An interesting article in the July 10th edition of Newsweek illustrates a growing ?Creativity Crisis? facing US students. Creativity has always been considered a key to continued US strength, but general creativity scores for US students have been falling consistently since 1990.? In education we tend to grade successful schools based upon graduation rates, but how do we account for creativity? A good place to start, according to our 2007 report Beyond the Basics, would be a basic liberal arts education for all children.
The United States is not going to compete with the rest of the world in terms of cheap labor or cheap raw materials. If we are going to compete productively with the rest of the world, it's going to be in terms of creativity and innovation. America has always had a capacity for hard work and stamina, but those qualities of creativity and ingenuity are not being nurtured and fostered by our current educational system.
-Saul Spady, Fordham Intern