cutting edge?" (The Workforce Readiness Crisis). Our country needs a change with the economy at a struggling point. While we still can, I think it is important to set high but achievable 21st century goals for our schools. Without teachers incorporating 21st century skills into every day classroom, the students will be at a loss when they leave for college. For those who can not afford college, the 21st century plan may be the only help they will get for preparing them for a contemporary job.
Maura Banta recognizes that, "Our role now as policy makers, educators, business leaders, and parents is to provide students with the best of both worlds: a strong and challenging academic curriculum, and a full infusion of the 21st-century skills students will need to succeed outside of high school. Denying students the right to learn what we recognize is required by today's employers goes against our goal of providing all students with all the tools they will need to succeed after high school, regardless of race, ethnicity or ZIP code"(The Value of Teaching 21 Century Skills).
I thought it was interesting that she lumped zip code in with race and ethnicity. I think it will be harder for districts with lower funds to meet these goal because they simply do not have enough money for the pricey technology, the training of teachers, and the time it takes to give students a chance to incorporate the technology to what they are learning. The argument the other side was making is, "How are millions of students still struggling to acuire 19th century skills in reading, writing, and math supposed to learn this stuff?" (Jay Mathews, The Latest Doomed Pedagogical Fad: 21st-Century Skills). To argue with this statement, I would have to know a little more about how a classroom with the 21st century skills will be running. I do not imagine that all other aspects of the curriculum will be dropped in order to face these skills. I think it will be a challenge for teachers and students, but simple measures can be taken in order to infuse the two aspects of this goal: keeping the students knowledge on the curriculum and doing so with a less antiquated, more 21 century induced regime.