Creativity and Education

There's an interesting article by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman over at Newsweek that talks about the decline of creativity in America. Titled, The Creativity Crisis, it focuses on how the lack of creative exercise in education is resulting in young adults who stop asking, "why?," eventually turning in to adults who make decisions without pursuing all creative angles to solve problems and create positive change.

Of course, there is tons of creativity that exists in this country, and brilliant minds at work in all industries, at all levels, but the point remains: compared to other countries, we're at the lower end of creativity building skills on the education level. Bronson and Merryman also address this in their book Nurture Shock, advising parents to take a bigger role in the process.

Coincidentally, over at ChangeThis, Russell Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg have written a manifesto about reforming education, titled, Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track.

Whether you're in education or a parent, these are obviously issues that you're aware of and concerned about. For the rest of us, the information reveals the state of our culture and where it's headed, and we all have stake in that.