Run...don't walk to read the Newsweek article on creativity

Wow...talk about a "knock your socks off article".

I hereby assign as required reading, the feature article in the July 19, 2010, issue of Newsweek, "Creativity in America—The Science of Innovation and How to Reignite Our Imaginations,"  for every educator, parent, taxpayer, policymaker in the U.S...ok, for everyone. No excuses and no exceptions. While that is the cover title, the actual article inside is called  "The Creativity Crisis."

While we've been concentrating on leaving no child behind and racing to the top (talk about a mixed and confusing set of analogies) the rest of the world is headed in the opposite direction. The article traces the decline of creativity according to a number of measures, even as IQ has increased. The decline in creativity is specifically linked to our current educational practices...and the section of the article about what we can do to increase creative thought is a useful set of suggestions for teachers.

The kicker of the article is a quote from Jonathan Plucker (a former UMaine colleague and now a professor at Indiana University) who recently toured schools in China and was asked to identify trends in American education. When he described our focus on "standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing"..."the Chinese educators just started laughing out loud, " Plucker says. "They said, "You're racing toward our old model. But we're racing toward your model, as fast as we can."

The middle school model we have studied for the last four weeks is the model of learning and teaching we want....and more importantly, what our young adolescents need.

For the Newsweek article...
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

See also...
http://www.danpink.com/